As always, the Victoria BC Ska Society is proud to present FREE and interactive musical workshops during Ska Fest at Long and McQuade Music Education Centre.

The workshops are a great opportunity for you musicians out there to meet some of the Festival's artists and hear them talk about their craft.

You just need to e-mail Colin McTaggart at Long & McQuade to sign up and confirm attendance in advance:
E-mail: [email protected]
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Leroy "Heptone" Sibbles is the man behind many of reggae music’s most famous bass lines and classics, and we are honoured to be playimng this year's festival and graciously hosting this workshop.

Leroy Sibbles is widely known for his work as the lead singer of the Rock Steady group The Heptones and as a solo artist. However, many people are not aware of the huge influence Mr. Sibbles has had on all reggae music as the Studio One Bass player, arranger and A&R rep during the late 60’s and early 70’s. During his time in this role he was responsible for many of the classic reggae bass lines that have been and continue to be used by new artists over and over again.

During his keynote interactive session Leroy will discuss how he created the bass lines and arrangements for songs like "Satta Massagan" , "Declaration Of Rights", "Kutchie" (Pass The Dutchie) , "Queen Of The Minstrels" , "No Man Is An Island" and "Drifter."

He will also discuss how he auditioned artists like Burning Spear, Dennis Brown and provided bass lines for artists like John Holt, Horace Andy, Alton Ellis just to name a few.

If you are a true lover of the history of reggae music, this is a session you won’t want to miss.