BOB MARLEY Jamaica has produced an artist who has touched all categories, classes, and creeds through innate modesty and profound wisdom. Bob Marley, the Natural Mystic who introduced reggae to European and American fans still may prove to be the most significant musical artist of the twentieth century. Bob Marley gave the world brilliant music and established reggae as major forces in music that is comparable with the blues and rock&rolls. His work stretched across nearly two decades and still remains timeless.
Bob Marley & the Wailers worked their way into all of our lives. "He's taken his place with James Brown and Sly Stone as pervasive influence on r&b", said Timothy White, author of the Bob Marley biography "Catch A Fire". It is important to think of the roots of this legend: the first superstar from the Third World, Bob Marley was one of the most charismatic and challenging performers of his time. His music reflects only one source: the street culture of Jamaica. Later, in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. Tafari claimed to be the 225th ruler in a line that went back to Menelik, the son of Solomon.
The Garvey followers in Jamaica, who consulted their New Testaments for a sign, believed that Haile Selassie was the black king that Garvey had said would deliver the black race. It was the start of a new religion called Rastafari, which Bob was into heavily. Fifteen years after, in Nine Miles deep within Jamaica Robert Nesta Marley was born. His mother Cedella Booker was an eighteen-year-old black girl while his father was Captain Norval Marley, a 50-year-old white man working for the Jamaican Forestry Commission.
The couple married in 1944 and Norval left Cedella to legitimize their unborn child. Then Bob was born on February 6, 1945. Norval's family applied constant pressure to Bob and, although he provided financial support, Norval seldom saw his son who grew up in St. Ann to the north of the island.
Bob Marley, barely into his teens, moved to Kingston (Trench Town) in the late Fifties. His friends Were other street youths, also not happy with their place in society. One friend Neville O'Riley Livingston was known as Bunny, Bob met Bunny when his mom took work taking rooms behind a rum bar owned by Toddy Livingston Bunnys father. Bob took his first musical steps with Bunny.
The way he used nature in his everyday life and he didn't need much to keep him happy. He could let others see the world through his nonconformist ways through song. He was just happy to be living the life he was given without a worry in the world. That's why I think Bob Marley fits into the Transcendental concepts of nonconformity, simplified Life, and importance of nature. Although he started off Christian I think Rastafarian made him into the man he was. I can't imagine what kind of things he would've done if he didn't die at such an early age can
Marcus Garvey, and the ideology of Garveyism, was crucial in creating a movement of Revivalism and the reinvigoration of Africa-first religions. Marcus Garvey is one of the most influential people in the movements of Revivalism and Rastafarianism. Garvey took to the streets of Kingston to proclaim his message about an Africa-first ideology that begin to resonate with a Jamaican population that was slowly beginning to understand the breadth of the oppression they experience. He emphasized this connection with Africa and the desire for a black-controlled African homeland as a unifying characteristic of all black people in Jamaica. Chevannes notes Garvey’s position was largely centered on “the dignity and equality of blacks… [and] their ability to claim a land they could call their own, one in which they could be their own master” (p 95). The concept of “being their own master” is key to the Revivalism and then later the Rastafarian movement; it encouraged a unification of black people everywhere, not only in
...uality, nature, anti-materialism and self-reliance. His music was purposed towards encouraging people to believe in their choices and decisions rather than believing in the teachings of societal institutions. Bob Marley criticized religion is an institution which instead of uniting people ends up separating them. He also warns people not to suffer in the name of going to even and live an afterlife. Rather, they should live in heaven on earth that is, they should be happy in their lives. Bob Marley’s song corresponds to transcendentalist who believed that people should not conform to the normal life patterns. Transcendentalists, just like Bob Marley, believed that one derives happiness from what he/she believes is right no matter what people think or the consequences. When one stands up for his/her rights, he/she does not follow what has been stipulated or instructed.
Reggae music is a meaningful channel for social change. Reggae music portrays resistance to oppression, it is a symbolic action, part of a nonviolent revolution. It is a type of rhetoric; a method of communication designed to influence and persuade. It is a message with a purpose, it represents a crystallization of fundamental issues. Reggae music asks the listener to reconsider our daily lives and to hear the cry of the sufferer, because so many people are suffering. The lyrics and music of Robert Nesta Marley gave reggae music international recognition. Bob was a charismatic performer who truly stands out as a prophet. There is clearly a prophetic overtone to his lyrics yet he was only given the prophetic status after he died. His lyrics operate on a deep level, yet they typically relate to everyday occurrences. Bob's music was and is a powerful force to ease the pain of life in the ghetto. He embodied a feeling of empowerment, and encourages all listeners to 'chant down Babylon'.
