Where is Jamaican Music hiding in Sydney?

There are many things you miss about Jamaica once you’ve immigrated to Australia:

The heat
The life on the streets
The flavourful food
The parties
The warmth of the people.

There is one thing that you yearn for, more than anything else. Something that can easily transport you to that sense of being at home and let you slip into memories of concerts, street and all-night sessions…It’s our music!!!

But where does one find the soft rhythm of reggae or the pounding bass of Dancehall away from the true music meccas of the world?

With a very small population of Caribbean people, it’s not surprising that unlike other major cities like New York, Jamaican music is not rife in the nightlife of Sydney or probably any other Australian city. To find it, you have to be connected, know the right people and the right places.

Here are some hot spots in Sydney to check out if you are on the prowl for a fix of Reggae or Dancehall:

Brighton Up Bar, 77 Oxford Street, occasionally hosts “Prescription” a Caribbean, Soca and Dancehall Club. It’s hosted by DJ Fariet Fasma, from Suriname, who has a minor obsession with Jamaican music, even though he’s not a ‘yardie’.

Goodgod Small Club, 55 Liverpool Street in Chinatown, occasionally hosts another popular night called “Dutty Dancing” – If you are looking for a solid mix of Dancehall tunes then this is the place where things can get real “mad”.

The Civic Hotel, corner Pitt and Goulburn Streets 388 Pitt Street, is a great stop for something more mellow. They’ve been hosting Reggae Mondays for years and it’s the longest running reggae event in Sydney. It features Caribbean Soul, a band with Australia’s top reggae musicians, Errol Renauls, Lisa Purmodh and Jarrol Renaud. Doors open at 10pm On Mondays and entry is free. It’s a night of cool swaying to classic reggae tunes.  

These are some of the more consistent gigs, if you keep your ear to the ground and ask around, you might find another few to get your dancehall and reggae kicks.

Let us know of others in Sydney or any other city and we’ll add them to our list.