As we honor the messenger on the 31st anniversary of his transition from earth to home going- leaving the world to carry on the teachings of love and freedom, and the love in freedom- I thought I should pay tribute in profile to Nestor Robert Marley’s mother on Mother’s Day- since she gave the world an incomparable gift of life , music and teachings that continue from generation to generation.

There has been so much press hype on the so called mystery of Bob Marley having a White father with the release of the Marley family and even the long lost and seemingly continuos bad blood between Bunny Wailer, Chris Blackwell and & Rita Marley finally coming together full circle in a authorized documentary entitled Marley; but here we unlock the mystery, wisdom, vision and soul of the woman who gave birth to the one called Marley.

“Cedella Malcolm Marley Booker (July 23, 1926– April 8, 2008) was the mother of Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and a singer and writer…Booker was born Cedella Malcolm in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, to Alberta Whilloughby and Omeriah Malcolm, a farmer, a “bush doctor”, and one of the most respected residents of Nine Mile (son of Robert “Uncle Day” Malcolm, who descended from the Cromanty slaves shipped to Jamaica from the African Gold Coast in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries). At 18, Cedella Malcolm married Norval Sinclair Marley, a white Jamaican of English ancestry, when she became pregnant with his son, Robert Nesta (which second given name “Nesta” means prophetically “wise messenger”). Norval Marley was a Marine officer and captain as well as the plantation overseer. His family applied constant pressure however, and although he provided financial support for them, the Captain seldom saw his wife and son. Bob was ten years old when Norval died of a heart attack in 1955 at age 70. Cedella and Bob then moved to Trenchtown, a slum neighborhood in Kingston. This was the only place Booker could afford to live at the time, being a young woman moving from the country to the big city on her own….While living in Trenchtown, Booker gave birth to a daughter, Pearl, with Taddeus Livingston, the father of Bunny Livingston – aka Bunny Wailer – who formed the original Wailers trio with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh in 1963…Cedella then married Edward Booker, an American civil servant, and resided first in Delaware, where she gave birth to two more sons, Richard and Anthony, with Booker. Anthony was killed in a shootout with Miami police after walking through a shopping mall with a 12 ga. shotgun and opening fire on responding police; Richard Booker survives her. After Edward Booker’s death in 1976, Cedella moved to Miami, Florida, where she was present at the deathbed of her famous son who died from cancer in 1981. Booker lived in Miami for the remainder of her life…” Read More

Briefly researching who Cedella Marley Booker- the mother was was quite intriguing and told me so much more about who the boy  named ” Messenger” who became a legend  really was. I never knew that Bob hand delivered his mother to the one and only Lee Scratch Perry to produce and globally introduce her musical talents and sound to the world as he had done at studio one with Bob Marley and the Wailers. I never knewthat Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley shared a biological sister in common named Pearl, which made Bob and Bunny not only kin through music as founders of the original Wailers , but also sharing a mother and father via the birth of their sister. I also never knew that there was a love story that produced this legend via the love story of a dark skin Jamaican Christian girl from St. Ann who at the age of 17 started a romance with a White  50 year old Jamaican man whose father was English of Syrian Jewish descent and whose mother was said to be a non-white mixed race Jamaican -which I will interrupt as probably an Asian and African global fusion which is representative of many  ”mixed race” people in Jamaica.

The newly released Marley film set the stage for all the hoopla and headline making narrative of what most are calling a true Bob Marley story with the family actually being fully involved and pushing the project after some earlier attempts with big Hollywood names like Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme , who for one reason or another just  could not find the right fit with the family in being able to speak the language of the life of Nester Robert Marley on film. As Nelson Mandela said “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. ” I would come to find out from Cedella Booker’s own words that this is a trait she past down to her son as a Marley legacy in never forgetting where you came from in language or otherwise.

