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..... the writer makes great points. A timely lesson to those who fail to understand the difference between temporary popularity and an enduring icon.
The Patron Saint of Salvador
Pondi Road
Sunday, May 24, 2009
It had been a while since I had had a haircut. As I was exploring the historical section of Salvador, Brazil, I came across a small barbershop with eight men inside. Two were obviously barbers but no one was cutting hair.
They were all just hanging out, reading the paper and playing checkers. I walked in looking visibly confused until one came up and asked if I wanted a haircut. Actually since no one in Salvador speaks English he just pointed to my hair as a sign and I nodded. As I sat down in the barber chair, he asked, "Where you from?" I responded, "Jamaica." He shouted "Ay, Jamaica! Bob Marley. Get up! Stand up! Stand up for your rights!" and then the others in the shop joined in unison, "Get up! Stand up! Don't give up the fight!" Five minutes later, I am in the midst of a full-on musical. A couple of men are drumming on available surfaces, others are dancing and everyone is singing.
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that encompasses martial arts, dance and acrobatics. The black slaves invented the dancing act in order to cover up the fact that they were fighting which would have displeased the white slave masters.
And I am thinking, "Could we move past the Bob Marley fest and get to my hair?" But then this is Salvador where Bob Marley is king, and I am Jamaican.
Salvador is the melting pot of Brazil, blending European, African and Amerindian cultures. It is often called the "black pearl of Brazil" because the majority of people are of African descent and the African soul dominates the culture.
There is widespread practice of Candomble, an African-based religion premised on a personal dialogue with a family of African Deities (the Orixas) who are linked to Nature and Catholic saints. Associated animal sacrifices and complex spiritual dance rituals are breathtaking to watch.
The regional cuisine is largely heavy stews and spicy foods cooked with palm oil, coconut milk and chilli peppers.
A panoramic view of the picturesque and energetic harbour in Salvador, Brazil.
But the magic of Salvador is in the music and dance. This is the undisputed party capital of Brazil. The rhythms of Bahian music flow out from every corner shop, construction site, street cart vendor and passing automobile. At any moment you feel like moving, there is music within earshot to guide your hips. As I walked the streets, I was constantly moved to spontaneous dance.
Salvador Carnival is now considered the best and most authentic as Rio de Janeiro's festivities become increasingly staid and institutionalised. In Salvador ordinary people actively participate in street dances and marches; unlike in Rio where apparently most just watch from the sidelines as audience.
And every Tuesday night in Salvador, there are large celebrations in the streets and public squares where you hear everything from bellowing church music to hearty drumbeats and reggae. Hallelujah and shake that thang!
Against this backdrop, Bob Marley's image and music are everywhere. He is the de facto Patron Saint of Salvador. As I walked the city, around every other corner the music was Marley. His face adorns many of the T-shirts for sale. Local artisans are carving his image. The young often copy his styling. His lyrics emblazon the walls in bold graffiti. He seeps through the Bahian pores as if he was their native son. And it is not just in Salvador where he is deified.
Marley is the de facto patron saint of Salvador, Brazil. His image is everywhere!
Artists outside the reggae family including Eric Clapton, Barbara Streisand, Annie Lennox and dozens of others all cite Marley as inspiration and have felt compelled to do their own take on his songs. His works simply will not die, they just get re-interpreted and keep extending his reach. Bossa N Marley is currently in heavy rotation in the fashionable lounges and boutique hotels around the world. I hear it in London, Athens, Marrakesh, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.
Marley has been performed by symphony orchestras at the Avery Fisher and Royal Albert Hall, venues usually reserved for classical music.
Every Tuesday night is Bob Marley Night at a little bar in Mission Beach, Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef. I caught it by chance one evening and watched an eclectic group of twenty-somethings sink soulfully into Marley vibrations.
Deep in the heart of Petra in Jordan a young Bedouin told me that Bob Marley was his spiritual father and then recited a number of his song lyrics as poetic verse.
A Berber in Morocco showed me a personal shrine to Bob Marley high in the Atlas Mountains outside Marrakesh. His favourite possession was a woven scarf with Marley's image.
Traditional Bahian Dress with oversized skirts and head wraps.
At the Jivamukti Yoga Studio in New York, there is a small altar of prophets at the front of the classroom which includes images of Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Gandhi and Bob Marley.
At a meeting of pro-African nationalists in Harlem the pictures of political heroes on the wall included Garvey, King, Mandela, Malcolm X and Marley.
