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Post by messenger on Aug 19, 2004 15:19:47 GMT -5
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Post by messenger on Aug 23, 2004 5:58:14 GMT -5
Sons of the King
Marley children pay tribute to father Bob in concerts
By JONATHAN TAKIFF
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Twenty-three years after his earthly self left our sight, Bob Marley remains very much alive in our minds and hearts.
The once and forever king of conscious reggae music still sells albums by the millions and remains unmatched in terms of popularity and world impact. His bittersweet musical cries for peace, justice, charity and spirituality still ring vividly and righteously true.
In fact, the reggae master¡¦s name holds such weight that a current touring troupe headlined by five Marley offspring recently changed its official name from the Roots Rock Reggae Tour to the Bob Marley: Roots Rock Reggae Festival. It stops this weekend at E.H. Young Riverfront Park as part of the International Arts & World Music Festival. It will play on Saturday night¡¦s card.
And the show will trade heavily on Bob Marley classics, in addition to a mix of original material by offspring Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian and Ky-Mani Marley that treads deeply in Dad¡¦s footsteps.
¡§Realistically speaking we are all Bob¡¦s sons. There¡¦s no escaping that,¡¨ said Ziggy Marley in a recent phone conversation.
And just like their father, the Marley kids are determined to ¡§spread the music right across all the Earth to everyone ¡X the message of one love and unity,¡¨ added the eldest son. ¡§We don¡¦t sit around thinking should we get away from our father. We just play music, and you decide whatever.¡¨
¡§Our father¡¦s music is a conscious music, rasta music,¡¨ added brother Julian. ¡§It¡¦s universal creator music. So is ours ¡K Music that uplifts and does more than entertain, that¡¦s really medicine, that serves a higher purpose. That¡¦s what we want to be known for, as our father was ¡K So I¡¦d just say it¡¦s a continuation, passing the baton to us. It¡¦s a relay race.¡¨
While each Marley youth has developed a solo career in music or even acting (Ky-Mani¡¦s most notable accomplishment), they¡¦re now playing as one, on stage together for the first time and supporting each other ¡§200 percent,¡¨ said Ziggy. ¡§Do we feel competitive? Only when we are playing video games or soccer or dominos.¡¨
Best known of the brotherly bunch, Ziggy Marley¡¦s most recent ¡§Dragonfly¡¨ solo album and previous pile of discs as front guy of the Melody Makers family band (with Stephen and semi-retired elder sisters Sharon and Cedella) remain closest in style to his father¡¦s mellow-toned, groovin¡¦ easy, roots-rock-reggae approach.
Ziggy dismisses much of today¡¦s contemporary music as vapid stuff, reflecting ¡§materialism, a lot of sexuality, a lot of selfishness, a lot of ego.¡¨ And all are regrettable signs of ƒè the times ¡§because music reflects the culture.¡¨
Ziggy¡¦s pop-tuned reggae also pretty much snubs the current craze for Jamaican dancehall music ¡X a honking, hyped-up hybrid of reggae, dub and rap that often seems fueled by adrenaline-pumping ¡§uppers,¡¨ rather than fat spliffs of ganja.
¡§But my father¡¦s music was dancehall, back in those early days,¡¨ the 35-year-old Ziggy allowed. ¡§It is still good music for dancing.¡¨
This year-in-the-making Marley brothers tour should serve a wide variety of listeners¡¦ tastes, he added, because ¡§we are very versatile. Each of us has a different angle that we come from. Damian, he does a lot of the dancehall and hip-hop vibe that was his influence coming up.¡¨
(Damian¡¦s ¡§Halfway Tree,¡¨ Grammy winner for best reggae album of 2001, even featured a guest appearance by Eve.)
As a vocalist, rapper and DJ, brother Stephen Marley has ¡§brought together reggae and hip-hop,¡¨ most notably as producer of the ¡§Chant Down Babylon¡¨ album, which merged vintage performances by Bob Marley with new ones by notables like Busta Rhymes, who is scheduled to perform at the festival on Sunday, Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Stephen also has a solo album coming soon on Motown.
Multi-instrumentalist Julian Marley, recently represented with the solo album ¡§Time & Place,¡¨ fuses his love of reggae, R&B and jazz. ¡§I love to listen to lots of legends ¡X from Stevie Wonder to Nat King Cole,¡¨ he said.
While all the brothers follow their father¡¦s lead in tackling humanitarian concerns in their music, they largely avoid political rhetoric and overt finger-pointing ¡X the stuff that could get a Jamaica-based reggae musician locked up or shot at (as Bob was), back in the day.
Yet it¡¦s for another reason that Ziggy Marley ponders the wisdom of musicians getting too heavily engaged as campaigners in this year¡¦s U.S. presidential election.
¡§Remember that youth serves rebelliousness. Let¡¦s picture the musicians as parents. Any time you try to force your kids to do something, it¡¦s not a very good thing. We carry consciousness in our music, but you have to make up your own mind. You can¡¦t use the innocence of youth and music as a tool. If you use it the wrong way, people will turn against you.¡¨
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