When I read the quote by  Bob’s eldest son Ziggy Marley blasted all over the world saying “I think Bob always regretted that he wasn’t black.” I must admit I was irritated because there has been so much race baiting, religious baiting, tribal bating, political party baiting and any separation of ying and yang/black and white there is from all around the world on all sides, so I didn’t want what is being called the best insight into Bob’s life as a man, not just the artist put to film, to be the narrative of the tragic mulatto who lived this whole life of legendary greatness and global adoration as a Black man who brought the message to the world in a way that every one sang “Every man has the right to decide his own destiny ” while shouting out the African nation of Zimbabwe ;yet because of his father being a White Jamaican somehow made him less of a representation of a Black man. In a way maybe this is what drove Bob to be the embodiment physically and mentally saying “Me only have one ambition, y’know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together – black, white, Chinese, everyone – that’s all..I don’t stand for the black man’s side, I don’ t stand for the white man’s side. I stand for God’s side…”. It shows us all how society divides and conquers with manufactured divisions of race, religion, tribe, gender , sexual orientation and every division we can find when all that really matters is what is in one’s heart and soul. I don’t want my memory of Bob to be yet another man of greatness never to have had their soul satisfied. His passion in fighting for the Black man to be free & African EmPowerment in being the ultimate representation of the soul of a great Black man with unmitigated power who is embraced by the world over; yet he saw his exterior as closer to White than Black and it couldn’t catch up to his soul that ran deep in the beauty of Blackness of Africa – forever waiting in vain to be satisfied and possibly thinking that it should have been Peter’s face to his words…..”

While there are so many articles in the blogosphere about Norval Marley’s philandering ways  embedded with racilicious verbiage leading to visuals that intentionally unintentionally depicts Bob Marley’s father as some plantation era overseer that was bedding down young Jamaican plantation workers or their daughters without barely mentioning -if at all that Bob Marley was born in wedlock and according to Cedella’s own words with her being baptized with Nester in her belly with a father and husband that was a kind man who did his best to take care of her and Bob until he died when Bob was a young boy, not this strange tale/narrative of a dead beat father who was never in Bob’s life and had him and his mother in abject poverty while he lived his White rich privileged life that had been going around for generations. I hope in the hoopla of introducing the so called “unknown White father” into the narrative of the one called Marley that we also listen to the narrative of Cedella Marley -the mother and wife -in telling her love story within a marriage that bore a son named by his father  as Nester -The Messenger”.

Cedella- Nesta Robert Marley’s mum was a great children’s book author and musician and an even greater gospel reggae singer who carried the message of generations of singers, griots, teachers and wordsmiths who set that DNA free in a young boy who was told by a non believer that his birth name sounded like a girl’s name, so his mother allowed a name reversal to suit society, but she never stopped calling him Nester. From that root, the young boy grew up to live up to his birth name  as “Messenger” . The greatest gift and sacrifice a mother can ever make to the world  is setting the seed and allowing it to grow freely to live up to its ultimate potential -this is the legacy of Mama Cedella and what every mother in the world leaves and hopes to leave with every generation- Triumphantly!  Every mother’s ultimate redemption song -after passing through the good, bad and ugly times in trying your best to figure out and understand the balance of allowing the seed to grow freely and giving it the right amount of water nourishment, love , care and tenderness it needs to live a fully fruitful life-with rich soil setting the seeds for the next generation to also bare life’s fruits. No one knows a child more than an engaged mother. No matter what it says on paper a mother never stops calling your birth name.

” I think Nester have seen some resemblance of me in Rita (Bob’s Only Wife)… A lot of people would think that Rita is my daughter more than Bob my son…  Jah never make a mistake, he knows everything he is doing and he do it right…”

Rita Marley is yet another mother of Marley that I would like to pay homage to because she continued the legacy  in standing firm as the mother of generation Bob -a global African generation living and thriving the world over in Bob’s name. Getting to know Mama Rita in the video below also allows a closer introspective to Bob Marley the man and his wife and back up singer. Everything we have a commitment to is using us to get through its manifestations. It’s all a matter of the commitment in levels of mutual inity in the way we  engage those levels of commitment. When it came to Bob- music was surely a weapon in the deepest passions of love and war in evolutionary revolution of freedom. Basically an ecstasy induced by happiness, triumph and freedom- this is how and who I remember the always on time  Messenger- Nestor Robert Marley AKA BOB Marley .

We judge people on who they choose to love or have sex with- man or woman- with no concern to what they want and have agreed to because we only desire to hear ourselves preach world wide of the idea of the manifest destiny we hate; while claiming it in love at every step -as the path forward in telling others who and how to live as if that is our destiny. Rita Marley in her own words said “I didn’t feel like I was a wife, I felt like I was Bob’s background vocal, So their little  things I would have to remind him… hey bob… be careful….watch those girls…watch those this- then I became the watch eye, the mother hen… type & he would call me sometimes to get girls out of his room. I didn’t complain cuzs I felt I was there for the job & so the relationship became, more like I have a commitment to this thing“…Rita Marley- Mother, I-Three

