One memorable meal I shared with the Wailers happened in a hotel suite in Germany after a glorious concert on the "Exodus" tour in 1978. Bob himself was well aware of the virtues of juicing before it was hip. Wherever she lived, Cedella would immediately start planting her own vegetable and herb garden. There’s no record of whether Bob’s late mother Cedella Senior gave it to baby Bob, but she knew her medicinal plants. Ganja leaf tea is an old country remedy for baby ailments. Trenchtown locals enjoyed an array of gourmet drinks you can’t buy in the swankiest health food stores: ackee leaf, soursop, naseberry, June plum. Ann’s, to the downtown ghetto of Trenchtown in his early teens, Bob was glad to still be surrounded by the trees he loved. When he moved from the peaceful hills of Nine Miles in the parish of St. Wherever he was, he studied the Bible every day and tried to attend meetings of his Rasta community, the Twelve Tribes. Crucial for his mental health, Bob’s Rasta beliefs kept him level. Internally, he deployed physical activity, nutrition, and spirituality. A true footballer, his approach was strategic: he tackled Babylon on various fronts, and not only creatively. He liked to live in the spirit of a Jah Army boot camp, constantly in training for the on-going social and political struggles. But even when danger was not clearly imminent, Bob always maintained a pro-active "militant" mindset. (Though shot in the arm, Marley would bravely perform anyway.)įriends said he sensed the attack coming-Marley enjoyed a rich prophetic dream life. With the election of a new prime minister imminent, politically motivated gunmen, who were known to Bob, were sent to stop the Smile Jamaica show. In fact, within days of our conversation, an attempt would be made on his life. Marley, of course, was a General, on the front line of the culture wars. Then as now, Rastas often dressed like soldiers of a new black-centric yet still diverse army. Bob was readying himself for another leap forward: more global touring, and more using music against the downpressors’ social structure that he called Babylon, which translates into any oppressive top-down system.Ī farmer as well as an artist, Bob knew the movements of the pop charts, just as he understood the less fickle growth cycle of plants. The Jamaican musician’s career, however, was riding high, as the Rastaman Vibration LP, released earlier in the year, had been the first time he reached the U.S.
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The year we spoke was 1976 and Bob had been telling me about the preparations for a free concert for the people, called "Smile Jamaica." Elections were approaching and the downtown body count in political gang wars was already high. So maybe more than "lifestyle," the glossy 1980s word it suggests, livity might imply a life cycle – and not the wheely kind. Within livity lies a suggestion of generations of livitys, each a pit stop in an entity’s reincarnations-a belief shared by Rastas, Buddhists and more. Rasta culture is rich in cosmic wordplay. Somehow, it stretches beyond our earthly health to suggest both how and why one is alive, how deftly one plays life’s game. Yet livity also has a more cosmic connotation. Maybe Bob was concerned by my London pallor, but he was encouraging me to uplift my livity-my wholeness and wellbeing, spiritual, mental and physical. Years later, onstage, he still relished stretching out its vowels like molasses over a pulsing Wailers jam. He enjoyed harmonizing irie on the first cut of "Kaya," the Wailer's 1971 ballad to weed, together with the other original members, Peter and Bunny. Jamaican patois for a blissed-out mellow mood, it was a local word he loved.
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"Trees live for thousands of years, you know? But man-man is supposed to live longer than anything else, so man must reach the time when he knows how to take care of this!" Then he laughed, slapping his thigh in his frayed jeans.Īt that moment, whatever was to come, Bob was feeling irie. "The most important thing is to keep the physical together," he said earnestly. The worlds largest music database for Reggae and Dancehall.The talk was of matters musical, social and political when Bob Marley suddenly leaned forward, to emphasize a point. Specifically: no verbal attacks, and no hate speech. We aim to make the Reggae sub-reddit a friendly place for everyone, so treat your fellow humans with respect. You may not use us to increase the popularity, profit, or market presence of a personal project.īe considerate of your peers. No more than 10% of your submissions should be from the same source. We're a community, not a bulletin board or marketplace. This includes submitting links from a variety of sources. Roots, Rocksteady, First Wave Ska, Dancehall, Dub, etc.Ībide reddit's guidelines on self promotion.