When you think of Jamaica, you’re likely to conjure a mental picture of Bob Marley before you think of anything else. There’s no other country in the world where one musician seems to represent the embodiment of an entire culture like Marley is to Jamaica. From the moment he started out in 1963 with the Wailers, Bob Marley forged a singular songwriting style that resonated with audiences around the world.
Bob Marley statue in Addis Ababa
In 2015, a statue of Marley was installed in Addis Ababa for Bob’s 70th birthday celebration. But this tribute sparked controversy, raising questions about cultural heritage, religious beliefs, and the complex relationship between Jamaica and Africa.
The Roots of Rastafarianism in Ethiopia
The dreadlocks and the red/green/yellow color scheme seem sooooo Jamaican. The answer might surprise you: Look no further than the Ethiopian flag. Ethiopia is the only African country never colonized by Europeans.
During the latter attempt, a prominent figure emerged: a king who claimed to be from the lineage of Queen Sheba and King Solomon. Haile had other names, too, partly because of the different languages he spoke (including French and the native Amharic and Ge’ez languages of Ethiopia). Tafari was his given name at birth, meaning “one who is respected or feared.” Later, as governor of the walled city of Harer, he was given the ranking title of Ras, or “prince.” If you haven’t already figured it out, Haile Selassie was also known as Ras Tafari.
Read also: The Story of Naira Marley
A few years prior, in the 1920s, a popular Jamaican political leader named Marcus Garvey predicted that one day a black man would be crowned king in Africa. This king would be a divine being that would bring deliverance to the people of Africa and the rest of the world. To the poor Jamaican population, Tafari was more than just an Ethiopian king. He appeared to them to be the chosen one.
Jamaicans, like many other former slaves, had been robbed of their culture and sense of belonging. The idea of going back to Africa and redefining and reasserting their native roots was very appealing. The people who idolized Tafari embraced many of the Ethiopian traditions: An Ethiopian vegan lifestyle without alcohol or salt was adopted; the colors of the Ethiopian flag were embraced; dreadlocks became a symbol of a lion’s mane as well as the idea of roots connecting man to God. Long hair is also strongly associated with the biblical story of Sampson and other Old Testament scripture.
Selassie explained to his followers that he was not the Messiah. In spite of his protests, many were certain that was the chosen one. This small cult never really gained worldwide acceptance until Robert Marley popularized it.
Born Catholic, Marley converted in the 1960s, grew his dreadlocks and began writing songs with spiritual elements. When asked about his religious beliefs, the singer once mentioned, “I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty…. I don’t see how much more reveal our people want. Wha’ dem want? A white God, well God come black.
Haile Selassie
Read also: The music of Bob Marley
Marley's Connection to Ethiopia
In 1966, Selassie visited Jamaica to an ecstatic crowd of thousands. He appropriated 500 acres of land of his country to Jamaicans or other people of African descent who wished to move to Ethiopia. Bob Marley visited Ethiopia in 1978 and stayed in Shashamane, the village formed by those who had taken Selassie’s offer. It was thought that a large percentage of the one million adherents might move to “Zion,” but that never really happened. Fifty-plus years later, roughly 800 Rastafarians live in the town.
For all the songs about moving back to Africa, hardly anyone actually did it-including Marley himself. Shashamane remains an eccentric little enclave in Ethiopia peopled by Rasta followers.
Bob Marley died in 1981 of skin cancer that began on one of his toes. He refused to treat it because of his religious beliefs. Like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and James Dean, Marley has become more of a brand than the person he really was.
In 2005, Rita Marley, Bob Marley’s widow announced she would be moving his body to be reburied in Ethiopia, though that never happened; the famous singer still rests in tomb in his home in Nine Mile, Jamaica.
“Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!”
Read also: Marley's Religious Views
Bob Marley: LEGACY "75 Years A Legend"
Bob Marley: Facts and Beliefs
Bob Marley was born in Jamaica. His mother was only 18 when he was born, and his father was a white Englishman who was already well into his late 60s. Since his father was white, and because his skin was paler than some of his friends, Bob Marley was called “white” by his classmates. Throughout his life, he was quoted saying that the color of your skin doesn’t matter, and it is far more important what kind of person you are. As he said, “Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side, not the white man's side.