Rita the mother hen understood her power as the ultimate say in the sweetness of the songs she made in expression of the special kind of bond, fellowship and love she shared with Bob, which even his own mother acknowledged as a deeply special kind of love that her son expressed to her about how he felt about his wife-Rita Marley. A love that could truly only be understood between them, but was evident to the world. Rita Marley in her words to show Bob that she can be her own girl /herself  beyond the background singer , mother, wife, one draw hit –has had an exemplary solo career of her own with beautiful love ballads serving every bit of the passion of the love songs era Bob Marley -writing about his romance with another woman named Cindy Breakspeare -Junior Gong’s mommy. While he may have written “Turn your lights down low“ and “she used to call me dada” for Cindy Breakspeare; he surely wrote “Satisfy My Soul”  and ” No Woman No Cry” for Rita, along with every song for the building, emancipation and empowerment of Africa for global Africans because he clearly chose her and in turn she clearly chose him to build his global African Nation from root to fruit. Rita Marley continues the legacy from yard to yard across the world, with a home base at its roots and gateway in Ghana, West Africa.

Rita Marly was never waiting in vain- she was taking back her power in fighting in love for her man with beautiful love ballads like “I’m still Waiting” with the knowledge that her place in the life of the messenger was as it was written beyond words, man and even beyond herself as a wife , mother an artist. In watching the videos of Rita and Cindy talk about their relationships with Bob, I get the sense that Rita was the syrupy sweet shy dark skin root Jamaican christian girl open to be shown the world , who fell in love with a “bad man pon de town” -relative to interpretation because she was captured and fell in love with the deepness of the love and passion in his soul, much like his mother Cedella and Bob Marley’s father Norval. Rita Marley has set her own path in a rich legacy of music and true essence of the blessing of motherhood and how we should hold it up to the most high. I end this tribute to Mama Cedella and Mama Rita …..  by saying Good Morning Jah!

Happy Mamas Day to all the lil mamas, big mamas, birth mamas, round the way mamas, village mamas, earth mamas…global mamas…U are all our Ye Yo’s! We love you and we thank you for all you have done, continue to do and will do in the name of the ultimate blessing of motherhood! Heres to building a greater future in reflections of our Sweet Mothers!

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#AllOfTheMothers #AllOfTheFathersWhoStandByThoseMothers #AllOfThoseFathersWhoWilBestandingByThoseMothersAfter Today

As Bob Marley said “I don’t come to Bow, I came to Conquer “. After so many changes in direction, directors & dates in order for the Marley family to feel comfortable & proud with a documentary worthy of the one called Marley’s conquering spirit,  the much awaited & lovingly anticipated Marley documentary has finally been released for all to see, well those who received the invite to the 62nd Berlin Film Festival AKA Berlinale. The rest of us will have to wait until it hits theaters in April.

“The Bob Marley documentary Marley will stream on Facebook simultaneously during its theatrical opening, a signal that social media may also play a role in shifting movie release windows.” READ MORE

“This is my identity…My life is only important if mi can help plenty people, if me, my life is for me, my own security, then me don’t want it, my life is for people… possession mek u rich? I don’t have that type of richness, my richness is life” Bob Marley

“BERLIN (Reuters) – Oscar-winning documentary maker Kevin Macdonald has made what critics are calling the definitive biography of reggae legend Bob Marley, aided by the singer’s family and record label who have given the project their blessing.”I just felt like there weren’t any good films about him and a lot of misinformation,” Macdonald told Reuters this week…”I wanted to make a very simple film. It’s the most conventional film I think I ever made, very straight forward, just trying to be a detective and uncover the truth about his life and the truth about his character.”…”Marley,” too long for some reviewers at 144 minutes, features interviews with Marley’s children, his wife Rita, friends and a former bandmate, as well as concert footage. And with his record label Island also on board, the soundtrack speaks for itself. The first authorized film of his life had its premiere at the Berlin film festival, and while questions about Marley remain, it goes some way to revealing the man behind the myth…” READ MORE

The most interesting things that director  Kevin Macdonald found out about Bob Marley was that  ”he was a vegetarian & that his father was a White man from England” -hmmm…SMH …it becomes more & more evident & crucial of the importance of us telling our own stories & how we need to be actively involved in the documentation of our history to prevent the danger of the single story.

