Bob Marley Day across the globe

By Basil Walters Observer staff reporter waltersb@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, February 04, 2007

Twenty-six years after his death in 1981, the musical and philosophical legacy of Robert Nesta Marley OM (Bob Marley), is being celebrated worldwide, especially on his birthday, February 6.

From Jamaica to the Americas, to Africa where this year's Africa Unite show will take place in South Africa, Bob Marley's 62nd birthday will be celebrated across the continents. In Jamaica, there will be a week of celebratory activities in his honour revolving around some of the things with which he is identified.

Bob Marley would have celebrated his 57th birthday on February 6.

On the home front, the celebration climaxes with the Smile Jamaica concert set for February 10, at Nine Miles in St Ann. The event, being staged by Ghetto Youths International, features the Marley clan in sons Stephen, Damian, Julian and Kymani along with a host of other acts including Bunny Wailer.

But kicking off the series of activities is the first of two symposia on Monday (February 5), the eve of Bob Marley Day. The three-hour symposium titled Welcome to Jamrock: Reggae Music's Influence on Tourism and the Economy, takes place at the Bob Marley Museum (56 Hope Road) between the hours of 7:00 and 10:00 pm.

The second symposium is the annual Bob Marley Lecture on Thursday, February 8, organised by The Reggae Studies Unit at the University of the West Indies, Mona. This symposium puts the question which has long been a burning issue squarely on the table. The question is, Bob Marley: National Hero or National Icon?
Noted psychologist, Dr Leachim Semaj, will lend his expertise in assisting the process of arriving at the appropriate answer at the UWI, the Undercroft of the Senate Building, at 6:00 pm. A concert at Culture Yard later that evening will give a sneak preview of the Nine Miles show with the Marley brothers.

The morning session of the Bob Marley Day activities on Tuesday, February 6, centres on his famed Tuff Gong International Studio, where at 9:00 am, invited schools will participate in special guided tours with the theme, The Making Of Music, during which students will get a glimpse of what goes into the making of records.

In the afternoon, the focus shifts to the Bob Marley Museum where a Soul Shake Down Party will celebrate the music of the reggae icon's era from 7:00 pm until 2:00 am. At the same time, there will be a Rastafari Nyahbinghi ceremony at the Culture Yard in Trench Town where he spent a lot of his formative years after moving from his native community of Nine Miles in St Ann.

Then on the following day (Wednesday, February 7), at the museum, the 1993 film Sankofa will be shown at 7:00 pm. This is in collaboration with the Jamaica Bicentenary Committee.
In Atlanta, the celebration began on Saturday, February 3, with the Up Town Top Ranking promotion at the Apache Cafe, featuring Erica Newell, formerly of Melody Makers. On that gig also were some US-based reggae acts like Ras Kofi, Kelly Jones, Sista P Selassie and Spla "I" Jah.

In Toronto, Canada, Mayor David Miller will today (Sunday, February 4), for the seventeenth year, officially declare open Bob Marley Day, at the Trane Studio Restaurant, 964 Bathhurst Street.