67 for the Gong
Published:Monday | February 6, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
IF HE were still alive, Bob Marley would have turned 67 years old today. Five years short of being dead for as long as he was alive, the Tuff Gong's legend continues to grow, not least of all because of the efforts of his performing sons, Stephen, Damian aka Jr Gong, Ky-Mani and Julian, who tend to operate as a unit, and Ziggy, who has often expanded his music into the realm of folk.
On Saturday night, the Marley quartet closed the International Night of the Trench Town Community Festival, and yesterday was his official birthday concert in Emancipation Park. Last weekend, the hallowed Marley musical name was at the epicentre of the telecommunications sponsorship wars, with LIME carrying the Trench Town concert on its mobile television service and had a heavy sponsorship presence; last night's Emancipation Park concert was staged in part by Digicel.
Today, the birthday celebrations are at the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, St Andrew, beginning with Nyabinghi Drumming at Sunrise (5 a.m.), then blessings from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (8 a.m.), and birthday cake cutting. There will be music all day, then the Bob Marley Birthday Jam Session from 6 p.m. to midnight.
Bob Marley was born February 6, 1945, in Nine Miles, St Ann, and died on May 11, 1981, in Miami, United States.
It is the predominantly roots reggae Island/Tuff Gong albums which have made Marley a legend, even though he started with ska. After Catch a Fire came Burnin (1973), Natty Dread (1974), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), Survival (1979), Uprising (1980) and Confrontation (1983). Live! (1975) and Babylon By Bus (1978) are the official live sets of the 1970s.
Legend, released in 1984, is a 'best of' Marley compilation which officially went diamond in 2009, 18 years after Nielsen SoundScan officially started tracking sales. It was the 17th album to officially move 10 million units.
Now, for the week of February 11, Marley father and son are in the Billboard top five reggae albums, Stephen at three with Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life, and Bob at number four with Live Forever.