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, non but ourselves can free our mind..” Bob Marley

“Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Marley, the first documentary about iconic musician Bob Marley made with the support of the Marley family. The film will open in theaters and on VOD and digital platforms April 20, after its world premiere at the Berlin film festival. VH1 also has partnered to license the first TV window of the film as part of its Rock Doc franchise.” READ MORE

If this isn’t the time for the legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti to shout out Africa for Africa & to come out of Africa With Fury & Rise, then I don’t know when it will ever be the right time for the the Kalakuta Republic’s heirs, Seun Anikulapo & Femi Kuti to make like generation Marley & keep the Afrobeat name & legacy forever in a global fusion expansion that credits their father & carries on a legacy for many generations to come. This my friends is the difference between riches & wealth! Riches can always be taken away, but wealth is forever!

What the world  & generations over know as Reggae can never be separated from the name Bob Marley & Bob Marley can never be separated from Reggae ! What the world & generations over know as Afrobeat can never be separated from Fela Kuti  & Fela Kuti can never be separated from Afrobeat . From  Kingston to Lagos the roots of global  soul continues to grow & rise in its exclusively inclusive formations!

“Afrobeat has to go from stage to studio, not studio to stage,” he says.  “I don’t believe in going into the studio to write songs.  You create music in the world, outside, in the environment.  You create music with nature, not in the studio.  You go to the studio to record, that’s it.  Music created in the studio is commercial music, music that only wants to sell, that has nothing to do with the world.”..Read More

“At the time I made the album, I felt Africa was losing its grip on the issue of Africa,” he says. “We are getting to where we are not addressing the main problems in Africa and I wanted Africans to focus on what our true issues are. We are forgetting that Africa is really a colonial structure at this point. We are forgetting our history, forgetting our brothers and sisters. And we need to care. I was thinking about the war in Rwanda,” he continues. “When they told us about that, I didn’t know about anything. The national media was not informing the rest of Africa. They did not tell me in Nigeria. CNN was not telling me what was going on. So as Africans we don’t care about Africa. We need to care..” Read More

I see Ziggy & Femi reflected through Stephen & Seun as they pass the baton of the legacy to a new generation upholding the heart, movements & spirit of Bob & Fela! Seun Kuti & Stephen Marley represent the new generation global fusionist, eerily authentic in the sound & experience of their father’s words & soul with a re-evolution that says this time we’re going to get it right because their elder brothers before them embraced being their brother’s keeper & having Africa for Africa. The legacy of the M.OP. came to CONQUER Not to Bow & they used music as a weapon because once it hits you, you feel no pain.

Seun continues to show his endless & effortless global reach with his new project with famed DJ/Producer- Gilles Peterson. Damn Gilles Peterson your music just turns me on….don’t hurt em’…I am loving the tracks ..”U got me feeling like …breath”! Thanks for taking us all worldwide!

As our Cuban & Malian brothers said in the documentary AfroCubism “La Musica Es Universal..no tiene frontera…Music Is Universal..It Has No Boundaries” – Eliades Ochao guitarist/vocalist, Musician/Cuban/global fusionist

“Music is its own language..I say it’s “music” that we speak in this project” -La musique est sa propre langue .. je dis que c’est”musique”que nous parlons dans ce projet“

Toumani Diabte -Musician/Artist/Kora player/Malian/Global Fusionist

Support our global African musical legacies & global fusions…support the new generations of musical greatness..Generation Marley..Generation Kuti…this summer will surely be filled with global African musical brilliance with all these new works coming out right in time for the global African re-evolution of the revolution!! It’s Time for us All To Wake Up!

“Over the course of a one-hour interview, Seun Kuti talks – engagingly, entertainingly, animatedly, often hilariously – about a range of subjects. He talks about religion (“Do I believe in God? Of course not! Don’t be stupid!”), about his love of Arsenal (“We need a few taller players”), about working with Brian Eno (“A musical genius. He is not Brian Eno for nothing”), about spending time in Paris (“Can I speak French? Not much. Enough for the ladies”), and about events in the Middle East (“The west will make fools of themselves in Libya, mark my words”)….He also, inevitably, talks about his father. Seun (pronounced Shay-oon, an abbreviation of Oluseun), is the youngest son of the late, great Fela Kuti, and the one seen as Fela’s anointed successor. He first guested on stage with his father aged eight (at the Harlem Apollo, of all places) and inherited Fela’s Egypt 80 big band at the age of 14 when his father died.” READ MORE

“The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it.”...READ MORE

Africans Must Love Africa..Africa For Africa Is The Way!!!

