It's not often we get to see and hear real music legends here in Thailand but on Saturday at the Smiley Fest Ska & Reggae International Music Festival, a whole galaxy of ska and reggae stars descended onto the beach at Ban Amphoe for a night of Caribbean music that I certainly won't forget for a long time.

The festival was headlined by the pioneering Jamaican ska band The Skatalites and Londonbased Ska Cubano, with support from Prince Fatty's band featuring rocksteady veteran Little Roy and singer Winston Francis, UK's Babyhead and Korea's Windy City. Local favorites T-Bone led the home contingent that included Ga-Pi (an off-shoot from T-Bone), Skalaxy, Srirajah Rockers, The Superglasses Ska Ensemble, Teddy Ska Band and the Kai-Jo Brothers.

Musical Director Nakarin Teerapenun said that he had dreamed of bringing his favorite ska band to the kingdom, the Skatalites, when he saw them during T-Bone'ss stint at Glastonbury a few years ago; at the same time, he also made contact with Ska Cubano. He had to wait for last year's economic crisis to ease but with interest in the lively local ska scene building up, the time was right.

The stage was then set for Ska Cubano. Cubano's showman and leader Natty Bo, surely the most sartorially elegant on the evening, began by saying: ??In 1959 was the revolution in Cuba ... a little while later [there] was another revolution: ska ...?? And the band blasted off into a new world where Cuba meets Jamaica. We all danced to Mambo Ska and a song about tequila, and the wonderful Istanbul from the band's last album. The band also introduced the bubbling rhythms of Columbian cumbia, which, as Natty explained to me later, always go down well with ska fans. Maybe we'll hear local bands trying out this funky style of music in the future.

Natty even got the audience to sing the Spanish chorus in Ay Caramba and by this time the whole place was going nuts. It was a wonderful set.

T-Bone kept the mood going with a set that featured local hits that the audience really enjoyed before the Skatalites took to the stage. Lloyd Knibb cracked his drumsticks and off they went, a well-oiled rhythm machine rolling through classic and timeless hits? The James Bond Theme and Guns of Navarone were my favorites. Another thrilling performance.

I could only manage half of Babyhead's very energetic set and missed both Teddy Ska and Kai-Jo Rockers as fatigue set in. I crawled back to the minivan to return to my hotel dead-tired but with a head full of great sounds.

This was one of the best music festivals I've been to in Thailand and I've seen a lot in 25 years: Great bands, good organization and low-key security, plenty of food and beverages and lots of space to either dance with the crowd or to just lie on the beach and listen to the music. Let's hope the Smiley Fest becomes a permanent fixture on the international festival circuit.