Various Artists - Reggae Sunjam

The Reggae Sunjam Festival is being held every summer in August in Cyprus. It has been running since 2016 and it's aiming to be the biggest reggae gathering on the island of Cyprus. Organized by Dubophonic, the independent production team Easy Going Productions and Suzie Selecta the festival strongly supports the local reggae-dub scene, while it is dynamically reinforced every year with special international guests.

Artists like Professor Skank (GR), Dub Riots (GR), King Of Eye (UK), Haji Mike (CY), Dub Thomas (CY), Sensijam (CY), Med Dred (CY)  are just a few of the artists who attended the festival in the first 2 years of its life. The release is enriched with the music of Negritage (ARG), Bagjuice (NL), SKG's Dub Alliance (GR), Mr Zebre (FR), Red Star Martyrs (UK) and Rebel-I (PER).

This is a sweet memory of the great vibrations we had in these 2 years and we would like to thank all artists for the warm support and the massive crowd who was there to dance and celebrate with us. We love you all and we look forward to continue spreading the positive vibes, making this event the leading reggae festival in Cyprus!

01 Sensijam - Uhuru  / 02 Bagjuice - Don't Give / 03 Negritage ft. Christina Polycarpou - From Kyrenia with Dub / 04 Red Star Martyrs ft. Haji Mike - Dead Politiks / 05 Med Dred - Bal Ed Dred / 06 Dub Riots - Morning Lights / 07 King Of Eye - Spiral Dreams / 08 SKG's Dub Alliance - Get Up In Dub / 09 Mr Zebre ft. Rebel-I - Legal (Professor Skank remix)

Negritage - Greetings From Planet Dub

Four years ago, back in 2013, the Argentinian dubbers Negritage made their first appearance on the label with Guetto Roots of Dub Vol. 1, an album recorded in “Cuca Roots” and in “El Fuerte Dub Foundation” studios, exploring the Jamaican roots and culture dub tradition. Their analogue style and their authentic sound was greatly appreciated by the listeners and the album remains until today the most downloaded release ever made by Dubophonic, with more than 25.000 downloads and still rising.

Fast forward today and the long awaited Vol. 2 is finally out. “Greetings from Planet Dub” stays true to the same roots and culture background with 6 vocal tracks and 11 dubs. Nevertheless new elements are incorporated in their style, in which eastern melodies blend into the Jamaican vibes and the melodica meets the mandolin and the lyre like in a musical playground, were the singers and players of instruments playfully communicate through their music.

Big up all the artists from all four corners of the world, who collaborated with Negritage and made this release possible: the original roots defender dub activist Jam York (USA), the mighty Sammy Gold (UK), the wise Ibel Campbell (JAM) delivering solid and conscious messages, tthe studio wizard and dub creator Med Dred (CY), sister Yuuri Bamboo (JPN) blazing those melodica vibes, Christina Polycarpou (CY) doing her magic on the lyre, the humble Mandlion (ITA), flute master Eter Dub (ARG) and the lyrical messenger Zion Irie (FR). All tracks mixed by Negritage in Argentina and mastered by Med Dred in Cyprus. Cover artwork by Negritage. Distributed by Dubophonic for free download.

01 Rainbow Dubbers / 02 Negritage ft. Eter Dub - Montana Brillante / 03 Negritage ft. Sammy Gold - Kingston Town / 04 Negritage ft. Yuuri Bamboo - Soul Stepper / 05 Soulful Version / 06 Negritage ft. Zion Irie - Lie Lie Lie (gueto discomix) / 07 Negritage ft. Med Dred - Kyrenia Dreams / 08 Negritage ft. Christina Polycarpou - From Kyrenia with Dub / 09 Negritage ft. Jam York - Stuck ina Babylon / 10 Melodica Knowledge / 11 Negritage ft. Eter Dub - Diente de Leon / 12 Negritage ft. Ibel Campbell - The Lazy and the Greedy / 13 Anti-greedy Version / 14 Negritage ft. Mandlion - Early Days / 15 Negritage ft. Jam York - You Do Your Thang and I Do My Thing / 16 Dub thang 

Mr Zebre ft. Rebel-I - Legal Rmxs

The original version of LEGAL has been released back in 2012 in Mexico by Mr Zebre and Rebel-I, receiving some mad feedback everywhere it was played, especially in Latin America. In the frame of the world wide ganja legalisation movement and the new approach that many countries adopt, we decided to re-release the tune for free download, raising awareness ….. but of course we added that extra Dubophonic touch.

