{"id":5932,"date":"2026-04-01T13:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/gaza-meets-gully\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:37:49","slug":"gaza-meets-gully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/gaza-meets-gully\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza Meets Gully"},"content":{"rendered":"
Reggae Sumfest CEO Joe Bogdanovic says that Vybz Kartel and Mavado, the two leaders of the \u201cGaza\u201d and \u201cGully\u201d camps, will be headlining a special one-night presentation of Reggae Sumfest 2026.<\/div>\n
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Bogdanovic told Caribbean Life on Monday, March 16, that Reggae Sumfest 2026, billed \u201cA Taste of Reggae Sumfest\u201d on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at Plantation Cove in St. Ann, Jamaica, is \u201cnot just a concert; it\u2019s a celebration of a defining era in Dancehall and a moment for fans to experience two legendary artistes in the same space once again.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen I first visited Jamaica in the 1990s, I was struck by how powerful Dancehall was,\u201d he said. \u201cWhether you were in Kingston, Montego Bay, or driving through the countryside, you would hear these songs echoing everywhere – on the radio, from passing cars, from speakers in the communities. It was mesmerizing.<\/div>\n
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\u201cBringing Vybz Kartel and Mavado together on one stage (at Reggae Sumfest) is about capturing that magic again,\u201d Bogdanovic added. \u201cIt is the revival of one of dancehall\u2019s biggest and most legendary rivalries in the history of the genre.<\/div>\n
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\"King

King of Dancehall Vybz Kartel in concert. <\/span>Photo by Anthony “ER Guru” Turner<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor years, Kartel and Mavado dominated the genre with competing anthems and fiercely loyal fan bases,\u201d he continued. \u201cTheir lyrical exchanges and larger-than-life personalities helped transform Dancehall into a global cultural force.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cToday, the possibility of witnessing both artists on the same stage has sparked a wave of excitement globally,\u201d Bogdanovic said.<\/div>\n
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He, however, cautioned fans about what they should expect at the reunion.
\n\u201cWe want to be very clear that we are not positioning this event as a rivalry or a clash,\u201d Bogdanovic said. \u201cWhat fans will witness is something much more meaningful, a reunion.<\/div>\n
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\u201cBoth Kartel and Mavado have matured and evolved over the years,\u201d he added. \u201cThey are icons who helped shape one of the most exciting periods in Dancehall history, and what people truly want now is to celebrate the music that came from that era.\u201d
\nBogdanovic said that, from the moment the announcement was made, \u201cwe began seeing interest not just from Jamaica but from across the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Jamaican-born, New York-based \u00a0entertainment publicist Anthony \u201cER Guru\u201d Turner told Caribbean Life that Diaspora music lovers are \u201csalivating and ready for the historic \u2018Gaza, Gully\u2019 reunion with Kartel and Mavado.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Turner, who has been attending Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay since 1994 said: \u201cWhen the curtain rises and the two Dancehall titans romp on stage at Reggae Sumfest 2026, Dancehall fans at Plantation Cove will pack the venue and hundreds of thousands of others from around the world will hope they get the opportunity to watch if the organizers decide to stream the action live.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Gaza fan Jamiel Baker, a Jamaican living in the Bronx, also told Caribbean Life, \u201cDancehall history is loading.
\n\u201cThis is the biggest thing to happen to reggae and dancehall in years,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone will be in Jamaica for this.\u201d
\nBrooklyn resident Kim Williams said, \u201cI was there for Freedom Street. I will be back for the Vybz Kartel, Mavado reunion.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reggae Sumfest CEO Joe Bogdanovic says that Vybz Kartel and Mavado, the two leaders of the \u201cGaza\u201d and \u201cGully\u201d camps, will be headlining a special one-night presentation of Reggae Sumfest 2026. Bogdanovic told Caribbean Life on Monday, March 16, that Reggae Sumfest 2026, billed \u201cA Taste of Reggae Sumfest\u201d on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islandflavaradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}