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By Philippe Wamba
Every February 6th, reggae fans all over the world celebrate
the birthday of Bob Marley with tribute parties, concerts, radio
and TV programs, and the release of new albums of Marley-related
material, commemorating the life and legacy of one of the most
significant cultural artists of the 20th century and mourning
his death on May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. This year Marley
would have been 60 if he had survived the cancer in his right
foot that claimed his life in 1981, and memorial festivals and
events are taking place internationally. That a pop singer who
died 19 years ago would still captivate people from Jamaica
to California to Boston to New Zealand to Zanzibar is a testament
to Marley's powerful and universal appeal, and the endurance
of both his impressive musical contributions and his message
of spiritual redemption.
To Prof. Horace Campbell, the author of Rasta
and Resistance: from Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney (Africa
World Press, 1987) and a professor of African American Studies
and Political Science at Syracuse University, it's no surprise
that Marley's work still has contemporary relevance. "‘Redemption
Song' will always resound," he said, referring to one of
Marley's best-known songs, which encourages listeners to "emancipate
yourselves from mental slavery." "One of the main
problems we now have is this vast technological revolution which
has led to the debasement of human values…Bob's message was
that we are human beings, we have values, we're not just machines
to make money." For many Marley fans, it's a message that
seems increasingly vital in a cultural environment saturated
with the often money-obsessed perspectives of much of contemporary
black popular music.
Since nearly two decades have passed since
Marley's death, his legacy is perhaps in danger of being lost
on a new generation of young people. Still, because of the passion
that endures for a man who became an international icon of revolution
and cultural pride in the 1970s, many have striven to ensure
that those too young to remember him will be exposed to Marley's
music and message.
Among others, Bob's own children -- in particular
Ziggy and brother Steve, who tour with an ensemble of Marley
offspring called the Melody Makers -- have endeavored to bring
their father's music to a new, youthful audience. Last year
Steve produced an album titled Chant Down Babylon, a collection
of Marley songs remixed and digitally remastered to feature
vocal performances by a selection of contemporary rap musicians.
Save for notable contributions by Lauryn Hill ("Turn Your
Lights Down Low," originally on Exodus, 1977) and Busta
Rhymes (who sounds right at home growling in Jamaican patois
on the Marley classic "Rastaman Chant" from 1973's
Burnin'), the collection primarily demonstrates that it's impossible
to improve on perfection. It is, however, possible to repackage
it to make it more palatable for an audience more accustomed
to hip hop, and on this objective the album delivers, gaining
a new following for revamped old classics and perhaps whetting
appetites for a taste of the undiluted originals. Although many
reggae purists balk at the idea of contaminating Marley's music
with rap verses, Prof. Campbell sees Marley's discovery by a
new generation as a positive development. "Youth respond
to Marley today because they're looking for leadership, there's
a need for clear political leadership," he said.
In addition to the efforts of Marley's children,
popular artists such as Lauryn Hill, whose relationship with
Bob's son Rohan has yielded two new Marley grandkids, self-consciously
seek to embody and manifest the values Marley stood for. "Lauryn
Hill is currently the best representation of Rastafari, the
spirit of Bob, against every form of violence and oppression,
against the dehumanizing culture of materialism," Prof.
Campbell said enthusiastically. "Take what Lauryn Hill
is saying, we must stop fighting for the Benjamins [one hundred
dollar bills] and fight against the beast. Lauryn asks, ‘would
you kill your brother for the Benjamins?' the same way Bob asks
[on the song "Coming in From the Cold," Uprising,
1979] ‘would you let the system make you kill your brother man?'
-- ‘No, dread, no' is the answer."
A self-described Rastafarian "from ever
since," Marley infused his songs with a spiritual message
of peace, love and social justice and lyrics taken directly
from the Old Testament. Rastafarianism (or Rastafari) emerged
as a popular religious movement in Jamaica in the 1930s, and
taught that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I (who before his
coronation was called Ras Tafari) was the earthly embodiment
of God ("Jah") and that through Rasta's redemptive
power believers would be delivered from bondage in the west
("Babylon") to freedom in the Promised Land (Africa).