This is not the first time that Dubophonic released a remix album, but this is the first time that it was done in such an interactive way. This release is a result of a competition, which has been running for the last two months. Every artist had the opportunity to submit their own version of the song (remix, dub, rework). We received around 40 submissions and we would like to thank everybody for their contribution. Unfortunately we could not put all mixes on the release ... but you know that dub music has nothing to do with competition. It has to do with the message we spread and with the vibes, and that big feedback proved that dub music has no borders. It is an international movement, growing stronger day by day. Big up to each and every one for the great vibes and also for the hard times you gave us, till we came to the final decision. Every version we received was unique!

The final selection was done by the Dubophonic crew, Mr Zebre, Rebel-I and a team of djs and selectors from various radio stations, who all casted their votes and compiled the list of the 13 tracks who made the final cut: Heavyweight names like Professor Skank (GR) and Al Breadwinner (UK), Dubophonic residents Mexican Stepper (MEX), Med Dred (CY) and Negritage (ARG), but also fresh rising artists like Zentash Gigawatt (BIH), Djiman (FR), Atlas Dub (FR), Sub Majesty (SUI), Injectah (RO), Dub Riots (GR), SKG’s Dub Alliance (GR), R3di the Dub Hermit (UK/CY), Colonial FX (IRL) and Dj Rastacore (ARG). Let the dub games begin!

DOWNLOAD FROM BANDCAMP

01 Professor Skank (remix) / 02 Negritage (chalatage discomix) / 03 Atlas Dub meets Sub Majesty (remix) / 04 Med Dred (dub melodica rework) / 05 Al Breadwinner (dub) / 06 Zentash Gigawatt (ganja shot remix) / 07 Mexican Stepper ft Djiman (legalized rework) / 08 Injektah (remix) / 09 Dub Riots (remix) / 10 SKG's Dub Alliance (remix) / 11 R3di the Dub Hermit (remix) / 12 Colonial FX (remix) / 13 Dj Rastacore (jungle remix)

All tracks mixed/mastered by the artists except (2), (4), (7), (8), (11) and (12) mastered by Med Dred and (13) mastered by Mr Zebre

Dubophonic meets Dubkey - United As One

The idea of collaborating with other netlabels has been long into the minds of Dub Thomas from Dubophonic and Manwel Tabone from Dubkey Records. Like a netlabel is a family of artists under a common roof, the two originators wanted to expand this family idea on the next level, creating an expanded family between the netlabels themselves. This is the first step for more collaboration between like-minded artists

The result of this collaboration is more than just a mere compilation of tracks. All the tunes have been written and produced from scratch, exclusive for this release and the riddims were written by the artists of both labels. The “raw” material was exchanged between the two netlabels, the vocal messages were added and then once again the tracks travelled back to the other side for the dubs and remixes. So basically every single track has been made with the contribution of artists from both sides in an organic and productive way.

The release consists of 4 riddims by Red Star Martyrs, Ashley, Med Dred and Negritage, all presented in 4 different cuts each. Vocalised by Zion Irie & Singer Tempa and dubbed/mixed accordingly ina roots and culture style. Special mixes were included by Jah Rootikal Steppers and Manwel Tabone himself. Nuff respect FDub Caravan for the live bass and guitars on the Roots-o-pohonic riddim (tracks 9 & 10). Last but definitely not least, the irie melodica of Mind’s Eye Dub on the Negritage riddim, blows away the badness and sends positive vibrations of I-nity and One-ness.

TRACKS: 01 Zion Irie - Run Come / 02 Red Star Martyrs - Roots Rock Rebel / 03 Red Star Martyrs - Roots Rock Rebel (Jah Rootikal Steppers Mix) / 04 Zion Irie - Dem Don't Know Righteousness / 05 Ashley - Dem Don't Know Dub / 06 Ashley - His Majesty Dub / 07 Ashley - His Majesty Dub (Manwel T Mix) / 08 Singer Tempa - So Hungry / 09 Med Dred - So Hungry 4 Dub / 10 Med Dred - Roots-o-phonic / 11 Med Dred - Roots-o-phonic (Manwel T Mix) / 12 Zion Irie - Lie, Lie, Lie / 13 Negritage - Stay Away From Badness / 14 Negritage - Stay Away From Badness (Ashley Mix) / 15 Negritage feat. Mind's Eye Dub - Blow Away The Badness

Mexican Stepper - The Mad Sunday

Dubophonic introduces Mexican Stepper. Born in Mexico, Yasser Serano has been into music since his childhood. His anxiety to contribute to the reggae and dub scene led him into participating in many festivals in Mexico with important recognitions. Tapping into different rhythms but mainly with stepper productions, Yasser introduces 2009 his Mexican Stepper project with the intention of creating a new dub proposal in his homeland Mexico. Little he knew that his sound would soon overcome the borders of his country and spread like a virus all around the world. Living proof of this is the willingness of many artists from all around the world to join his effort, offering their own musical interpretations on Yasser’s tune.