Artists are spontaneously moved to create sculptures of the man in wood, ceramic and marble. He is an inspiration to revolutionaries. He is a hero to ganja smokers and legalisation advocates everywhere. He is the most famous Rastafarian and has given the religion its global identity.
I had always thought of Marley as an exceptional musician who composed some of my favourite reggae songs, but I had never appreciated the full breadth of what this man represents to people around the world until I started travelling extensively.
Bob Marley has been absorbed into the global zeitgeist as a singer, prophet, spiritual leader, Black Nationalist and political revolutionary. He is not, contrary to what Buju Banton believes, merely a well promoted musician. Something far greater is going on.
He has long crossed over into global icon where names like Julius Caesar, Einstein, Elvis Presley, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Jesus, and Martin Luther King reside. He is on that heady list of names that we will still all know in 100 years after we have forgotten Oprah, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie.
Our national debate about whether his image gets put on a $5,000 Jamaican bill is infinitesimally irrelevant at this juncture. Who cares? He is no longer ours to claim, others have long seen that which we never saw. Most promoted musician?!? Ha, ha that's funny! Prophets are never fully appreciated in their own homelands..
Marley's global status is only partially due to his musical abilities. Musicologists generally agree that Peter Tosh was a far better musician. Mutabaruka is a far more gifted writer, delivering more insightful and conscious lyrics than Marley ever did. Buju Banton has broken Bob Marley's record for the greatest number of number-one singles in a year. Exceptional artists all, but none has registered in the global consciousness the way Marley has.
Who knows exactly what drives globally enduring legacies? Why Julius Caesar and not Marcus Aurelius? Why Marlon Brando and not Montgomery Clift? Why Mozart and not Salieri? There is some delicate combination of the art, the persona and the times, and suddenly someone is lifted to stratospheric heights. And even then only a few stay there. Marley has not only held, but his influence might even be growing. He has morphed from musician to legend to symbol. He is already more famous than the country that spawned him.
Marley's tunes are catchy, his lyrics are simple, his diction is clear, and his messages profound and universal. His music rewards repeat listening and contemplation.
"No Woman No Cry," simultaneously speaks to every man's concern for his woman and taking on the responsibility as her protector. So much is contained in those four simple words about history, relationships, responsibilities, family struggles, empowerment and love. Can there by any doubt that it is a song for any age?
Bob Marley's good looks and mixed racial genetics gave him the right physical features for global cross-over sex appeal. His persona exudes a kind of quiet masculinity that engenders trust.
Marley's iconography also benefited from the fact that he died young. The human cracks in his armour did not have time to show, the way they are now showing for Michael Jackson. Can you imagine if Michael Jackson had died of some tragic illness just as Thriller went to number one? He would have been instantly and permanently enshrined as the greatest pop performer ever. Case closed. Now his legacy will have to be seen through the unfortunate prism of paedophiliac scandals and increasingly weird behaviour. I think it survives ultimately but in a very tainted way.
Every global reggae/dancehall star owes his living in part to Bob Marley. And because of this psychological burden, Buju Banton's comments are entirely understandable. His subconscious desire to diminish Marley is the age-old Freudian desire to cast off the over-achieving "father figure". We love and hate our cultural and intellectual progenitors just as we love and hate our parents. But the bottom line is that it is Bob Marley who tuned the global ear to the unique reggae sound.
The reason Indian, Chinese or Trinidadian music remains largely regional is because there has yet been no globally absorbed ambassador to tune the world's ear to Indian, Chinese or Soca sounds. Their music is in the "World Music" section of record shops. Reggae has broad popular appeal and its own Grammy category. This is entirely due to Marley's groundbreaking efforts. His was the first voice that "clicked" and was welcome.
Reggae and all its derivations can only have one Father, and in the global imagination that spot is already taken.
It is not likely that we will have another Bob Marley any more than it is likely that Italy will have another Michelangelo or South Africa another Nelson Mandela or Germany another Beethoven. This is not to take away from any of the other musicians working in Jamaica, or the sculptors working in Italy, or the politicians fighting for human rights in South Africa. In all cases there are probably still great things to come. But icons of human achievement, who are absorbed into the zeitgeist in ways we cannot fully understand, come along very rarely.
We are all destined for eventual obscurity. That is the human condition. A very small sliver of humanity slips through to global immortality. But this list remains incredibly short. We are extremely fortunate that one was born in our midst.
