The stage of the REC Festival in Concepción witnessed a great milestone for national reggae music with the live reunion of Gondwana Y Quique Neira, after 23 years of separate paths.
The pioneering band and its most emblematic vocalist once again shared the stage before a sea of attendees at this iconic festival in the Biobío region, scene where Quique Neira came up at the end of the Gondwana presentation to perform the classic together “Original feeling”, fulfilling a desire of generations of followers and unleashing the euphoria of the public.
The signs have been in the air in recent months. The rapprochement between I-Locks Labbé and Quique Neira was already coming to light when the latter was on the former's birthday; Likewise when Labbé contacted Neira after the death of his father. Some days ago, the author of “More to Jah” mentioned in an interview that moment.
In the latest edition of Good Things Festival de Neira were again on the same stage but there “The Chilean of Roots” served as presenter. one week later, Talulah Neira, Quique's sister, was part of the Open Jammin event organized by Labbé.
Added to this are plain colored posters with a phrase each, that have flooded the streets of the capital. They read “Reggae is coming”, “I don't want to go to war”, “You have to feel again”, Y “You are my star that shines in the sky”, signs that support the theory of a possible reunion in the short term and that could be announced on Monday 30 of March.
Neira and Labbé, a bond of three decades
The history of this union began in 1996, when Quique Neira He joined the group led by the bassist I-Locks Labbé.
for seven years, the musicians of La Pincoya - a historic town in the north of Santiago and the birthplace of musicians- They transformed reggae into a massive phenomenon in Chile, consolidating this genre in the Spanish language and also exporting it to other latitudes.
Under this formation the most influential albums in their discography were created.. The self-titled debut Gondwana of 1997 broke out with hymns like “Original feeling”, “It was Langa” Y “harmony of love”.
Then, the disc Praise – By the Force of Reason (2000) confirmed his success with classics like “Antonia”, the emblematic “Verde, Yellow and red” O the romantic “Sweet love”, classics from the Chilean reggae songbook that led the band to perform for the first time in the Vina del Mar Festival in 2001, same year that they were also headlining the first Bob Marley tribute contest held in Chile, the Natural Mystic Festival which brought together more than 60 thousand people in the National Stadium.
After the publication of Made in Jamaica in 2002, the departure of the vocalist was announced at the beginning of 2003. Before the separation they shared their second pass at the Viña del Mar Festival and toured Peru, Mexico and the United States, Closing this successful cycle of the band 17 May of that year with a memorable show at the Víctor Jara Theater.
