Bob Marley is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, and his reach is generational. Forty years ago, Bob Marley and his band, the Wailers, stepped onto the stage at Rufaro Stadium in Harare to help usher in Zimbabwe’s independence from British and local white minority rule.
It was electrifying. The unmistakable reggae thump of the legendary Jamaican musician filled the air as chants of “Viva Zimbabwe” boomed out over the crowd in-between songs.
“It was a moment I fully savoured,” Christopher Mutsvangwa, one of the fighters during the liberation struggle, known as Second Chimurenga (1966-1979), told Al Jazeera.
“Tears of pain-filled delight rolled down my cheeks,” he recalled of the momentous occasion. That night in April 1980, Zimbabwe became Africa’s newest independent country as Britain’s Union flag was brought down to be replaced by the banner of the nascent state.
Months earlier, in December 1979, an agreement signed at London’s Lancaster House had paved the way for the country’s first free elections in February 1980. ZANU-PF, one of the liberation movement parties, won a landslide victory, with its leader, Robert Mugabe, becoming Zimbabwe’s first prime minister.
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Marley, one of the most politically and socially influential musicians of his time who also had a strong connection with Africa, was invited to perform during the ceremony celebrating majority rule and internationally-recognised independence for Zimbabwe.
The reggae superstar not only accepted the invitation but also spent tens of thousands of dollars to fly in his band and its equipment to take part in the festivities that started on the evening of April 17.
“That night, Marley and the Wailers expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe,” said Fred Zindi, 22 at the time and now a professor in the Education Department of the University of Zimbabwe.
“It was almost inevitable that a man so identified with the struggles against class and racial oppression should be invited to perform at the celebrations of the birth of a new nation, Zimbabwe,” added Zindi, who had attended the show.
Also among the 40,000-crowd at Rufaro Stadium were heads of government and dignitaries from around the world, including Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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While the band was playing inside the stadium, largely in front of people invited to attend the occasion, big crowds locked outside tried to enter the packed stadium. Among the highlights of Marley’s Harare showing was Zimbabwe, a song from his 1979 Survival album.
In it, Marley sings: “Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny/And in this judgement there is no partiality/So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle/’Cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble/ Brother, you’re right, you’re right, you’re right, you’re right, you’re so right/We gonna fight, we’ll have to fight, We gonna fight, fight for our rights.”
The song, an anthem for Zimbabwe’s freedom, took shape during one of the Rastafarian musician’s visits to Addis Ababa in 1978, according to Gibson Mandishona, a Zimbabwean statistician working at the time for the United Nations in Ethiopia.
“Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia had given a vast piece of land to Rastafarians from Jamaica, to enable them to lead their dedicated lifestyle. Marley used to support and enjoy by being with the Rastafarians, and thus paid bi-annual visits to Addis Ababa,” Mandishona told Al Jazeera.
“In one of his visits in 1978, a friend told me that Marley was asking about me and the UN jazz band of which I was leading. This was a leisure music band of some nine UN experts which played as hobby at social functions.”
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Mandishona said when he met Marley, the international superstar told him: “I can smell Zimbabwe becoming independent soon.”
Mandishona continued: “He began sounding the Zimbabwe tune he had been experimenting on. It was typically a reggae total format. Marley died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 36 but his music still lives on worldwide, including throughout Africa - in Zimbabwe, several local reggae groups have over the years played concerts in Marley’s honour.
“Through his music, he was fighting capitalism and oppression of the Black [people] by colonialists,” said Victor Matemadanda, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association and also the country’s deputy defence minister. Zimbabwe was a highly mediatised hotspot where many atrocities were committed and publicised.
Marley’s music inspired liberation movements around the world including the crusade against South African Apartheid and the fight for emancipation from colonial rule in neighboring Zimbabwe.
Adding to the understanding of Marley’s life and music, a new movie starring Kingsley Ben-Adir seeks to rectify that. Produced by Ziggy, Rita and Cedella Marley, among others, Bob Marley: One Love highlights Marley’s music, family, and deep passion for Rastafarianism.
In the movie, we learn that Bob Marley never really knew his dad. Bob’s mom moved to Delaware when the singer was quite young, following her marriage to an American civil servant, and a teenaged Bob was sort of left to fend for himself in Jamaica.
When the movie opens, we’re thrust into 1976, during which Jamaica was undergoing major political and economic turmoil. Crime bosses were warring, political rivals were clashing, and there was a lot of unrest in the street.
Unfortunately, as we see in the movie, Bob’s homebase is invaded just before the tour, with Bob, Rita, and their manager suffering gunshot wounds. Though people encourage him to flee the country after the shooting, Bob is committed to the show.
If you’ve always hummed along to cuts like "Redemption Song" but didn’t quite understand the meaning of lines like "Old pirates, yes they rob I," One Love is here to answer.
Bob’s love for Rasta life features prominently in the film, and there are revelations about how he thought that his music and the Rasta message were essentially the same thing. "Reggae," the film says, "is the vehicle" to spread the gospel of Haile Selassie and the idea of a Black God.
That’s also partially where the idea for Exodus comes from, which we see the recording of in the film. One of Bob Marley's most important records, Exodus was inspired not only by the cinematic saga of the same name, but of the singer’s religious politics.
There’s archival interview footage of him during the credits pooh-pooing the notion that he was "rich," with him saying, "my richness is life." He’s also seen during the movie doling out money to needy Jamaicans, as well as to his band.
