Marleys Reach China

It is great to hear that Marley music reaches China bearing in mind internet-users cannot benefit from Wikipeadia in the country. Reggae always finds a way to reach the people.

Reggae's favorite son in concert

2007-3-20
Shanghai Daily

Ziggy Marley, who captured the Grammy for Best Reggae Album last month, will perform in Shanghai next Tuesday. He says he wants to visit Shaolin Temple, study some martial arts and experience Chinese culture, writes Michelle Zhang.

Reggae's favorite son, four-time Grammy winner, Ziggy Marley, will make his Chinese mainland debut in Beijing and Shanghai next week. The one-night-only Shanghai concert will be next Tuesday at the Yunfeng Theater in the center of the city.

Marley, who won the award for the Best Reggae Album at the 49th annual Grammy Awards last month, will perform songs from his winning album "Love is My Religion." He will also perform songs from his previous album "Dragonfly," hits from his family band "The Melody Makers," and of course classics by his legendary father, Bob Marley.

"I am very curious about China as a great nation in the history of Earth," said the Grammy winner in an earlier interview. "I would love to visit the Shaolin Temple - I want to study some Chinese martial arts. I want to experience some of the culture."

The recent Grammy award marks Marley's first win as a solo artist and his fourth total in the Best Reggae category.

"I'm honored and appreciative that this very personal album was acknowledged by the Recording Academy," the reggae prodegy said after receiving the award. "I believe the whole album offers a message that people need to hear."

The album expands upon the personal, social and political themes explored in Marley's debut CD, "Dragonfly," peppering a reggae core with African percussion and other flavors. The 12-track album showcases the artist's tightly rolled talents as a songwriter (writing all cuts), musician (playing most of the instruments) and producer (shepherding all dozen tracks, with three co-produced by Grammy-winner Ross Hogarth).

When asked what motivated him to write the album, the Jamaica native said: "I didn't want to be in the political world; now everything is political songs and I really didn't want to (go there). I just didn't feel like writing about politics today. I wanted to write about love and spiritual things."

"Love" is exactly the message Marley wants to deliver to China and his fans here, since "what more can you ask for? What more can you give?" he asked.

The eldest son of Bob Marley first sat in on recording sessions with his iconoclastic father when he was 10 years old.

"I remember as a child the studio being a fun place," he recalled. "To me, the studio was like a big spaceship. I have a great imagination and the studio to me was like this craft with the lights and the boards and it was something new for me.

"I really used my imagination when I was in there. As kids, we'd fall asleep in the studio and it wasn't about being in the studio with your father, it was being in this magical place where my imagination could run wild."

Marley said he learned from his father both musically and in life. "Musically, we learned that there is a certain standard that we set and we have to keep. We take the music as a serious thing and we treat it that way, so we become slightly perfectionist in what we're doing to maintain a certain standard in what we do. I learned that, musically, from my father, that discipline.

"In life, I think I learned from him spirituality. He laid the foundation for my beliefs, now coming to me and telling me that love is my religion. It's because of his foundation that I have reached this point. He laid the foundation for my philosophy today."

Marley joined with his three siblings to form the family band "The Melody Makers" as teenagers and gradually crafted and forged his own soulful sound blending blues, R&B, hip-hop and reggae. He released his debut solo album "Dragonfly" in 2003 after being the driving creative force behind the band for two decades.

He said he split from the family group because "it was just time when everyone was searching for other avenues to express themselves." But he believes that there will be family collaborations some time in the future.

The artist has also contributed to a variety of soundtracks including "50 First Dates" and "Shark's Tale," in which he delved into acting for the first time, playing the character of Bernie, the Jamaican jellyfish.

According to Marley, the only thing more joyful than making the album "Love is My Religion," which is made "from his heart," is the global tour which kicked off last summer - and now he is coming to China.

Typically performing in larger venues around the world, tickets for the reggae superstar's show at the 1,600-seat Yunfeng Theater are expected to sell out quickly.

In addition to his skills as a singer, songwriter and producer, Marley founded URGE (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment), a non-profit organization that benefits a wide range of charitable children's causes in Jamaica, Ethiopia and other developing nations. More recently he has thrown his support behind the Youth AIDS campaign.



Date: March 27, 7:30pm

Address: 1700 Beijing Rd W.

Tickets: 280-480 yuan

Tel: 6289-3919

For ticket information, log onto www.cwest.cn.