BOB MARLEY: 41 years after his death he remains an icon of world music

Le 11 may 1981, Bob Marley dies, “poet and prophet”, to quote give it away Red Hot Chili Peppers. Born in Nine Mile in Jamaica on February 6, 1945 and raised in the slums of Kingston, Robert Nesta Marley was one of the ambassadors of the reggae around the world making this genre popular beyond national borders, so much so that a month after his death he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit. The son of a white Jamaican of English descent and a black woman abandoned during her pregnancy, Marley has always refused the father figure so much that he declared: “I had no father. My father was like those stories you read, stories about slaves: the white man who takes the black woman and impregnates her”.

Marley and the Rastafari movement

Bob Marley was educated as a Christian but over time decided to follow the Rastafari movement , whose doctrine regarded the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I (1892-1975) as the incarnation of God. In 1966 he visited Jamaica and requested missionaries from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Stop. One of them, Abunda Yesehaq , became archbishop and very close friend of Marley, a bond which led the musician to convert in the last years of his life. Also in 1966, Bob Marley married Alpharita Costancia Anderson, later known as Rita Marley, a member of The Threes (Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt). By her, he had three of his 13 children (two adopted from Rita's previous relationship, three with her, and another eight with other women).

Bob Marley, more than a musician, was an activist and a politician

Marley's musical career began in 1961 with the first single Judge Not . Faced with the lack of success, he decided in 1964 to form the group The Wailers with Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh. After their dissolution in 1974, he reformed the group by recruiting new members, but continued to play and release records under the name of Bob Marley & the Wailers . But Bob Marley was above all an activist. His music is dedicated to the fight against oppression policy et racial and the call for the unification of peoples of color as the only way to achieve freedom and equality. Political, spiritual and religious leader, he received in 1978 the Peace Medal of the United Nations on behalf of 500 million Africans.

Turning it with No woman No Cry in 1975.

The turning point in his career came in 1975 when Bob Marley recorded the single No woman No Cry , from the album Natty dread . This was followed by the 1976 hit, Rastman Vibration. The same year, he moved to the United Kingdom where he recorded the albums Exodus – which include tubes like Jammin' et One Love -and Kaya. In July 1977, Marley noticed an injury to her right big toe and thought she had injured it in an accident during a football game. Later, in another match, the big toe nail broke off. Only then was the correct diagnosis made: acral melanoma. Some doctors advised him to amputate the big toe, others only the nail bed; Bob chose the second option for religious reasons, but the melanoma was not completely cured and continued to progress. In 1978, Bob Marley organized a political concert in Jamaica, the One Love Peace Concert. In 1980, the disc Uprising marks the end of its production. A work with strong religious significance which contained singles such as Redemption Song et Forever Loving Yes. After a European tour which also touched Italy with dates in Turin and Milan ( this last concert opened by Pino Daniele ), Marley returned to the United States. After two concerts at Madison Square Garden, he collapsed while running in Central Park. The last show took place in Pittsburgh on September 23, 1980. After a stopover in Munich to be visited, he decided to return to Jamaica but due to his condition he was forced to land in Miami. He was admitted to Cedar of Lebanon Hospital. Before he died, he spoke to all of his children and Ziggy remembered, "Money can't buy life." And it is precisely with Redemption Songthat Tag43 offers you a hello: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, no one but ourselves can free our minds”.