This Jam is Gonna Last
Digging the Roots of Victoria Ska Fest With Founder Dane Roberts
woRds by AdAm zonnis / iMages by AndreA zonnis
It’s a typical March evening on the streets of Rock Bay: chilly, wind-beaten, and deserted. The hodgepodge of industrial buildings and smattering of commercial storefronts are all closed and tightly secured, leaving the night’s business to less respectable trades.
On the dimly lit pavement outside a nondescript office building, Dane Roberts, founder and artistic director of the Victoria BC Ska & Reggae Society (VSRS), slips a couple of concert tickets to a man in a dark van. They each murmur a quick thanks and the van wheels into the night. Dane turns towards me and stops in his tracks.
Despite the edgy film noir mise en scene, my introduction with Roberts is warm and energetic. He invites me into the Hidden Gem, his multi-purpose musical Shangri-la. Inside, the walls are covered in 50-square-foot portraits of some of the famous acts promoted by the VSRS over the years, including Barrington Levy and Toots Hibbert of the Maytals. Drum kits and guitar amps scatter the space; the smell of sweat and beer pervades.
Upstairs, Roberts’ office walls are covered with more paintings and portraits, including him with friends and local fixtures of the Victoria music scene. Roberts shakes a cocktail while explaining that he’s been busy all day judging on a grant panel.
Roberts’ parents are from the small Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, a British colony until 1981. His mother moved to Victoria to be with her extended family, raising him here since birth, and that family influence helped to develop Roberts’ strong appreciation for Caribbean culture. His upbringing was steeped in the music of his homeland: ska, reggae, calypso. His father, a lawyer who was once the attorney general of Antigua and Barbuda, remained there, but Roberts visited many times throughout his childhood and continues to go back regularly.
From this early age, Roberts knew that his life would be entwined with music. He began promoting shows in 1997 while studying for his bachelor of arts in education at UVic (majoring in leisure service administration). What began as a side hustle during his studies took the shape of a career when he formed Enigmatica Entertainment with close friend Matthew Bishop. Enigmatica was a vehicle for the duo’s personal musical tastes, promoting hip-hop, soul, funk, third-wave ska, and Caribbean-influenced acts.
The partnership was tragically short-lived: Bishop died in a rock-climbing accident in 1998. Roberts dedicated his life to their original vision. In a new partnership with UVic’s campus radio station, CFUV-FM, he continued to organize shows under the Enigmatica banner.
The launch of the first Victoria Ska Fest, on August 12, 2000, in Market Square, provided Roberts with the credits to complete his degree.
Post-graduation, Roberts continued to steer Enigmatica on its mission. In 2003, the decision was made to incorporate as a non-profit organization, and the Victoria BC Ska Society was born—right on time to promote the fifth annual Victoria Ska Festival.
This was also a turning point for the scope of the event. It had grown in popularity so much that they were able to increase the budget to attract more diverse, international acts from the US, Europe, and Jamaica. The festival has attracted more bands and larger crowds every year, bringing in feature acts such as Easy Star All-Stars, the Skatalites, and Ky-Mani Marley. More diverse genres are represented now, like rock, folk, and punk, but its soul is still firmly in the Caribbean.
In 2005, the festival came close to disaster. It had invested all its resources into a huge night with Fishbone and Long Beach Shortbus. Roberts received a call the afternoon of the show from the LBS tour manager, informing him that the band couldn’t cross the border into Canada due to pending charges against their driver. Not to be deterred, the festival sent a van on a ferry to meet the band at Blaine, Washington. Another call came at 7 p.m. with news that two other members of the band had been told they couldn’t cross the border either, for the same reason.
Roberts and festival partner Mike Kitching got down on their knees and started to pray. Then they called Canada Customs, who eventually granted an exception for the band on grounds of the festival’s “cultural contribution.” Roberts received a call at 8:52 p.m. that the band had made the last ferry of the night. They showed up just in time to play a set that blew the crowd away.
The society had some tough years in the early 2010s, as Victoria’s festival scene was booming, and seeing greatly increased competition from Rifflandia, the Victoria Electronic Music Festival, Vancouver Island Metal Fest, and Rock the Shores. Roberts and company decided to rebrand as the Victoria BC Ska & Reggae Society. Adding “reggae” to the name—a term the public is more familiar with—made a huge difference, helping to draw larger crowds.
Roberts has a unique cultural perspective as a Black person raised in Victoria. When asked for his thoughts on cultural appropriation, and the role of music in bringing cultures together, he said, “I was first inspired to grow dreadlocks as a teenager after seeing a white friend of mine with dreads. My own family was resistant to it.” Much like the dreadlocks, Roberts considers the music of his heritage to be a symbol of a movement, not specific to a race, and he’s happy to be a conduit for that cultural spread—when respect and acknowledgement are given to its origins.
“I’m amazed at what connections can be made through music, and I’m proud that my festival is able to bring artists together, including famous ones that have been around for decades.”
Perhaps Roberts’ greatest career highlight was landing Booker T. Jones, of Booker T. & the MGs, for a festival in 2017. Jones found fame with the song “Green Onions,” a number-one R&B track in 1962. According to Roberts, “Booker T. had never played on a bill with reggae or ska acts, and he credits this festival as the moment he learned his music was a huge influence to many classic reggae artists.”
The society has become a staple of entertainment in Victoria, and not just for the festival. They offer many shows throughout the year, like the recent Celtic Punk Party at the White Eagle Hall featuring the Real McKenzies, and Garden City Grooves, a three-day showcase of funk and groove music each February.
2023 will mark the 24th annual Victoria Ska & Reggae Festival, taking place at Ship Point and other venues around town, on June 21–25. This year’s international lineup includes Maxi Priest (U.K.), Chali 2na (U.S.), Sister Carol (Jamaica), Kid Koala (Canada), Perfect Giddimani (Jamaica), as well as many other international, regional, and local artists.
