Hundreds of reggae fans packed into the Le Molotov club in Marseille, France as the ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour of Europe with reggae artistes Lutan Fyah, Jah Mason and Zhayna rolled into the French port earlier this week.

Reggae artiste Lutan Fyah was in scintillating form on Wednesday night, wowing patrons with energetic renditions of his conscious songs like Rasta Reggae Music, Selassie I Beat Dem and Rastafari Leads the Way. However, the energy level spiked considerably as he launched into Bossman, arguably his biggest hit on the European continent.

Lutan Fyah clambered on top of a speaker box, holding onto the beams of the ceiling for balance as he belted out: ‘Bossman, gimme weh mi come fah/stop beat around the bush/yu nuh see me frustrated and mi yutes ah dead fi hunger’.

The forwards were deafening. As he deejayed, there was a forest of raised hands and finger gun salutes as the patrons cheered on his antics.

Reggae singer Lutan Fyah performs at the Le Molotov club in Marseille, France as part of the ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour of Europe.

While the Free People band continued to play the Bossman rhythm, Lutan was soon joined by Jah Mason, who had performed earlier, and another wave of excitement raced through the crowd as he used his gravelly voice to energise the crowd with Slip N Slide.

Jah Mason then passed the microphone to Zhayna and she unleashed a new song, I Love Your Way, while the crowd cheered, each forward washing over the other like the waves of an ocean.

It was a special iconic moment of the pilgrimage across Europe, three talented artistes joined in a singular purpose: waving the flag of roots and culture of Jamaica in a foreign land in front of fans with whom they did not share a common language.

After this moment, Lutan Fyah closed his set with Spliff Tail and Perfect Storm. The excited fans cried out for an encore shouting ‘Encore une fois’ and he returned to do ‘Mama’s Love’.

Earlier, Jah Mason thrilled the audience with his seminal hit, My Princess Gone, and earned no fewer than three forwards on songs like Slip and Slide which appeared to be a big favorite with the Marseille reggae crowd.

Reggae singer Jah Mason performs at the Le Molotov club in Marseille, France as part of the ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour of Europe.

The crowd also cheered for his ganja ode, Mi Chalwa and roared several times during his Farmer Man trilogy of songs: Farmer Man, From Wah Day Ya and Farmer Man Part Twice on the Double Up rhythm. He also earned major forwards for the powerful Wheat and Tares, a song about true believers (wheat) and fake believers (tares) growing alongside one another in this world waiting for the day of the harvest.

Jah Mason’s unique form of pro-marijuana, pro-peace edutainment where he advocates for agriculture, spirituality and positivity which align with his Boboshanti ideals have proven to be a big hit with Europeans.

Zhayna, who has emerged as a super talented performer during this tour, showed off her great vocal range on songs such as Runaway, Go, Trip and Coming for You. She closed her set with great aplomb as she interacted well with the audience on songs like Living Dangerously and Outside.

Female patrons in particular seemed to be mesmerized by Zhayna’s stage command, funky fashion sense, snazzy dancehall moves and boundless energy. The older females also seemed to be particularly happy to enjoy a female act who represented their perspectives onstage, a rarity alongside Boboshanti artistes.

Reggae singer Zhayna performs at the Le Molotov club in Marseille, France as part of the ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour of Europe.

The Bobo Ashanti are one of the strictest mansions of Rastafari. They cover their dreadlocks with turbans and wear long robes and practice a degree of separation between men and women where women live in separate dwellings and cohabit only for the week when sex is allowed.

“It is just refreshing to see a woman onstage in an industry dominated by men, Zhayna is like a princess,” one female patron explained while buying a Zhayna t-shirt at the merch booth after the show.

Overall, the ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour has been hitting its targets.

“The tour is going very well, this package is routinely pulling 300 plus crowds on weekdays in Europe, and 500 plus on weekends. The promoters of these clubs are happy because the tour energises the reggae market and creates that momentum that will carry over into the major reggae festivals in Europe this summer. I am very happy for Zhayna, Lutan and Jah Mason,” said Cabel Stephenson, head of Free People Entertainment which organised the tour.

The ‘Roots and Culture 3’ tour headed to the Le Rez club in Geneva, Switzerland on March 20 and the Kammgarn club in Schaffhausen, Switzerland on March 21.

The reggae tour will return to France for shows in the cities of Villerupt and Chelles this weekend. The tour then sweeps through cities such as Paris and London next week before climaxing at a show at the famous Indra Club 64 in Hamburg, Germany on March 30.