At the beginning of July of this year, the Italian Rototom Sunsplash festival organized the very first edition of the European Reggae Contest, a kind of Eurovision Song Contest for budding reggae groups. One of the finalists was SteelA, a band from the southern Italian city of Salento; six young guys, who, after a concert by Africa Unite, somewhere in the early 1990s, decided to give reggae music a try themselves. On their debut album, 'I Livello' ("the level"), they bring what yours truly would describe as Italian raggamuffin with punk attitudes; no roots reggae, but inner city vibes with an Italian accent. Deserved European Reggae Contest finalist and definitely a band to keep an eye on!