K-Music Festival: Kingston Rudieska

Korea’s first traditional ska band. Yes, you read that right. With 100+ performances a year, the nine-piece Kingston Rudieska have been Korea’s foremost ambassadors of Jamaican ska, reggae, dub and nyabinghi drumming since 2004. With the soulful vocals of ‘Sugar’ Seok Yul Lee, they’ve played all Korea’s major festivals and this is their premiere performance in Europe.

Seoul may not be the first city you think of when you say ‘ska!’, but there’s a fanatical ska and reggae movement there, and Korea’s ska pioneers Kingston Rudieska are at the front of the scene.

They combine ska and reggae with a Korean twist — their great heroes are The Skatalites, and the band mix foot-stomping bluebeat instrumentals — fronted by four horns — with warm, soulful vocal numbers. They call their creation ‘FeastSka!’ and they’re thrilled to be bringing it to London for the very first time