/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: North America, Europe Lead Bob Marley Bash

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Feb 11 2003 (IPS) - Music festivals in North America and Europe dominate celebrations to mark reggae pioneer Bob Marley’s 58th birthday this month, including a landmark session at one of the United States’ most vaunted institutions.

Inevitably, respected reggae archivist Roger Steffens figures prominently in the proceedings, presenting his two-hour visual, ‘The Life of Bob Marley’ at Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution Feb. 12.

Though the Marley segment is not part of the Smithsonian’s month-long tribute to African-American history, Steffens considers the gig a feather in his cap. "I was bowled over when I heard that I’d been booked to bring Bob Marley into the Smithsonian, the most prestigious venue in the United States," he said.

Steffens first showed ‘The Life Of Bob Marley’ in Jamaica two years ago. With February recognised in the United States as Black History Month, Steffens expects a strong turnout of African-Americans, a demographic Marley (who died in 1981) failed to reach in a big way.

Three days before his Smithsonian show, Steffens lectured at the Real Art Ways, a community arts centre run by African-Americans in Hartford, Connecticut.

The 60 year-old Steffens – founding editor of ‘The Beat’ magazine – has become ubiquitous on matters Marley, but he says it is a challenge to lecture on his pet subject each year. "I never tell Bob’s story in the same way twice. That’s because I’m constantly learning new things, details and nuances," said Steffens.

A Vietnam War veteran, he grew up listening to rock and roll and was inspired by Alan Freed, the maverick Ohio state disc jockey who helped launch that sound in the 1950s.

In the early 1970s, he discovered Marley and The Wailers, and Jamaican culture, after buying a copy of the band’s ‘Catch A Fire’ album and watching writer-director Perry Henzell’s independent flick, ‘The Harder They Come’.

Over the years, Steffens has accumulated what is said to be the largest collection of Marley memorabilia in the world at his home in Los Angeles. He has also written extensively on the Marley legend, including liner notes, articles and a book, ‘Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer’, co-written with Bruce Talamon.

Reaching out to a black audience in the United States was something Marley strived for with little success, though the rhythm and blues singer Johnny Nash had minor hits with the reggae pioneer’s songs "Stir It Up" and "Guava Jelly" in the early 1970s.

Interestingly, ‘Natty Dread’, the 1974 album critics regard as Marley’s breakthrough record, featured African-American blues guitarist Al Anderson, who had a strong influence on the Marley sound. But during those days when he was attempting to break into the U.S. market, the Rastafarian singer received lukewarm response as an opening act for Sly and the Family Stone.

The tide seemed to turn in the latter half of the ’70s when he performed in a similar role for The Commodores and was befriended by top African-American acts like Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack. But Marley never became a chart-topper in the United States.

In 2000, Marley’s son Stephen struck gold with ‘Chant Down Babylon’, an album of some of his father’s most popular songs featuring Marley in digitally-enhanced duets with leading hip-hop performers.

Stephen Marley and his brothers, Damian, Julian and Ky-mani, have also figured strongly in the celebrations to mark their father’s Feb. 6 birthday, headlining, among others, the 22-year-old Bob Marley Day Festival in the California cities of Long Beach, San Diego and San Francisco.