Better known as Bob, Robert Nesta Marley was born to Captain Norval Marley and Cedella Booker on February 6, 1945, in Jamaica. Bob Marley is described as one of the most influential musicians in the Reggae history. During his time, he was an heroic figure and he still remains the same in the hearts of many people. This is due to the fact that his music is still popular and widely recognized by all music lovers, as its message is always inspiring. His main themes are based on inspiring happiness and providing views on freedom, love and racism. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the legacy of Bob Marley in reference to his influence in music and the Rastafarian movement internationally. The recognition received by Bob Marley after his death and as well during his life is comprehensively analyzed. In this context, Bob Marley helped the Rastafarian movement and reggae music to become popular worldwide.
The Rastafarian Movement, both political and religious, was founded in Jamaica in the early 1930s, drawing its cultures, traditions and beliefs from various local and international sources such as Marcus Garvey, the African heritage, the Old Testament and other international cultures. In 1966, Bob Marley was introduced to the movement by a spiritual leader, Mortimer Planno, and from there, Bob started to incorporate his faith and teachings from the Rastafarian movement with his music (Marley and McCann, 1993). As a result of this, Bob released songs such as One World and One Love, which were entirely influenced by the Rastafarian beliefs as he embraced the music signature of Rasta, widely recognized as reggae. In this context, the mentioning and use of Rastafarian ideologies and adopting the signature of Rasta man in his music, Bob Marley influenced and popularized the Rastafarian movement throughout the world as most people believe in his music.
The Rastafarian movement influenced most aspects of Bob Marley’s life, such as appearance. As a result of their beliefs in the movement, he started to embrace the teachings of the movement, such as the way of appearance, the weed, which he believed was the source of his wisdom, and as well all aspects of which were required to live like a Rasta. His faith in the movement was elevated, and so were his supporters. His supporters largely embraced the Rasta men’s way of living, such as long beards and dreadlocks. As indicated by Cobb (2017), many reggae supporters imitated Bob Marley’s lifestyle, which was guided by the Rastafari culture, and hence, this caused the appreciation and emulation of the movement’s culture and beliefs across the world.
In regards to Bob Marley’s influence on reggae music, his legacy stands out in spreading reggae to almost every country globally. Together with the Wailers, the world’s premier group, they took the international stage by Storm, in which they performed numerous concerts in several countries such as Sydney, the United States and Melbourne, through which they spread reggae music. As argued by Marvin (2017), the wailers took reggae to places where it was never thought it would be.” Based on these concerts, a reggae manic sensation was created, which was a founding step towards reggae recognition.
In another scenario, Lorenz ascertains in reference to Bob Marley that the Japanese youth are using Rastafari and reggae as a means of entertainment. Additionally, he argues that the Japanese are incorporating the Rastafari culture and music into their own music. Taking this into account, it is evident that many cultures idolize the work of Bob Marley and actively imitate the Rastafari culture. Specifically, the Exodus album by Bob Marley and The Wailers highly influenced the world and gained a lot of attention. According to Dave (2017), the “Exodus Album” was a huge hit and hence topped the charts in different countries.” The analysis of how the album influenced reggae supporters around the world. This album is largely subjected to the relationship between reggae and the Rastafari movement.
Bob Marley was ranked 11th in the chart of “100 Greatest Artists of All the Time” by Rolling Stone. This indicates that the iconic figure has had a significant influence on this generation. Most of his music spoke of injustice, revolution, change, equality, and other factors that affected many nations. The breakdown of his lyrics resulted in the spread of reggae music in different states. His Rastafari faith inspired many people to stand for change and recognize reggae as part of life’s inspiration.
Reggae music was not as popular in the U.S. as it had been in other parts of the world until Bob Marley emerged in the reggae scene. Without a doubt, Bob Marley is the king of reggae music and is largely associated with the Rastafarian movement, which took reggae to far, much greater levels. His lyrics were full of wisdom and probably inspired a lot of listeners who were faced with hard circumstances. Despite any problem, there was a Marley song that related somehow. Despite growing up in the ghetto, being exposed to warfare as a black child, and also going through hunger and poverty struggles, he preached peace and a message of hope for the hopeless (Adebayo, 2003). After his success, he aimed to uplift the youths from the ghetto side by incorporating his reggae band, the Wailing Wailers. Eventually, the band members assumed successful careers as solo artists in reggae music, although none of them were great stars in reggae music like Bob Marley.
Marley adopted the reggae style after marriage and aliasing with the Rastafarian movement. He used his reggae music to send social, political and spiritual messages to his listeners. He also collaborated with other reggae musicians to spread the message of love. The wailers, together with Bob Marley Bob Marley, were driving reggae into the mainstream. In addition, Bob had a strong political influence in Jamaica, where his solid stance in Rastafarian had found a large following, mostly amongst the ghetto youth. In order to thank the Jamaicans for their support, he decided to hold a free entry concert at Kingston’s National Heroes Park (Marley et al. 2017). His main aim was to emphasize the importance of peace in the ghettos where warring factors had heated up, leading to widespread murder and turmoil. In other words, Bob Marley was a peace activist who sought to spread the message of peace to the slum cities through his reggae music.
In 1978, the Wailer Band generated a lot of profits and mass attention due to the success of their album Kaya. The album was rated number four in the United Kingdom after its release. Set in a different mood and tone, Marley paid tribute to the ganja power and incorporated a collection of love songs, hence attracting a lot of reggae followers internationally. In regard to this, he travelled around due to the publicity of his music. For instance, he was invited to play the one love long concert for the prime minister, he was welcomed in the United Nations to receive the organization’s peace medal. Moreover, in the same year, he travelled to Kenya and Ethiopia, which included countries with large reggae followings, which he termed the spiritual home of Rasta.
Currently, most countries have idolized Bob Marley so much, for instance, in Nigeria, he is termed a freedom fighter and a prophet send to liberate the blacks from poverty and oppression through his musical lyrics (Gilmore and Mikal, 2005). Moreover, in Zimbabwe, his music is played during hard times. His music was also played during the Iraq-US war, as it greatly fostered and sent the message of peace and liberation to the listeners.
Bob Marley’s work stretched across almost all continents for two decades. Marley and his band were invited to different continents and countries to play his Rastafarian music. Due to the wide reggae influence, Bob and his band were invited to Zimbabwe to play in the country’s independence ceremony. Eventually, the Wailers released the Uprising album, forcing the band to embark on major European tours and breaking records of festivals all over the continent. The program included a large population of about 100,000 in Milan, making it the largest reggae show in the band’s history.
In conclusion, despite his death, Bob Marley’s work still remains universal and timeless, and his legend still continues. Bob Marley was successful internationally with his music; additionally, his music has Rastafari influences in both religious and political forms. This was supported by a huge fan base, which Bob Marley had and still has around the globe. His widespread influence is felt everywhere. A lot of bands have risen to play coves and pay tributes to the legendary. Additionally, Marley has a major impact on society, and his music still influences people in today’s society. This is because he played meaningful songs that positively affected society. His songs spoke of the truth and mostly inspired people to stand up for what right, and they were believed. he viewed life as a big opportunity which could not be wasted. Due to Bob Marley’s music, the reggae culture has become as popular as it is today, with a lot of people preferring reggae music to other music genres. Marley placed the reggae music to a word nobody thought it would reach. Not only did Marley conquer Jamaica with his talent, but he also conquered almost half of the world. He is widely perceived as a great leader, a hero, and most of all a reggae legend all across the world.
Reference
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