8.2.05

Bob Marley’s 60th Birthday Celebrated with a Blast


Clockwise, from top left: Peace Pipe; Irene of Reggae Mistress flashes a smile; Coffee Break Island; some of the Hemp Republic guys waiting for their turn to play and getting drunk; Sunflower with Skarlet; the Hempers; Skarlet / Wunjo manager Miren and Luv of CBI hang-out back stage; Reggae Mistress Chang tells the boys something.


The 60th birth anniversary of legendary reggae icon Bob Marley was celebrated last February 5 at XAYMACA Bar in Timog Avenue with a blast. The event featured Xaymaca’s best bands and some guests as well, with Peace Pipe starting off the set.

Milagros Dancehall Collective (MDC) kicked the vibe up a notch with their almost all original dancehall set. This is where the people started to feel the irie of the party, feet started stomping and bodies moving to the dancehall beat. Up next came Reggae Mistress with their brand of upbeat classic reggae I-Threes style, which revved up the crowd even more. Saturday night Xaymaca staples Coffee Break Island came next with their reggae-ska set, the crowd by which time had all been standing up. A band from Baguio City, Sunflower, played a highly powered, very long punk-ska set with Skarlet of Brownbeat jamming with them on a few songs.

It was 3:30 AM when Hemp Republic’s turn to play finally came. After Sunflower’s set, people thought the event was over; most had gone outside to get a breath of fresh air. The bar was almost empty but when Hemp Republic finally came onstage, like bees, all the people came right back the hive to get a last dose of the music they came for—reggae music.

The band decided to play mostly classic Bob Marley covers “Could You Be Loved”, “One Drop”, “Three Little Birds”, and the song that first put reggae on the charts “No Woman, No Cry”. The band played only around 6 songs since it was late and every one was tired from dancing the night away. Nonetheless, it surely was a BLAST!

4.2.05

Sigma Beta’s Drink All You Can at XAYMACA Bar a BLAST!!!

It was the wildest Tuesday night in da history of Hemp Republic’s playing at Xaymaca! Thanks to the UP Sigma Beta Sorority Diliman Chapter’s drink all you can bash! Almost 350 people showed up on January 25 for the highly successful event sponsored by San Mig Light, Frenzy Condoms, and Yehey.com. It almost felt like a Friday night, with the dance floor filled up nice and tight, people dancing and drinking like there was no tomorrow, nice reggae grooves blowin’ out da speakers, and everybody just having an irie time.

Session Road shared the bill with the Tuesday night staples Hemp Republic that night. It was nice meeting up with long time friends from that band Coy, JV, Chavi, Richard and Hanna. Too bad they only played around 4 or 5 songs, mostly originals from their debut album under Alpha Music entitled Suntok sa Buwan.

The event was filled with lots of games with prizes presented by Yehey.com and San Mig Light. Beer drinking contests, Bring Me and others started the event. The first set of the band was already rockin’ and looked very promising, and considering the people hardly ever had beer yet, it gave a glimpse of what was to come when all them gets drunk. Hemp played some original songs from their upcoming album on the first as well as the second sets namely, Himig ng Pag-Ibig, Sabihin Mo, Reggae Fiesta, and Hey Body Rock.
It would be such a blast if this was an every week thing… to all those who came, see you all again soon! And for those who missed it, well, dats wat yu get when yu mis an event!