Waterford Residents Rally Behind Kartel and Mavado Sumfest Reunion

In Waterford, Portmore, the neighbourhood linked to dancehall star Vybz Kartel, talk is centred on what many hope will rank among the genre’s landmark occasions — Kartel and Mavado appearing together at Reggae Sumfest 2026. For supporters who identify with the Gaza Nation, the show is not being treated as a routine festival slot. Instead, it is seen as a marker of how far both men have come and how deeply their recordings shaped a generation.

Richard Palmer, who has lived in Waterford for more than 46 years and is related to Kartel, whose birth name is Adidja Palmer, said the mood in the area has been rising ahead of the festival. “The energy is good leading up to the Sumfest link-up,” said Palmer. “Normally mi get tickets fi give people from the block fi go, so them always ready fi go see them deejay.”

Palmer said interest in the billed appearance has also drawn fresh attention to Waterford, with work starting to showcase the community and its ties to Kartel. “Even yesterday we had a link up with Bright Light and Mad Sus because the Adidja Palmer Foundation a guh start do some upgrading pon the block. We a try turn the place into a tourist visiting site.”

A joint stage for Kartel and Mavado would carry weight after the long-running Gully-Gaza tension that once split fans islandwide and kept dancehall circles debating for years. That dispute ranked among the most prominent feuds in recent dancehall before both performers stepped back from the aggression tied to that chapter.

Palmer said that period belongs to the past and that the artistes and their audiences have changed with time. “The youth them from that time grow too. Remember the deejay say God and time, so people are maturing with the DJ. It’s music and them time deh with the Gully versus Gaza, the two artiste dem did have a younger mindset and a put themselves out there. Now them a two international artiste, so dem diss clash deh nuh fit them image now. It’s the professional side we a get.”

He urged that the upcoming set be read as a tribute to their work, not a replay of old divisions. “This Sumfest is not going to be about the rivalry or the feud. It ago be about the legacy them create, the mastery and maturity in the kind of music them a do now. We nah look pon the crowd railing on behalf of Gaza or Gully. The fans dem just ago come out and go down memory lane and appreciate dancehall music.”

Reggae Sumfest is set for Plantation Cove in St Ann, where organisers expect thousands. The prospect of Kartel and Mavado under the same lights has already emerged as one of the event’s main draws.

Kirk Ellis, another long-standing Waterford resident, said backing for Kartel has held firm over the years. “Waterford always ready. Once it involve the deejay, a bus load a people always a go fi support.”

Ellis credited Kartel’s staying power and business sense. “Overall Vybz Kartel talented and creative, so him know how fi market himself and him brand from dem time deh, so a bigger and better things him a do now.”

He added that the deejay’s priorities now lie outside conflict. “The clash thing done wid and him a focus pon doing bigger things, helping people here and spending more time with him family.”

On Kartel’s years in custody, Ellis said, “A 13 years wasted and him would’ve reach much further if him did have that time.”

For Ellis, a Kartel-Mavado reunion would signal forward movement and unity.