Lucky’s Strike : Vocalist Dube, Who Will Play at Tonight’s Reggae Festival, Delivers ‘Songs for the Whole World’

Lucky Dube’s first venture into reggae eight years ago was such a commercial disaster that he had to resort to trickery to get a second chance.

The South African singer, who appears tonight with his 13-piece band on the “Reggae Sunsplash” bill at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, was a performer in the mbqanga or “Zulu soul” vein before releasing “Rastas Never Die,” the first reggae album by a SouthAfrican artist. After its commercial failure, Dube (pronounced doo- bay ) promised his record company that his next album would return to mbqanga , but he stuck with the Jamaican style instead and cut “Think About the Children.”

The label reluctantly put it out, and it sold enough to persuade therecord company to let Dube follow his reggae fascination. That set the stage for his breakthrough “Slave” album in 1987, which reportedly sold more than 500,000 copies and became the best-selling album ever by a South African artist at the time. “Slave” established Dube as a stadium-level attraction whose audiences cut across South Africa’s sharply defined racial, tribal and language lines.

“The songs I write are not strictly songs for South Africa but songs for the whole world,” Dube, 27, said recently by phone from Johannesburg. “What is happening in South Africa is happening in other parts of the world. South Africa became the center of apartheid, but apartheid is everywhere in the world.”

Dube’s well-received appearance at the “Jamaican Sunsplash” festival last year fulfilled one of his biggest dreams. But his early embrace of reggae cost him a substantial number of his South African fans and drew criticism from some peers who thought the Jamaican sound would never catch on there.

“Sometimes people would say reggae is Jamaican, but that is actually not true,” Dube said. “It has only been popularized in Jamaica, but it is not Jamaican as such. Reggae is everywhere, but its roots are in Africa.”

The Sunsplash bill reflects the continuing internationalization of reggae and the broad range of styles that are now found under the reggae banner.

The headlining Aswad pioneered the sophisticated English reggae sound, whereas Dube’s roots blend has often been compared to that of Peter Tosh. Vocalist Barrington Levy is a rising force with a contemporary electronic sound, Papa San represents the popular deejay contingent, and veteran singer John Holt the Jamaican old school.

Dube recorded six mbqanga albums before switching to reggae. He cites Bob Marley, Tosh and Jimmy Cliff as his principal Jamaican models, but it wasn’t easy to get their music under the apartheid regime.

“Most of the Peter Tosh and Bob Marley songs were banned in South Africa,” he said.

“The government was trying to keep everything hidden from us that was reggae--the message in the music became a threat to the government. People would find records like Peter Tosh’s ‘Legalize It’ in Swaziland, Zimbabwe or Transkei and bring that record into the country.”

Four Dube albums have been released by Shanachie in the United States, and his vibrant stage performances, resonant voice and upbeat arrangements have brought him to the forefront of the youthful African reggae contingent that includes Alpha Blondy and Majek Fashek.

Dube has also appeared in three South African movies. But his primary allegiance remains with reggae and its blend of music and message.

“The things that I sing about in the music are not imaginary things,” Dube said.

“A lot of people find themselves in the same situation I find myself in when I’m writing these songs, and sometimes the songs have a soothing message that people relate to easily. I love that when it happens--getting a message in the music is what is important to me.”

“Reggae Sunsplash,” with Lucky Dube, Aswad, John Holt, Barrington Levy, Papa San and Skool, starts at 5 p.m. at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. $23.25 to $25.75. (714) 855-4515.