Bob Marley was a Rastafarian, which is a religion prominently practiced in Jamaica. His beliefs had a huge influence on his music. Rastafari do not believe in cutting their hair, and they believe in healthy eating and generally not altering your body’s natural state. This is why Bob Marley started styling his hair in dreadlocks.
Bob Marley was very honest about the fact that he smoked a lot of “herb.” His music and his image became associated with stoner culture. Marley wasn’t supportive of weed for recreational use. He used it to meditate, and encouraged others to do the same. “Instead a get foolish, you sit down and you can meditate and be someone.
In 1978, the United Nations gave him the Peace Medal of the Third World for all of his work being a voice of political justice for Jamaica and the African people. In his acceptance speech, he talked about Rastafari and said, “You need to listen to God.”
Bob Marley Peace Medal
In 1977, there was a tumor found under one of his toe nails. He refused to have it amputated, and it ended up spreading throughout his body. On his deathbed, Bob Marley told his son, “Money can’t buy life.” His final words were “On your way up, take me up.
In 1981, he was given the award of “Jamaican Order of Merit,” which is awarded to someone who has contributed to Jamaican culture. In 2014, Forbes ranked Bob Marley as being one of the richest dead celebrities.
The Controversy of Reburial
The widow of the reggae star Bob Marley said yesterday that she planned to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place", Ethiopia.
Mrs Marley said the remains would be reburied in Shashemene, 150 miles south of Addis Ababa, where several hundred Rastafarians have lived since they were given land by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie.
“Bob's whole life is about Africa, it is not about Jamaica," said Rita, who married Marley in 1966. "How can you give up a continent for an island? He has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be. This was his mission. Ethiopia is his spiritual resting place."
The announcement stirred controversy in Jamaica, however, where the Bob Marley Foundation strongly denied there were any plans to move the star's remains. Roger Steffens, a prominent Marley historian and reggae archivist, called the news of a reburial "an appalling development for Jamaica"."Bob never expressed any interest to be buried in Ethiopia," Steffens said by phone from his home in Los Angeles.
Jamaicans reacted angrily Thursday to plans by Bob Marley's widow to exhume the reggae legend's remains and rebury them in Ethiopia, an African country holy to Rastafarians, saying it would rob the Caribbean island of its national heritage.
One university professor said such a deed would meet "serious hostility.""Has Rita lost her mind?" P. Chin wrote in a letter published Thursday in Jamaica's most widely read newspaper, The Gleaner. She said the reburial would occur after February celebrations in Jamaica and Ethiopia marking Bob Marley's 60th birthday and has the support of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Ethiopian government officials."We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," said Rita Marley, a former backup singer for her late husband's band, The Wailers. "It is part of Bob's own mission."
A Cuban-born Jamaican citizen who now lives in the West African country of Ghana, Mrs. Popular host Cliff Hughes voiced opposition to moving Marley's body on his nightly show on Jamaica's Power 106 radio."The Marley family is going to have to convince me that this is what Bob wanted," Hughes said Wednesday. "He's part of Jamaica's national heritage. With the greatest respect, he belongs to the Marley family, and he belongs to the people of Jamaica."
Mrs. Rupert Lewis, a political science professor at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, said Marley is a crucial part of Jamaica's identity and that any attempt to move his remains would be met by "serious hostility" on the island of 2.6 million."The people would not allow that body to physically leave Jamaica," said Lewis. "He's a focal point of the Jamaican identity. What it means to be Jamaican is inherently bound up in Bob Marley."
Others saw no problem with the idea."She feels he wants to be in Africa? Go ahead," broadcaster Allen Magnus said during his morning program on radio RJR. "She has the right. It's her husband."
Public Art in Ethiopia is sparse, which isn’t surprising considering the unrest they have endured throughout their history. One of the most recent statues to be erected was that of reggae singer Bob Marley in Addis Ababa.
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