The Patron Saint of Salvador
Pondi Road
Sunday, May 24, 2009
It had been a while since I had had a haircut. As I was exploring the historical section of Salvador, Brazil, I came across a small barbershop with eight men inside. Two were obviously barbers but no one was cutting hair.
They were all just hanging out, reading the paper and playing checkers. I walked in looking visibly confused until one came up and asked if I wanted a haircut. Actually since no one in Salvador speaks English he just pointed to my hair as a sign and I nodded. As I sat down in the barber chair, he asked, "Where you from?" I responded, "Jamaica." He shouted "Ay, Jamaica! Bob Marley. Get up! Stand up! Stand up for your rights!" and then the others in the shop joined in unison, "Get up! Stand up! Don't give up the fight!" Five minutes later, I am in the midst of a full-on musical. A couple of men are drumming on available surfaces, others are dancing and everyone is singing.
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that encompasses martial arts, dance and acrobatics. The black slaves invented the dancing act in order to cover up the fact that they were fighting which would have displeased the white slave masters. And I am thinking, "Could we move past the Bob Marley fest and get to my hair?" But then this is Salvador where Bob Marley is king, and I am Jamaican.
Salvador is the melting pot of Brazil, blending European, African and Amerindian cultures. It is often called the "black pearl of Brazil" because the majority of people are of African descent and the African soul dominates the culture.
There is widespread practice of Candomble, an African-based religion premised on a personal dialogue with a family of African Deities (the Orixas) who are linked to Nature and Catholic saints. Associated animal sacrifices and complex spiritual dance rituals are breathtaking to watch.
The regional cuisine is largely heavy stews and spicy foods cooked with palm oil, coconut milk and chilli peppers.
A panoramic view of the picturesque and energetic harbour in Salvador, Brazil. But the magic of Salvador is in the music and dance. This is the undisputed party capital of Brazil. The rhythms of Bahian music flow out from every corner shop, construction site, street cart vendor and passing automobile. At any moment you feel like moving, there is music within earshot to guide your hips. As I walked the streets, I was constantly moved to spontaneous dance.
Salvador Carnival is now considered the best and most authentic as Rio de Janeiro's festivities become increasingly staid and institutionalised. In Salvador ordinary people actively participate in street dances and marches; unlike in Rio where apparently most just watch from the sidelines as audience.
And every Tuesday night in Salvador, there are large celebrations in the streets and public squares where you hear everything from bellowing church music to hearty drumbeats and reggae. Hallelujah and shake that thang!
Against this backdrop, Bob Marley's image and music are everywhere. He is the de facto Patron Saint of Salvador. As I walked the city, around every other corner the music was Marley. His face adorns many of the T-shirts for sale. Local artisans are carving his image. The young often copy his styling. His lyrics emblazon the walls in bold graffiti. He seeps through the Bahian pores as if he was their native son. And it is not just in Salvador where he is deified.
Marley is the de facto patron saint of Salvador, Brazil. His image is everywhere! Artists outside the reggae family including Eric Clapton, Barbara Streisand, Annie Lennox and dozens of others all cite Marley as inspiration and have felt compelled to do their own take on his songs. His works simply will not die, they just get re-interpreted and keep extending his reach. Bossa N Marley is currently in heavy rotation in the fashionable lounges and boutique hotels around the world. I hear it in London, Athens, Marrakesh, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.
Marley has been performed by symphony orchestras at the Avery Fisher and Royal Albert Hall, venues usually reserved for classical music.
Every Tuesday night is Bob Marley Night at a little bar in Mission Beach, Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef. I caught it by chance one evening and watched an eclectic group of twenty-somethings sink soulfully into Marley vibrations.
Deep in the heart of Petra in Jordan a young Bedouin told me that Bob Marley was his spiritual father and then recited a number of his song lyrics as poetic verse.
A Berber in Morocco showed me a personal shrine to Bob Marley high in the Atlas Mountains outside Marrakesh. His favourite possession was a woven scarf with Marley's image.
Traditional Bahian Dress with oversized skirts and head wraps. At the Jivamukti Yoga Studio in New York, there is a small altar of prophets at the front of the classroom which includes images of Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Gandhi and Bob Marley.
At a meeting of pro-African nationalists in Harlem the pictures of political heroes on the wall included Garvey, King, Mandela, Malcolm X and Marley.
