My thoughts on…Bob Marley’s 61st birthday
Today, February 6, 2006, is Bob Marley’s birthday. If he were alive today, he would have been 61 years old. And you can be sure that Jamaicans (and even non-Jamaicans) are celebrating the event. Televisions were showing documentaries on his life and work, radios were playing his music all day long, and newspapers dedicated entire sections to mark the event. The Bob Marley Foundation is holding celebrations all through the week, which will include the unveiling of Jamaica’s National Heritage Plaque and a Cultural Vibration Concert at the Bob Marley Museum. Rastafarians have already begun to flock to the Museum, proudly waving their flags of red, yellow and green.
Bob Marley is one of Jamaica’s greatest sons. In fact he was almost made a National Hero. If you ask any tourist about Jamaica, most of the time Bob Marley’s name will come up right after “Reggae music” and right before “weed.” Bob Marley helped to make reggae music internationally known, and now ranks among pop and rock n’ roll as one of the most popular music genres in existence. He also used music as a tool to champion the causes of the poor and oppressed. Happy Birthday Bob!
