Brockwell Park's City Splash 2023: A Vibrant Celebration of Reggae, Dancehall, and Afro-Caribbean Culture.

Brixton’s Brockwell Park is having a very busy summer. Only a day after the jazz and soul showcase of Cross the Tracks, the 50-hectare park hosted the reggae and dancehall festival City Splash. For its third year, City Splash welcomed more than 60 Caribbean and African music acts to a 30,000 strong audience in South London. With a star studded lineup featuring Chronixx, Koffee, Shenseea and Skillibeng, the sold-out festival was the place to be on May’s last bank holiday.

City Splash must have felt like a lucid dream for any avid reggae, dancehall and afrobeats fan. Across seven stages, attendees could enjoy live music from the biggest names of those genres and dance to DJs and collectives such as Juls and Dankie Sounds. But what gave the festival its edge was its wider celebration of African and Caribbean cultures. Historian Dr. Aleema Gray curated the Rastafari Reasoning Corner, an insightful series of panel talks that gave cultural context to the music on stage. And there were so many delicious independent food traders that you could easily treat City Splash as a food festival. The organisers collaborated with Black Eats LDN to draw together a range of Black-owned food stalls and bars that tested the limits of my self-control. Offerings included street food from across the African diaspora, vegan soul food, loaded fries, and cheeky desserts like doughnuts and brownies. I finally got the chance to try Walthamstow’s Rhythm Kitchen (who may have the best Jamaican fried dumpling that I’ve ever tasted) and I was introduced to new vendors such as Krush Puppies, a cocktail slushy brand that started out as a 2020 lockdown project.

“City Splash must have felt like a lucid dream for any avid reggae, dancehall and afrobeats fan.”

The festival did experience a handful of hiccups. Less than a week before the event, City Splash had to announce that heavyweight headliner Shenseea would not appear due to issues securing a visa. Another main attraction, Koffee, performed two songs, mysteriously disappeared off stage for a while, and then sang only two more songs before ending her anticlimactic set. Thankfully, Chronixx and Skillibeng delivered amazing performances as the sun set on the jam-packed one-day festival.

Despite the unfortunately chilly weather, the carnival vibes of City Splash felt like the buoyant advent of summer. Swathes of Brockwell Park became a bashment under the irresistible command of DJ sound decks. Thumping dancehall scored rickety fairground rides and a dinky roller skate disco. The masses of people milling around stages and fusion food stalls were wonderfully intergenerational. My friend and I watched the crowd as we rested our feet before Chronixx’s set. A young family caught our attention – a stylish couple with a little girl who was probably around two years old. The mother and daughter in matching Nikes, the parents showed their toddler how to two-step to the reggae music that ebbed and flowed around us. The only thing missing in the moment was the warmth of sunshine.

Date: 29 May 2023. Price: from £29.50. Location: Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, London. SE24 9BJ. Website: city-splash.com

Words by Liberty Martin