Bob Marley the Arc-Ingel
Bob Marley was born in 1945. Marley is the undisputable King of reggae music. Gong as was called was a mystic, prophet, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, a pioneer of Jamaican reggae music and an international spiritual and revolutionary icon. Gong was a name that Leonard Percival Howell the first Rastafari was called. He is definitely the greatest reggae artists ever; he was the first Jamaican reggae performer to achieve significant international prominence. He is the musician with the song and album of the century and the millennium.
He was born Robert Nesta Marley in Rhoden Hall in the coastal parish of St. Ann, Jamaica. In 1961While learning the welding trade in Kingston he formed his first harmony group, the Rude boys. The group later became known as the Wailing Wailers. The Wailers included The Living Stone vocalists Bunny Livingston Wailer and Peter Tosh The Stepping Razor, both of whom later embarked on successful solo careers. The group's early recordings were in ska, a hybrid of New Orleans rhythm and blues and Jamaican mento. Mento was the first of the reggae styles. (The term reggae is commonly used as a collective designation for a number of successive forms of Jamaican pop music-ska, rock steady, poppa-top, and reggae.) By the late 1960s, influences from United States rhythm and blues, Jamaican folk rhythm, and dub (rhythmic, improvised verses) were synthesized into the rock steady and poppa-top styles, and Marley emerged as a rising talent in this new genre of Jamaican music.Rita Marley accepted Rastafari while Bob was in the United States, she was especially moved by the mystics that sorrounded his visit in April of 1966. In 1967 when Bob retuned to Jamaica he embraced Rastafari, which has had a profound influence on reggae music.
Marley was strongly influenced by the legendary Martimo Planno. Planno had when on the 1961 trip to the blessed continent and met with The King, he was the one the King called to quiet the crowed when he came to Jamaica in 1961. Planno wrote several songs for Marley and was like a guru to the Arc Ingel.
The Rastafarian movement of this period, among other beliefs, recognized Haile Sellassie I, king of Ethiopia, as the living Jah; praised the spiritual effects of marijuana; and endorsed black racial superiority. Influenced by the Rastafarian movement,
Marley's music contains elements of spiritualism and mysticism. Some songs call for personal freedom through revolution, while others embrace carefree attitudes toward life or convey stories of love. Marley and the Wailers recorded Catch a Fire (1972), Burnin' (1973), Natty Dread (1975), and Live (1975), among other albums. With the great political and economic turmoil in Jamaica in the 1970s, Marley developed a rebel image.
He survived a 1976 assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica. He consequently went to Europe and experienced a new level of popular success in countries like England, Sweden, The Netherlands, and West Germany (now part of the united Federal Republic of Germany). Rastaman Vibration (1976) and a United States tour brought him matchless success with American reggae fans, and his popularity was furthered with Exodus (1977), Babylon by Bus (1978), Kaya (1978), Uprising (1980), and numerous re-releases of previous works.
During his lifetime, Marley's music came to be closely associated with the movement towards African liberation, equal rights and justice. His influence was inspirational to the in several African and South American countries that at the time were fighting for liberation from colonialism, apartheid, and exploitation.
His music has remained highly popular, and for many it has continued to symbolize the hopes of the downtrodden for a better life outside urban slums. The clarity, conviction, and sincerity of Marley's performances, and his unique, melodic style of song writing, have influenced many pop-music artists, including songwriter Tracy Chapman, Erika Badu, Busta Rhymes Stevie, Lauren Hill, Wonder and rock guitarist Eric Clapton and people I Afrika like Lucky Dube.
The Marley magic is alive and well in his children his wife and former colleagues who continues to dominate the reggae industry winning numerous Grammies and other awards.
In Bob Marley’s words is the essence of life, the hope of change and the indomitable the spirit of Rastafari and as long as people lives on the Earth the worlds of Bob Marley like those of Moses, Yeshua, Imhotep Buddha, Marcus Garvey and Haile Sellassie I will be a beacon of light for those who seek life.
