The Seacoast may seem like an unlikely destination for genuine Jamaican music on a chilly December evening. But on a recent Wednesday, patrons of The Page in Portsmouth kept warm by moving their bodies to the reggae rhythms that emanated from a pair of turntables.

The room at the Wet Bar, downstairs from The Page on Hanover Street, was not packed to capacity, but it was a healthy turnout for a winter weeknight. Guests gradually trickled down the stairs and bobbed their heads to the beat, some moving to the dance floor as the night progressed.

It’s a testament to the universality of reggae that it has pervaded even the frosty seaports of Northern New England. Reggae music seems to have global appeal that transcends race, nationality and genre.

“I’ve heard it said that reggae’s not the biggest music in the world, but it’s the most popular,” said Zeke Stern, a.k.a. Dub Killa, who provided the music at The Page. “People like to dance and they like good music and they like positive vibes.”

Stern is one of the founding members of the Green Lion Crew, a collaborative of DJs and producers dedicated to promoting reggae music. Green Lion recently revived its Stormy Wednesdays event, now at The Page every week at 9 p.m.

In the tradition of Jamaican “sound systems,” the Green Lion Crew hosts live events and offers compilations of pre-recorded reggae songs on CD, available at www.greenlioncrew.com. Each CD includes a combination of existing studio tracks and custom “dubplates” in which the artist references the sound system and the selectors who mix the recordings. The discs allow listeners to access a spectrum of new music that is difficult to find elsewhere.

“It’s like listening to an hour of me DJ-ing, but it’s a lot of the new music coming out that people have a hard time hearing,” Stern said.

A native of Cape Neddick, Maine, Stern founded Green Lion along with Dana “Chai” Knowles and Josh “Chambo” Chamberlain. Stormy Wednesdays started at The Red Door in Portsmouth in 2004 and became a popular weekly event in the small club. It continued through this spring, coming to an end because of scheduling conflicts. Green Lion has also hosted frequent radio shows on WUNH and WXGR.

Chamberlain, a Manchester native, has lived in Jamaica since September 2007, working and going to school in the capital city of Kingston. “I do publicity for a number of record labels focused on reggae music and am getting a master’s in cultural studies at the University of the West Indies,” he said in an e-mail. “The focus of my research is on sound systems as sites of civic engagement and democratic citizenship.” (Chamberlain is also a former Wire contributor who has interviewed the likes of Jimmy Cliff, Herbie Hancock and Buckwheat Zydeco.)

Knowles now lives in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he, too, is involved in promoting reggae artists. Stern has been to Jamaica four times but is currently back on the Seacoast. He decided to get Stormy Wednesdays going again in the more spacious confines of The Page’s basement bar.

Working from a laptop hooked up to a pair of turntables, Dub Killa spins through lengthy playlists of diverse reggae songs. He uses a program called Serato Scratch 5, which enables him to put massive quantities of music onto a hard drive instead of lugging around hundreds of vinyl records.

Stern said the primary function of the Green Lion Crew is simply to expose new reggae artists to a broader audience. The reggae scene on the Seacoast is limited, but Stern believes there is plenty of room for growth. Noting that there are few other places to regularly hear reggae between Boston and Portland, Maine, he said he wants to diversify the music available in this area. “Every place needs every style of music,” he said.

Reggae has gradually infiltrated mainstream American music, even beyond the Bob Marley family tree. Artists like Sean Paul, Sizzla Kalonji and Collie Buddz have achieved varying degrees of stardom all over the country. Over the last couple of decades, genres like reggae, hip-hop and jazz have evolved together, borrowing elements from one another as they mutually progress. 
The music at The Page demonstrated a surprisingly diverse array of styles within the reggae arena. Although the songs tend to share the music’s distinctive choppy guitar riffs and keyboard plunks, some have hard beats and rapped lyrics that draw heavily from hip-hop, while others feature more of an R&B sound. The vocals range from deep booming tenors and guttural growls to falsetto singing.

Stern attributes reggae’s continually expanding popularity in part to its ethnic Caribbean authenticity. “It’s revolutionary music,” he said. “There’s that energy behind it because it comes from a real place.”

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/greenlioncrew or www.myspace.com/soulofthelion.