I recently attended the Versionist Gathering in Murcia, some of you may have heard the concert that was broadcasted on this very site and which is available to download for free. This was much more than just a reggae concert, Versionist .com bills itself as an online riddim community where people from all over the world can upload their original reggae productions for others to download, review and share. Artists collaborate and discuss production techniques, amongst many other things musical. The purpose of this gathering was twofold, one to put on a concert of quality reggae music and secondly for some of the versionist members to meet in the flesh. In my opinion this event was a success on both counts.

There were members of Versionist from all over the world, from America, Germany, Switzerland the UK and obviously Spain. The two days preceding the actual concert all of these people met up to create good reggae music, jamming all day and night. I participated in some of these jams and honestly for me it was one of the best times in my life. To me it was what reggae music is all about - unity, good music crossing all cultural barriers and bringing people together. Give thanks to Don FE the promoter for putting it together.

As for the concert it was 6 hours of non-stop quality reggae music from artists who most of which I had never heard of before, but I certainly won't be forgetting in a hurry. First up was a local sound system from Alicante called Brainfood Sound System. These guys really set the scene for the night and did a great job of warming up the crowd, redoing many classic Jamaican riddims with their crew of singers and tearing the place down with plenty of herbalist tunes - you could hardly see for the smoke.

Following them were the Versionist Allstars with Lorenzo, Nitro, Doudou Nganga, Ras David, Samson and El Bib. A collection of versionist members with local singers and musicians. Their sets comprised mainly of a mixture of backing tracks with live musicians over the top. Not all tracks where to my taste but they were certainly quality performances. The highlight of this set for me was definitely the Don Fe riddims with Lorenzo singing on, the guy has a seriously good voice and I’m sure we'll hear a lot more from both of them. Next up on the bill was Yabass and The Manor two artists from London who came on stage to the theme tune from the 'Good the Bad and the Ugly'. They hit the Spanish crowd with some seriously deep roots vibrations - top quality as far as I'm concerned - with Yabass coming out with some of the best rockers style DJ business I've heard in a long time. Again they played in a live p.a. style with both artists on vocals and The Manor on Guitar. Following them was the Versionist International Sound System with I Rebel pon the mic and Jah Kricky and El Bib at the controls. They were playing strictly tunes posted on versionist and with I rebel seriously working the crowd the place was on fire, rocking to tunes that were all available to download for free on versionist. Great vibes and promoting new artists, top combination!

Next up were the band Dubheart and the voice of Zacheous Jackson, who invited the audience to follow the vibes of the show. They didn’t need his advice, because the crowd were clearly on the Dubheart vibe from the first beat of this amazing concert. Over a thousand listeners were gathered in front of the stage to witness this performance of live Roots Reggae and Dub.

The five members of Dubheart played their finest style right from the start and none in the venue was able to escape from the whipping beats of snare and hihat coming from drummer Gavin Fullness and the rolling bass of Mark Bassy. Authentic roots added by Bongo Steve on percussion put together to a danceable pulse that captured everyone in the hall. Guitar player Richie Dub and Davey Keys on keyboards (later also melodica) added their instruments to the sound, it all turned to a hypnotic uptempo beat, that forced the feet to dance.

When singer Zacheous Jackson began to sing with his clear voice, the crowd rushed even further towards the stage, paying full attention to every word. 'Murder inna de city', 'Clean heart', 'Peacemaker'. The songs were coming out with such an intensity, a strong energy filled the place. The concsious messages of the lyrics was well underlined by this wonderfully arranged roots set. For this special occasion the german Saxophone player Samson was more then willing to join the band for some tunes and added another beautifull vibe to songs like 'Concsious Artist' and 'Money', collaborating with Dubheart for the first time.

It was clear that the audience wouldn't let them go once the set was finished, so the band was shouted to come back on stage and performed another joyfull thirty minutes set full of original songs to round off this night of roots and culture.

Review by Urbanite & El-Bib

Download Part One of the show >> CLICK HERE

Download Part Two of the show >> CLICK HERE

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