Mexican Stepper’s first EP consists of the title track “Mad Sunday”, a hard stepper tune with an ethnic feel, accompanied by an ever so exiting dub cut. Just to step it up a bit more, we included some exclusive remixes by artists who were already introduced on previous releases like Dub-I (RUS) and Negritage (ARG), but also by Dubophonic newcomers Svaha Sound System (UK), Injham (FR), Mr. Lion AKA Jahstyle (CAN) and Mr Mefistou (PR).

Each track is more than just a remix. It is a brand new interpretation of the main tune with each artist reconstructing the basic tune according to his unique style. Negritage makes a dirty rough rootical stepper out of it, Dub-I transforms the hard stepper into a musical dub experiment, Mr Mefistou incorporates the revolutionary speech of the Bolivian president Evo Morales after the trouble he faced in Europe due to his pro Snowden attitude, while Injham introduces a complete recut of the tune. Big versions by BBC Introducing Artist of 2012 Svaha Sound System and the Canadian Mr. Lion.

[DPH005] Mexican Stepper: The Mad Sunday EP

Click here to download
also on: Archive.org * Bandcamp * Sonicsquirrel

TRACKS: 01. Mad Sunday // 02. Dub Sunday // 03. Mad Dub (Injham recut) // 04. Rootical Sunday (Negritage remix) // 05. Dub of the Lion (Mr Lion remix) // 06. Svaha Sunday (Svaha Sound remix) // 07. Revolutionary Sunday (Mr Mefistou remix) // 08. I dub on a Sunday (Dub-I remix)

Negritage's "Guetto Roots of Dub" by Alex Dub

Culture Dub Dreadzine

The French online magazine "Culture Dub Dreadzine" has recently featured the latest lp of Negritage, "Guetto Roots of Dub (Vol.1)" on their webpage. Although our knowledge of french language is not the best, with the help of an online translator we managed to read the article, which recommends to all the readers of the magazine to listen and download our release, proposing "Some people don't remember Jah (Veshon)" as an example to listen online. Negritage's album has been awarded from the magazine readers a score of 8 out of 10. Our deepest respect to Alex Dub for his good words!

"The Argentinian dubbers Negritage offer their first album "Guetto roots of Dub (Vol.1") for free download, through the new Cypriot netlabel Dubophonic. The  18 tracks of the album sail between Roots, Dub and Dub Steppa and contain all the ingredients of dub: delays and reverbs. Guest appearances by Sammy Gold or Jam York. The 18 tracks on this album were mixed in different stages with different equipment , sometimes old analog mixers, sometimes in digital fashion, with varied sound results. As they remind themselves: "Do not forget that we are children of the third world and it is sometimes difficult to access material or equipment that is expensive, but it is not a problem, because the positive vibration of our friends allows us to move forward! " reviewed by Alex Dub

Negritage - Guetto Roots Of Dub

It all started a few years ago in Argentina in the “Lavadero Records Dub Temple” when some childhood friends were sharing their passion for “di roots & kulcha music” and exploring the dub sounds and the Jamaican tradition. Past, present and future are represented in their sounds. Analogue vibes meets the new waves of dub vibrations of the 21century. After some time they moved to another place called “Cuca Roots” where they recorded some dubplates included in this album (Dub control skank, Herbsman shuffle, Roots & kulcha and Dubbing time) and now they are building a new studio called “El fuerte dub foundation”.

All members of Negritage, William, Nacho, Leo, Pato and Herno have played together since childhood and are still play together almost every weekend, continuing their musical journey, helping each other to record the instruments for the tracks.

Negritage’s gear is whatever is available, some time analogs other times digitals, mixer consoles for the overdubbers, a turntable for the vocal samples, sometimes a Kawai drum machine from the eighties.

“Don’t forget we are children of di third world so the gear its a few years delayed or its to expensive but this is not a problem to continue with the  positve vibes mi amigo the creator allways provide!”

“Give thanks & praises to all di artist who collab whit Negritage and inspired to create dis soundz. They are: JamYork original roots defender activist, Sennid di migthy voice of thunder of Jah. the great Sammy Gold, the Dub dillers dub foundation of di third world. Speshal greetings to all dub-o-phonic family for di support! Heartikal salute to all di dubbers all ouvah di world and for all di people who promote the roots & kulcha message!”

The sound of Negritage

Past, present and future are represented in the sounds of Negritage from Argentina. Their first album "Guetto roots of dub", to be released for free download on the 6th of July 2013, is a musical playground, where analogue vibes meet the new waves of the 21st century dub vibrations. Their gear is whatever is available, some time analogue other times digital, mixer consoles for the overdubbers, a turntable for the vocal samples, sometimes a Kawai drum machine from the eighties. Feel the vibes of their sound!