Reggae The Story Of Jamaican Music BBC Documentary. vols., 2012. Online. Internet. 22 Mar. 2014. . Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv1Iy26qlLk&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
Rastafarianism is a religious movement that combines the cultural rituals of Jamaican folk Christianity with the Pan-Africanist movement lead by Marcus Garvey. The religion is influenced by the beliefs of the Nazarite Vow. This vow describes in great detail the significance of the Rastafari movement and the influence Samson has on Rasta’s. During the early twentieth century Marcus Garvey, “the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA),” prophesied the crowning of a black king (Olmos 183). Then a few years later his prophesy was considered fulfilled when Haile Selassie was named Emperor of Ethiopia. Rastafari was founded on November 2, 1930 with the crowning of Ras Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie, or Emperor of Ethiopia.
I am not going to waste your time by writing exhaustively about how and where Reggae began for three reasons: 1) you definitely know; 2) you have read at least 25 papers before mine with explicit and redundant descriptions of the birth of Reggae; and 3) I don’t think that much else matters for the purpose of this paper besides the reason behind the formation of Reggae culture. Karl Marx once said, “Jamaican history is characteristic of the beastliness of the true Englishman,” which alone designates causation for a raging revolution. Jamaica was stolen, pillaged, exploited, cultivated, massacred, raped, and defecated on by the British empire. With its social darwinistic institutionalized racism ...
Reggae music is a very powerful way of communicating a message to its listener’s. Reggae has evolved over time from many different types of music and lots of different forms from ska to reggae. The history of reggae starts over 400 years ago in the days of slavery. Under the severe oppression of slavery the African people tried to hold on the pieces of their culture that they could. Music and dance were among the most important cultural traditions retained by the African people. These African rhythms gave way to mento, which gave rise to Rastafarian chants, which in turn gave way to ska and then rocksteady. (Potash, 29) When reggae music is thought of, Jamaica is instantly the word that comes to most peoples mind. Reggae music is also associated closely with the smoking of ganja. Generally people are uneducated about Rastafarianism, and don’t know that smoking marijuana is a sacrament of their religion. Just like Christians eat bread and drink wine at mass, for the Rastafarians ganja is a way to get closer to Jah or their God. The Rastafarian's God was proclaimed Haile Selassie the King of Ethiopia. The man who predicted this was Marcus Garvey a native Jamaican was an advocate of black unity and pride. Garvey was the one who told the African people that their savior would be the next king crowned in Africa. The Jamaican people revered Garvey and believed in what he preached, and when Haile Selassie was crowned the king of Ethiopia the Rastafarian people rejoiced with their new God, Haile Selassie. The Rastafarian’s loved Selassie, even though Selassie didn’t ask or want to be their God. Selassie made a visit to Jamaica in April of 1966, and when he first landed the thousands of Ras...
Bob Dylan is one of the most influential artists, especially in the Vietnam era where everything seemed to be falling apart. He wrote so many different rebel ballads that I most definitely think impacted the turnout of the 60s and 70s. Many of his songs are still popular today and so many different generations know of him and his work. Bob Dylan influenced many artists and is still is inspiring people and will continue to for many years to come.
Born February 45th. In Nine Mile, Jamaica, Bob Marley would advance to touch that hearts of many people. Although he was teased during his childhood for being of mixed race heritage, he still managed to change people lives with his leadership and activism as an adult. Bob Marley was not only a leader when it came to activism. He was also a leader for emerging music. He often communicated politics and social issues through his lyrics. Rather than conforming to the demands of the music industry, he created his own unique and authentic style of music. Bob Marley shared fundamental elements of music in his work that is now found in the music genres of today.
Marley, Bob. "Bob Marley Quotes | Famous Quotes." Famous Quotes | Over 2,150,000 Famous Quotes | Movie Quotes | Inspirational Quotes & Sayings - Friendship & Life Quotes - | Proverbs! Great-quotes.com. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. .
Bob Marley expresses his belief that music is a message and route to freedom in the song “Trench town.”
Marley was born into Jamaica’s poverty and it is where he developed a strong love of reggae and became a Rastafari. Reggae, evolved from another musical style called Ska in the late 1960’s, is considered the voice of the ‘oppressed’ peoples. Many reggae lyrics are politicalised and centre on themes of freedom and fighting for it. (Cooper, 2014)
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a powerful black revolutionary and race leader who influenced a great many people in his time and continues to do so through reggae music. Many of Marcus Garvey's lessons and ideals have found a voice in the lyrics of conscious reggae musicians past and present. From internationally famous musicians such as Bob Marley and Burning Spear, to the music and words of The Rastafari Elders, reggae musicians have found inspiration in Marcus Garvey.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born into a poor family on August 17, 1887 at St. Annâ€TMs Bay, Jamaica. Marcus was born the youngest of 11 children. His father was a stonemason who supposedly descended from the maroons. Maroons are African American slaves who defended their freedom from British and Spanish invaders. Garvey had to itemize his pride in the unmixed African heritage of his parents.