One Road- Ariann Mieka

Travelling on the train to Antwerp from Den Haag marked the forth time I was making this trip. Who knew this route would become a familiar one for me. Verse, B and I were headed to the Smile! Reggae Festival , which was the one I was looking forward to since Verse iTal ’s first band practice with the Asham Band . This is the performance they had all been working toward and as we neared Antwerp my excitement mounted. Before heading to the venue, Verse had a quick practice with the back up singers one more time and it was great to hear the ladies add their two part harmonies to Verse’s tunes. Walking to the venue, which was located in a forested area, I tried to pay attention to where I stepped (there were patches of mud due to the rain the day before) while marveling at the beauty of the surroundings. The weather was chilly and a bit overcast but luckily the rain had held up. After settling in backstage, we headed into the main area to see the lay out of the festival. The Ska Regga...

Months ago when I was laying out a schedule of performances for Verse iTal , one in particular had me very curious. This particular performance was going to be at the Pool Party Festival , in Antwerp Belgium. I was told it was a large boat completely decked out with a pool. As always, I assigned a picture to the description and so I thought maybe I was heading to a large multi deck ship, similar to the Trinidad party ship the Treasure Queen . “How would they layout a festival on that kind of vessel?” I wondered. On the morning of the performance, Verse and I left Den Haag early to head to Antwerp as he had a practice with the Asham Band first.   This time we travelled by train and not only was it more comfortable than the bus ride we took last time it was faster and way more interesting. Between reading, napping and gazing at the landscape through the window as it rolled by, the time passed quickly and within an hour and 50 minutes we arrived at the beautiful Antwerp Station...

Haarlem , a city 15-minutes (via train) outside of Amsterdam, was the location of Verse iTal ’s second interview. Following the directions to the studio, we found ourselves walking through a residential area, questioning whether we were in fact going the right way. Arriving at the given address, we didn’t know what to expect, as it was an apartment building but I could hear music coming from one of the floors above making me semi-confident that we were in the correct spot.  DJ Spy, the host of the live streaming show on Asylum radio , greeted us warmly into his apartment, which as it turned out doubled as his studio. He had an impressive broadcasting set up and his neat room was complete with a coffee table of snacks for his guests! (Thanks for the peanut M&M’s!) Now I must mention here that I have never seen someone (efficiently) do so many things at the same time. I mean this guy was doing duties that would normally take a whole team to do… and at lightening fast speed...

Not many people can say that when they visited Amsterdam they went to local radio stations. Yeah, not a normal stop on the tourist trail I know, but when you’re rolling with Verse iTal , radio interviews are on the schedule. The first interview was on the two-hour reggae show ‘ LionFace Radio ’ and I was very impressed as we walked into their professional studio. Ras Mikeyy, the host of the show, was already on air when we arrived and Verse jumped right in as his special guest. With DJ Orangekid mixing the tunes, Verse iTal sang live in the studio and the online fans responded right away expressing their enjoyment of the vibes he brought. We were very grateful for the opportunity for iTal to be on the radio while in Amsterdam. Big thanks to Ania for putting Verse in touch with Ras Mikeyy! Here are some photos from the interview. A video of Verse in studio is coming soon! Verse iTal in the studio  Ras Mikeyy live and direct on the mike Verse iTal in studio with ...

Sitting near a window, I sleepily gazed out as we left Amsterdam on a Sunday afternoon. We were heading North via train on a two and a half hour trip to Groningen , for Verse iTal ’s next gig. Normally I would have curled up and had a blissful nap but we had to change trains in half an hour. Besides, I thought, “When next would I have the opportunity to gaze out and see the Netherlands landscape roll by?” We arrived to a cold and rainy Groningen and waited for DJ D-ONE, a Trini guy from the Herbalize it Sound System , and his girlfriend to meet us at the train station. While waiting, we marveled at the number of bicycles that had been left at the station. I don’t think I have ever seen that many bikes together in my life. All of them parked and chained outside the station as their owners probably went to some other town via train. When they arrived, our hosts informed us that this was a normal sight in this university town, as Groningen is known as the “World Cycling City”. ...