The belief system provided a powerful counter-narrative to the
dehumanizing legacy of slavery and a spiritual means of overcoming
that "dread-ful" experience. "Rastafari represents
the spiritual values of our ancestors, reinforcing our sense
that we are human beings, refuting a system which refuses to
recognize our humanity," Campbell explained. Adherents
of the faith often grow their hair in dreadlocks, the signature
tresses that Marley popularized all over the world, eat an "ital"
diet of fruit, vegetables and fish, and make frequent use of
marijuana for meditation and spiritual reflection.
Despite Rastafarianism's preoccupation with
the condition of black people, Marley's appeal transcended race.
Freedom, equality and radical resistance to all forms of oppression
were at the center of his thought and work, and his political
message resonated with poor and disenfranchised people everywhere.
"If you visit the Maori of New Zealand or Native Americans,
all of them proclaim Bob Marley and Rasta because it spoke to
their spiritual needs, their resistance to oppression,"
said Campbell. Quoting Marcus Garvey, Selassie, the Bible, Karl
Marx and Jamaican folk wisdom, Marley unleashed sophisticated
critiques of slavery, colonialism, capitalism and inequality
in eloquently simple terms on songs like "Slave Driver"
(Catch A Fire, 1973), "Get Up, Stand Up" (Burnin',
1973) and "Zimbabwe" (Survival, 1979), but also penned
sentimental ruminations on love, and passionate praise songs
in Jah's glory.
"Good God, I think this illiteracy, it's
just a machine to make money," he sang on "Slave Driver,"
while on "Babylon System" (Survival, 1979) he proclaimed,
"the Babylon system is the vampire, sucking the blood of
the sufferer," laying bare the cruel nature of capitalist
exploitation. "She's Gone" (Kaya, 1978) is a forlorn
expression of lost love, the plaintive lament of a man who overlooked
the signals of his lover's discontent until it was too late;
as Bob sings mournfully, "Oh mockingbird, have you ever
heard the words that I never heard?" On "Forever Loving
Jah" (Uprising, 1980), an exuberant statement of spiritual
faith, Marley expresses the boundless unconditional optimism
and hope that Jah provides: "Old man river, don't cry for
me, I've got a running stream of love you see, so no matter
what stages, rages, changes they put us through, we'll never
be blue."
After a ten-year career with the original Wailers
(Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, boyhood collaborators who went
on to successful solo careers), Bob Marley and the multi-piece
Wailers band released ten albums between 1973 and 1980. An additional
album of previously unreleased material, Confrontation, was
put out in 1983, after Marley's death, and hundreds of compilations
have followed, including Legend (1984), the "best of Bob
Marley and the Wailers" collection that is one of the best-selling
albums of all time. Although he enjoyed significant critical
and commercial success during his life – he devoted most of
his money to supporting thousands of poor people in Jamaica
-- most of Marley's accolades and earnings have come posthumously.
Last year Time magazine named his Exodus (1977) album one of
the best recordings of the 20th century, and his legions of
self-professed fans have grown to include some unlikely enthusiasts:
former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich,
for example. Marley's legend has grown, too: in Jamaica he is
a national hero; in parts of Africa he is revered like a musical
saint; some Rastas see him as the reincarnation of Joseph; and
among some Native American groups, his life and work are regarded
as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy.
On "Ride, Natty, Ride," a song about
the rise of Rastafari as a potent political force, Marley quoted
the Bible in memorable fashion: "But the stone that the
builder refuses shall be the head cornerstone," he sang
with customary conviction. "It means that he who is rejected
by society will be the prophet of a new social order,"
Campbell explained. Marley has found more widespread social
acceptance and mainstream recognition in death than he ever
received in life, and the continuing international tradition
of celebrating his birthday each year is an indication of the
strength of his eternal legacy. Perhaps the reggae prophet,
who grew up poor in rural Jamaica and fended for himself as
a youth on the streets of Kingston, was predicting his own destiny
as the cornerstone of a worldwide cultural edifice that continues
to grow and endure.
About the Author
Sources:
Thirdfield.com
-A Tribute to Bob Marley.
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