Artists are spontaneously moved to create sculptures of the man in wood, ceramic and marble. He is an inspiration to revolutionaries. He is a hero to ganja smokers and legalisation advocates everywhere. He is the most famous Rastafarian and has given the religion its global identity.
I had always thought of Marley as an exceptional musician who composed some of my favourite reggae songs, but I had never appreciated the full breadth of what this man represents to people around the world until I started travelling extensively.
Bob Marley has been absorbed into the global zeitgeist as a singer, prophet, spiritual leader, Black Nationalist and political revolutionary. He is not, contrary to what Buju Banton believes, merely a well promoted musician. Something far greater is going on.
He has long crossed over into global icon where names like Julius Caesar, Einstein, Elvis Presley, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Jesus, and Martin Luther King reside. He is on that heady list of names that we will still all know in 100 years after we have forgotten Oprah, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie.
Our national debate about whether his image gets put on a $5,000 Jamaican bill is infinitesimally irrelevant at this juncture. Who cares? He is no longer ours to claim, others have long seen that which we never saw. Most promoted musician?!? Ha, ha that's funny! Prophets are never fully appreciated in their own homelands..
Marley's global status is only partially due to his musical abilities. Musicologists generally agree that Peter Tosh was a far better musician. Mutabaruka is a far more gifted writer, delivering more insightful and conscious lyrics than Marley ever did. Buju Banton has broken Bob Marley's record for the greatest number of number-one singles in a year. Exceptional artists all, but none has registered in the global consciousness the way Marley has.
Who knows exactly what drives globally enduring legacies? Why Julius Caesar and not Marcus Aurelius? Why Marlon Brando and not Montgomery Clift? Why Mozart and not Salieri? There is some delicate combination of the art, the persona and the times, and suddenly someone is lifted to stratospheric heights. And even then only a few stay there. Marley has not only held, but his influence might even be growing. He has morphed from musician to legend to symbol. He is already more famous than the country that spawned him.
Marley's tunes are catchy, his lyrics are simple, his diction is clear, and his messages profound and universal. His music rewards repeat listening and contemplation.
"No Woman No Cry," simultaneously speaks to every man's concern for his woman and taking on the responsibility as her protector. So much is contained in those four simple words about history, relationships, responsibilities, family struggles, empowerment and love. Can there by any doubt that it is a song for any age?
Bob Marley's good looks and mixed racial genetics gave him the right physical features for global cross-over sex appeal. His persona exudes a kind of quiet masculinity that engenders trust.
Marley's iconography also benefited from the fact that he died young. The human cracks in his armour did not have time to show, the way they are now showing for Michael Jackson. Can you imagine if Michael Jackson had died of some tragic illness just as Thriller went to number one? He would have been instantly and permanently enshrined as the greatest pop performer ever. Case closed. Now his legacy will have to be seen through the unfortunate prism of paedophiliac scandals and increasingly weird behaviour. I think it survives ultimately but in a very tainted way.
Every global reggae/dancehall star owes his living in part to Bob Marley. And because of this psychological burden, Buju Banton's comments are entirely understandable. His subconscious desire to diminish Marley is the age-old Freudian desire to cast off the over-achieving "father figure". We love and hate our cultural and intellectual progenitors just as we love and hate our parents. But the bottom line is that it is Bob Marley who tuned the global ear to the unique reggae sound.
The reason Indian, Chinese or Trinidadian music remains largely regional is because there has yet been no globally absorbed ambassador to tune the world's ear to Indian, Chinese or Soca sounds. Their music is in the "World Music" section of record shops. Reggae has broad popular appeal and its own Grammy category. This is entirely due to Marley's groundbreaking efforts. His was the first voice that "clicked" and was welcome.
Reggae and all its derivations can only have one Father, and in the global imagination that spot is already taken.
It is not likely that we will have another Bob Marley any more than it is likely that Italy will have another Michelangelo or South Africa another Nelson Mandela or Germany another Beethoven. This is not to take away from any of the other musicians working in Jamaica, or the sculptors working in Italy, or the politicians fighting for human rights in South Africa. In all cases there are probably still great things to come. But icons of human achievement, who are absorbed into the zeitgeist in ways we cannot fully understand, come along very rarely.
We are all destined for eventual obscurity. That is the human condition. A very small sliver of humanity slips through to global immortality. But this list remains incredibly short. We are extremely fortunate that one was born in our midst.
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