Bob marley :Light a Fire Essays

communities. In the United Sates, they were seen as black, members of a definite minority. The amount of education, the amount of income, and culture, didn’t erase ones blackness, as it would back home. Nor are whites sensitive to shade differences, as people are in Jamaica. Whatever their shade or achievements, Jamaicans were victims of racial discrimination in employment, education, and housing. For many Jamaicans, this was the first time that they became painfully aware that black skin was a significant status marker. New York Jamaicans are submerged in the wider black community of America. However, at the same time, Jamaicans distinguish themselves as different than the “indigenous” blacks. Therefore, the results are that their interactions with American whites are less painful. Jamaicans who came to New York City were not shocked by the racial situation, but were disillusioned when they found the city to be less glamorous and offering less economic opportunities than imagined.

Bob Marley is a name most people know but his accomplishments and dedication to music is often overlooked. Bob was more than just a reggae artist, he was an inspiration to the country of Jamaica. He was a role model to the poverty stricken island and gave hope to many people. Bob was born on February 6, 1945 in his grandfather's house. He was the son of a poor farm girl and a British naval Captain. Soon after his birth Bob's father, Norval Marley, left his mother. He remained responsible and provided financial support and occasionally came back to see them. In the 50's a depression hit Jamaica and Bob followed his mother to West Kingston also known as Trenchtown. It was in Trenchtown were Bob's love for music began.

Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New

The first communication concept relates to empathy and empathic communication, both Bob and Ziggy Marley display this throughout their music. Empathy defined by Julia T. Wood, “is the ability to feel with another person, to feel what she or he feels in a situation. Our feelings tend to be guided by our own emotional tendencies and experiences” (78). In the fullest sense, this implies putting yourself into the other person’s shoes, to experience their life, so that you really understand and feel; pain, anger, frustration, joy, spiritual uplift and happiness. Bob Marley is empathetic in nature, he is “someone who appears to speak for the people. It is his music, his life story, his worldview and the way he carries himself -- he seems like an extension of the people and their leader. He seems like a sort of Cultural Senator, a man who represents his people” (Toure 2017). Bob Marley expresses empathy throughout his song “Get Up Stand Up,” by giving us examples of what life was like in the 1960’s in Jamaica. Paying close attention to the words and the connotations associated with those words, we can get an idea to what was going on during that era. From the beginning, reggae was political, as the work of Bob clearly attests. When he chants, “Get up \ Stand up \ Stand up for your rights!” you can feel how important this issue is to him. By translating this one lyric, you can imagine the details of his experiences and the emotions associated with them. The lyrics of this song relates to the struggles and inequality of the society and the harsh realities of a post-independent Jamaica. Nearly the entire song has a political slant to it in some shape or form. The political unrest which was taking place at the time was extremely intense, this song urged people to raise and stand up and fight for their rights and to be proactive.

Marley never got to go home for his farewell concert and his cancer was aggravated by the exhausting trip from Germany to Jamaica. A national hero to Jamaica, the Jamaican Government presented Bob Marley with the Order of Merit, as well a year before his death he was awarded the Medal of peace by the United Nations. At the National Arena in Kingston more than 30,000 people came to his memorial to mourn the death of a beloved musician. In 1994 he was finally immortalized in the music industry by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While it’s been decades since Bob Marley sang his last song, his music and values still live on through the legacies he left behind. His fight for human rights continues through the Bob Marley Foundation, which helps people living in developing

“From the shantytowns of Kingston, Jamaica, to the cobblestones streets of Great Britain, reggae music was a powerful and liberating voice for the poor and oppressed. In the last thirty years, reggae stars Bob Marley, Burning Spear, and Alpha Blondy have sung “redemption” songs- messages of human rights and universal love in a “Babylonian” world of civil unrest, political instability, and economic collapse”(Bays, King, and Foster, 2002, p. XI). Bob Marley was the most famous reggae artist to bring popularity upon the music; selling over 20 million records worldwide. His songs such as “One Love” and “Redemption Song” were inspired by the effects of oppression upon blacks in Jamaica. Marley's persona for unity and peace among people throughout the world was an inspiration for Jamaicans. Most blacks in Jamaica during the 1960s suffered from economic hardships and racial discrimination. This in turn marked the beginning of a religious movement called Rastafarinism where reggae music was an element that distinguished Rastafarians from the rest of society. According to Chang and Chen, British colonial authorities and the local establishment viewed Rastafarians; forthright espousal of black unity and pride, and their unconventional appearance and customs, as threats to the existing social order. (Chang, Chen, 1998. p.26) Reggae music allowed blacks to have pride of their culture and not limited themselves to the demeaning social orders in

In this portion of the paper I will be focusing on Bob Marley and give an introduction to who he is, how he learned his music and how he became famous.

Music is thought of as being almost religious. Bob Dylan had a brief conversion to Evangelical Christianity. He used to have a love of abstruseness, or occult symbolism and symbolist poetry, and a resolute disdain of convention. Although his immersion into the world of Christianity may have been brief it was deep and took audience provocation to the next level. Joyce Carol Oates may have been a huge fan of the singer so when writing the story decided to tell him that his music is memorizing and could be its own

His three children, John, Ryan, and Keersten, began to hold the same core beliefs on music and the spirituality that comes with music, going as far as engaging themselves in choral activities and keeping music an essential part of their daily life. As his children grew up, he would share stories about his R&B influencers. He spoke of the good and the bad. The times that truly impacted him. There are crucial moments that shape us into who we are today. For some it may be a heart wrenching accident, for others it may be a terrifying attack. For John it was the death of his favorite artist, performer, and childhood

It was very simple to play but the words were quite tough to put in to

Treasure is a Spaniard.” Treasure is the last name of his great-great grandmother’s father. This fascination with European ancestry is not new to Jamaica or the West Indies. Garvey notes in his article in the Current History Magazine in 1923 that many Jamaicans would not even consider themselves a Negros but “believe themselves white under the West Indian order of society” (Garvey, 2004). Back then, Garvey says that no one wanted to be considered black because they were from Jamaica, which shocked him. I believe this issue of the awareness of one’s race in Jamaican culture has definitely changed from the hard work of people like Marcus Garvey. My father grew up in Garveyism and subsequently had great pride in his African heritage. So much so that he used his mother’s name to sign up for the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes and planned on using that money to go to Angola and fight with the Cubans for Angola’s

The paper discusses how Marley’s music changed society by mainstreaming the ideas of black resistance, social justice, racial equality, and anti-colonialism to the baby-boom generation and generations endlessly onward. The paper will outline the historical background of reggae as well as the social cause to which it became attached by the work of Marley. The paper submits that reggae, ultimately, became the chief means of expressing the angst and dislocation felt by many within the African Diaspora. Finally, the paper will offer a critical analysis of one of Marley’s works, “I Shot the Sheriff”, and will explain why this signature work is a classic instance of reggae speaking out against injustice and the prevailing power structure.

In Jamaica at the time Bob was viewed as a mystic and prophet, and was

Rastafari is, before it is anything else, a way of life. It offers approaches and answers to real problems black people face in daily living; it promotes spiritual resilience in the face of oppressive poverty and underdevelopment. It produces art, music and cultural forms, which can be universally recognized and appreciated. More important, Rastafari provides a positive self-image, an alternative to people who need and cannot find or accept one elsewhere. Even with its black foundation and orientation, Rastafarianism is open to anyone, of any race, who chooses to discover and is able to accept it.

Bob Marley and the Wailers produced songs of hope and freedom that related to the wars happening between Vietnam. The song "War" by Bob Marley and the Wailers impacted the world. These reggae musicians were the