On Saturday, July 6th, 2024 at Centennial Square, Victoria BC Ska & Reggae Society is thrilled to bring a new musical experience to Vancouver Island post 25th Anniversary festival.

In February of this year while we were knee deep in the planning process of Victoria's 25th Anniversary Ska & Reggae Festival we were asked if we'd be interested in presenting KIRA CHAO from Brazil after the festival. In case you're wondering, KIRA CHAO is the son of the living legend Manu Chao. Of course we were elated by the opportunity. Now fast-forward five months later we are excited to confirm KIRA CHAO will be bringing his full band from Brazil to Victoria to perform this historic concert just weeks after our quarter century anniversary festival.

This show is going to be nothing like we've ever experienced. Kira Chao draws from traditional Brazilian folk and combines traditional rhythmic styles such as Baião, Maracatu, Carimbó, Pisadinhaou and Pagodão Baiano, with other Latin genres including salsa, cumbia and bolero.

His first album, Semente de Peixe, captured some 50 millions listeners across all platforms! Gently enveloped in a somewhat psychedelic aesthetic, Kirà as from alternative movements such as Psicodelia Nordestina 70 and the MangueBeat.

In case you're not familiar with some of the aforementioned genres Kira Chao draws from, you can rest assured that the music him and his band creates is of the highest quality. Following in the footsteps of his father - Manu Chao, Kira's music brings out raw emotions of love, happiness, or feelings of protest against injustice. His music celebrates collective unity to fight for a better world while celebrating being alive on this earth. We feel so excited and fortunate to have this legend in the making born from a living legend we still love.

And it gets better... Also joining Kirá Chao are their friends Gambeat y La Grooving Familia from Mexico. Gambeat is a multi-instrumentalist artist, bassist of Radio bemba who has accompanied Manu Chao since 1993. He is recognized for his passion for Latin music and his ability to fuse different musical styles such as salsa, dub, reggae and cumbia. Through discovering how much people enjoy his DJ sets, Gambeat created a new live project that fused his DJing with live percussion. After that Gambeat and the Grooving Familia was born! Further pushing the boundaries of his musical universe, Gambeat will remix traditional cumbia songs and put on a show surrounding himself with Pablo Senties, straight from Mexico, who will add a Latin world touch to this live.
This vibrant electro-cumbia show, blending Gambeat's deep bass and rhythmic power with Pablo's infectious melodies, makes the Grooving Familia's live show unique in its genre by fusing traditional cumbia, dub, hip-hop and electro elements.

Rounding out this already monster bill will be Victoria's own La Chuparosa. La Chuparosa is the brainchild of Canadian producer and multi-instrumentalist Dallas Budd (aka Battery Poacher). Featuring Victoria Ska & Reggae Society alumni Nostic, Costa Rican vocalist Miss Tica, Cuban percussionist Hector Ramos Mejias, and Budd himself on guitar/bass/beats. La Chuparosa has carved out a sound that’s entirely its own. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find anything that comes close. Rolling tropical bass, psychedelic desert guitar, thought provoking lyrics and lustrous electronic beats heavily seasoned with live percussion. Picture Latin Electronica shaking hands with Afrobeat and Cumbia in a kaleidoscopic vortex of love.

When you put these bands one after another we're in for a Latin groove dance party like no other!

Best of all it's FREE, ALL AGES and Licensed for 19yrs+!