NATTY DREAD

Last night I had the most pleasurable experience: I sat and watched, for the second time, the VH-1 documentary on Bob Marley. Now, of course I've listened to his music. I've seen many a tie-dyed tee shirt with his lion-like image emblazoned on the front. I know that he has a son named Ziggy and other children....that he lived in one of the most impoverished countries in the hemisphere...but what I didn't know, until last night, was the truth about the man behind the music, beneath the natty dreads, behind the smoke screen of ganja that he is so famous for having enjoyed. What I didn't know, but learned after one and a half hours, is that the man was probably one of the truest, most committed and certainly one of the most talented artists of our time.

The Role of Art

What Bob Marley understood and respected was that the ability to create art is truly a gift. And to have such gift bestowed upon you is truly a high and heavy calling. What Bob Marley intended to do was use his music, lyrics, to unify the people of his country. His music was an expression of love, community, respect, union. Though it's no secret that most of his early listeners were probably black, his art - music - truly transcended race. Any person with a reasonable degree of understanding about God knows that his success was inevitable. Now I'm not speaking about the financial -- I am talking about the success of having his lyrics -- his message about God and self love -- spread across the world. What is the dream of every true artist? I would argue that the true artist, the one who recognizes her work as gift, truly wants to be able to come away with the knowledge that the larger community has been served in some meaningful way. For me, and I can only speak to my own work, that is what I hope to be able to do. Bob Marley seemed to have been on a lifelong quest for higher consciousness. He never seemed to be satisfied, content if you will, with the success of the previous album. Each album seemed to be a movement toward a higher level of understanding of himself, of the community, of his God, Jah. He knew that he held a responsibility in every word that was spoken through the microphone. He was conscious of the effect of his words -- and THAT, that very consciousness and acceptance of responsibility, it is what I think is sorely lacking in today's musicians.

Till Death Do Us Part

What I thought was really profound was when an assassination attempt was made and he and his wife, Rita, had been shot. Not only was Bob committed to still performing at a public concert, he mocked the bullet scar that was left on his chest ... almost, as if to say ... hey, you can shoot me, and perhaps even send me to a grave, but you can't kill my art and you can't take my soul.
The artist makes art until her death. There is never the question about whether or not one has chosen the "right" career, whether or not the choice will pay off in the long or short run. The artist paints....writes...makes music....dances...not for money or fame or for lack of something else better to do. The artist does what she does because she has to and not doing so would be the equivalent of death.


On Love...

The other thing that I thought was pretty remarkable was how the two main women in his life, Rita and Cindy, were both at his bedside during the last stages of his life. Rita was his wife, Cindy was his lover. Bob seemed to have had many many affairs but his wife, Rita, for whatever her reasons maintained her relationship with her husband. They bore four children together and I guess, when it's all said and done, nothing is stronger than that. What a testimony it was to the strength of love. I'm certainly not saying she was wise nor am I saying she wasn't .... who am I to judge? and who of any of us knows what we would have done given the same situation (i.e., growing up together and bearing four children together, making music together and traveling the world together, eating beans together because the art has not yielded any money....who of any of us knows what we would have done. I certainly don't).


Anyhow, it was a very interesting documentary which I thoroughly enjoyed and would encourage any artist to view.
For the record, it's being aired two more times this month. Just hop over to the VH-1 website and check the schedule. And of course, for the aficionados, there's always the Bob Marley Site

In peace,
ANGEL