Bob Marley is 75 years old!

By: Joe Farmer Follow

In this year 2020, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the late Bob Marley. To understand a man's epic, one must know his convictions, his commitment, his philosophy of life, his social and cultural environment.

Publicity

The identity imprint of a major personality like Robert Nesta Marley is rooted in the precepts of Rastafarianism, a spiritual movement born in the 1930s in Jamaica. However, it would be unfair to reduce this great figure of Afro-Caribbean culture to this hasty definition.

Bob Marley, born February 06, 1945, was a complex being who claimed to have a universalist thought but whose commitments were sometimes akin to an idealist fight. Some of his texts, his acts, his words displayed an almost militant will to resist oppression, injustice and discrimination. When he succeeded in bringing together two political adversaries on the famous "One Love Peace Concert" on April 22, 1978 in Kingston, it became difficult to believe that his successful bet was only an act of faith. Although he denied it, a form of activism animated this pious man confronted with the upheavals of a Jamaican society in full post-colonial restructuring.

Why and how has a country kid conquered the whole world? Why has his repertoire attracted so many listeners across the planet? What was there in her music to make her so popular? What was the young Bob Marley listening to in Trenchtown so that his inspiration would be so fertile? It is a cocktail of very diverse tones that will fuel this young mongrel whose lively spirit quickly captures the accents of gospel, jazz, rhythm & blues, American boogie-woogie, and mento, merengue, calypso Caribbean. Ska will be the hybrid form of expression and will feed the creative appetite of the future "King of Reggae".

Bob Marley, during a concert at Gröna Lund, in Stockholm, Sweden. Hulton Archive / Getty Images

This mulatto addition of traditions escaped from ancestral Africa will give meaning to his theological questions. Bob Marley will become an internationally celebrated messenger whose musical poetry will guide the steps of his very numerous and heterogeneous heirs and disciples. Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Aswad, Third World, Groundation, Ben Harper, among others, will claim to be their illustrious elder. The American singer Garland Jeffreys, for example, very early on felt an artistic affiliation with Bob Marley: “ My first experience with the world of reggae dates back to 1968 when I discovered the Heptones. Then I listened to Jimmy Cliff's album "The Harder They Come". I thought it was fantastic but I have to say that when I heard Bob Marley's music, I felt like we were brothers. I had the impression that he was following the same path as me. He spoke of my feelings, my frustrations, I recognized myself perfectly in him. We met much later in New York, he was giving a concert in a city club. He played six nights in a row and gave two concerts a night. I attended all the concerts. Little by little, I became his friend. We met again in Chicago. It turns out that we had the same promoter in common. After his concert, I went to join him in his dressing room. And what was my surprise when I heard her musicians sing one of my songs from my album " Ghost Writer" from 1977. Imagine my amazement ! Bob and I then spent the evening remaking the world. It remains an unforgettable memory ”.

Bob Marley and the Wailers, during a concert in Voorbug, the Netherlands in 1976. © Gijsbert Hanekroot / Redferns

Many similar anecdotes should reappear over the next few months on the Internet thanks to a series of mini-documentaries that the Marley family will produce as part of the 75th anniversary of their late ancestor. Since February 6, 2020, a brand new video clip illustrating "Redemption Song" is available on YouTube . A great way to start commemorations.

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Jamaica
• Culture
• Music

On the same subject

Tropical colors

Music and the Open Air Conscious Generation "Tribute to Bob Marley"

World music

Bob Marley, Francis Dordor and Jahkasa in live session #reggae

Tropical colors

Let's give Bob Marley what belongs to Bob Marley (1)