Today marks what would of been Bob Marley’s 69th birthday. Marley is definitely a musical icon of epic proportions who put reggae music and Jamaican culture on a world stage, and his music is still relevant to this day. As reported by jamaicaobserver.com:
“Bob Marley put reggae and Jamaica on the map through music in the way that Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint had done through athletics. In a real way he helped to sell our sugar, bananas, bauxite, and whatever else because of reggae. I believe that it was because Jamaica became known for reggae that our national football team is called the Reggae Boyz. It helped the tourism product, which is today second only to remittances in bringing in our much-needed foreign exchange.”
What made Bob special is that his music was not just great sounding, feel good music, there was a message behind it that resonated throughout the entire world. As also reported by jamaicaobserver.com:
“Bob Marley continued the link with the African motherland that Marcus Garvey had done so much to cultivate. His singing of Garvey’s words “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery” was one thing, but being Rastafarian he emphasized the words of Selassie “until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited” we will not know peace.”
Today marks a day to celebrate one of the biggest (if not the biggest) musical icons of all time. Happy Birthday to Robert Nesta Marley.