Though it’s generally well-known that the late reggae icon died much too young, the circumstances of his death are discussed less often. As we see in One Love, Bob found out on July 7, 1977 - an auspicious day according to Marcus Garvey - that he had acral lentiginous melanoma, an extremely rare form of skin cancer that appears in generally ignored parts of the body, like on the soles of the feet or.
Though his doctor recommended that Bob have his toe amputated to stem the spread of the disease, the singer rejected the notion, citing his religious beliefs as well as his performing career.
One Love opens with an introduction from Ziggy Marley, who says that he was on set nearly every day the movie was in production.
BOB MARLEY WAS CAUGHT IN THE TEAR GAS CROSSFIRE ON ZIMBABWE'S INDEPENDENCE (MINI-DOCUMENTARY)
One of popular music’s most expansive and prosperous lineages has its roots in the west Kingston ghetto of Trench Town. There, in 1962, childhood friends Bob Marley and Bunny Livingston met Peter Tosh in the yard of their mentor Joe Higgs, and formed the Wailing Wailers.
In the nascent reggae era of the late '60s and early '70s, the Wailers were similarly evolving their sound. Working with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band The Upsetters, Marley and co. crafted a heavier, more militant sound anchored in the dynamic drum and bass, respectively, of Carlton "Carly" and Aston "Family Man" Barrett.
In 1972, the Wailers signed to Chris Blackwell’s Island Records and released their albums Catch A Fire and Burnin’ - the latter featuring "Get Up Stand Up", (co-written by Marley and Tosh), a globally embraced anthem of resistance.
Tosh and Livingston left the group in 1973 with Livingston adopting the name Wailer, signifying his allegiance to the original trio.
Marley’s significance transcended music. Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, believing Marley’s presence could quell the country's deadly, rampant political violence, asked Marley to headline a free concert, Smile Jamaica, on Dec. 5, 1976.
Shortly after the concert’s announcement, the incumbent People’s National Party (PNP) called for elections and some perceived Marley’s involvement as a PNP endorsement.
Undeterred, Marley, still healing from bullet wounds, performed for 90-minutes at Smile Jamaica, his courageousness elevating him to folk hero status. While in self-imposed exile in England, Marley recorded the albums Exodus - embellished with elements of rock, soul and funk - and the mellow Kaya (Kaya includes "Crisis," sampled by Bob’s grandson YG Marley for his 2024 single "Praise Jah In The Moonlight").
Marley returned to Jamaica to headline the One Love Peace Concert on April 22, 1978.
In his lifetime Marley never received a GRAMMY nomination. Posthumously, he was bestowed a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, the same year Catch A Fire was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame; Exodus was inducted four years earlier.
At the 2025 GRAMMYs, Marley's biopic soundtrack took home a golden gramophone for Best Reggae Album. Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Exodus was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine, its track "One Love" designated Song of the Millennium by the BBC.
Forty-four years after Marley’s passing on May 11, 1981, at just 36, his music, messages of peace and fight against oppression still resonate.
Born Alfarita Constantia Anderson in Santiago De Cuba on July 25, 1946, her family relocated to Jamaica when Rita was just three months old. Rita was raised by her Aunt Viola in Trench Town. She met Bob at Studio One when both were teenaged aspiring singers; Rita was a member of vocal group the Soulettes and Bob was their coach.
Rita was charmed by Bob’s affection for her infant daughter, Sharon, whom he later adopted. "This is where my love came in. I looked at him and thought, uh oh, such a nice guy. And I got weak in the knees," Rita wrote in her 2004 autobiography, No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley.
Bob and Rita Marley were married on Feb. In 1973 Rita, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt formed the I Threes; they sang harmonies on Marley’s recordings and toured the world with him. After Bob’s passing, the trio intermittently performed and recorded together.
Rita received her first GRAMMY nomination in the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Category for the album Reggae Sunsplash ’81, A Tribute to Bob Marley. She released her debut solo album, Who Feels It Knows It in 1981.
Its follow-up, Harambé included "One Draw," an irresistible ganja anthem and the first reggae single to reach the Billboard Dance Club Song Chart. Rita handled the legal and business interests associated with Marley’s name and estate.
In 1981 she purchased Jamaica’s Federal Records, renamed Tuff Gong (after Bob’s nickname, earned as a teenager tussling his way through Trench Town), which became a leader in recording, manufacturing and distribution of music in the Caribbean. In 1986 Rita transformed Bob’s former Kingston home into the Bob Marley Museum.
Rita has suffered several strokes which have left her unable to speak. In the early 1960s Bob Marley’s mother Cedella had a relationship with Bunny Wailer’s father, Thaddeus Livingston.
Pearl was born in Trench Town, raised in Miami and now resides in Nine Mile, Jamaica, Bob’s birthplace and the site of his mausoleum. Like her brothers Bob and Bunny, Pearl is blessed with abundant talent as a singer/songwriter and musician, although her struggles with drug addiction impeded those pursuits.
Now clean for over eight years, Pearl, 63, released her debut album, Your Richness Is Life, in August 2025. Its 10 rocking reggae tracks, many written or co-written by Pearl, are delivered in her warm, soulful vocals. Recorded at Kingston’s Anchor Studio with some of Jamaica’s greatest musicians, Your Richness Is Life was produced by Greg Quail, an award-winning Australian television producer.
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