“Fela has risen again. FELA! cast member Abena Koomson wrote in again from Lagos, where the performances have officially begun with a first show at Fela’s New Afrika Shrine. She emailed this skin-tingling report:

“The performance at the Shrine was unbelievable. It felt like that performance was the sole reason why this play was every created: to pay homage to Fela in his home, to give an offering and to receive a blessing. It’s such a remarkable thing that the entire Broadway cast had a chance to experience it. I was talking to Femi (Kuti) backstage during one of our rehearsals and he was wowed. He said first of all, that the Shrine audience does not clap. That he had never seen that happen. And even during our rehearsals we were getting uproarious applause. By the time we got to the actual tribute, it was tenfold. The people I talked to were proud of us. It was a homecoming.” READ MORE

GENERATION NEXT :FUTURE LEGENDS OF LEGACY

It seems Nina Simone’s words “An artist’s duty is to reflect the times. how can you be an artist & not reflect the times?”,  needs to be heralded more than ever because there are way too many stories that are not being told. The world is in a massive mash up of class wars globally, being turned into racial, religious & regional wars. Our leaders have become unaccountable for their treacherous treasonous actions against we the people, we the everyday citizens of  nations, we who they call their own people, as the people bare the brunt of the suffering from their lies & deeds for greed & power masked in the tainted cloak of freedom & democracy.

We need a generation of artists who speak for the people as their mouth piece to let the world know the global trials & tribulations of the everyday man that you may not see or hear in the propaganda that is fed to the people to pacify them in complacency. Stephen Marley is surely one of those artists who will lead us & the music back to conciousness. How many artists in good times & bad times will stand up & offer up their homes to bailout their felow man? So many have lost the spirit of botherhood , but there are so many more of us who will not let the world  forget our humanity. Bob Marley’s seeds will continue to plant trees of righteousness & humanity.

There is a global need for our artists to become a reflection of the times in enlightening, educating & mobilizing the people to true peaceful revolution. None but ourselves can free our minds! Where are our Bob Marleys, Nina Simones, Marvin Gayes, Peter Toshs, John Lennons & Buju Bantons to take the baton in taking the music to new heights..the world needs them more than ever now to tell those often UNTOLD STORIES…

May the roots soul & power of Buju’s Maroon ancestors guide & protect him through his current tribulation! I hope we all take heed to the the lyrics of the 3 songs below, Destiny, Politics Time Again & Untold Stories- as we go through our global massive tribulations in making sure that the truth about our untold stories see the light of day!

Verse 1:
The rich man’s wealth is in the city
Destruction of the poor is his poverty
Destruction of your soul is vanity
Do you hear
I and I, I wanna rule my destiny
I and I, I wanna rule my destiny

Chorus:
Destiny, mama look from when you call me
Destiny, mama look from when you calling
I wanna rule my destiny
yeah, yeah oh help I please Jah Jah mek mi rule

Verse 2:
I’ve been blessed I’ve been touch
I love Jah so much
They keep fighting me I’m not giving up
May the realms of Zion fill my spiritual cup
Wisdom overstanding can never be too much
Give I protection Day and night

Chorus:
Cast away their cords from us
you have them in the region in the valley of decision
Restraining the heathen with a rod of iron
you know not the destiny of a next man
Why hold him set him free too long

Verse 3:
My destination is homeward bound
Though force try to hold I down
Breaking chains has become the norm
I know I must get through no matter what a gwaan

Why my people suffer so bad ?
Who is it that should really be sad ?
Is it… Is it the misplaced melancholic ?
Whoa…

[Chorus:]
Well is’t politics time again
Are you gonna vote now ?
My people you ah talk
It’s politics time again
Are you gonna vote now ?

My god…

[Verse 1:]
Rise up falling suffer
Rise and take your stands again
He who fights and run away
Will live to fight another day

[Chorus]

Make love and not war

[Verse 2:]
It’s the time to duty
Haffi see the chance to vote
Fire bun dem constitution
Long time we need ah choose
Fed up with promises
And hopeless hope
Why the box must be empty
For those clothes
No one harm no one
True the color of the clothes, now
But some just plain greedy
No matter how we teach them
For get easy… yaw

[Chorus]

It’s the rasta them talkin’
New gear, new gear

[Verse 3:]
Bloodshed…
From rema-a-and
Down in the valley
Can them hear ya-a-ah
Crack down…
(it’s) Has become ah gunman compound
Now bless all people who has seen this shit
Lord
Dem cry reliclesly yeah
You keep on moving
Every minute every hour
Gunshot fall like shower
Whoa like new clear power

[Chorus]

[Verse 4:]
And the likkle want, we want
And the likkle preach, we preach
Selcter buzz thier big on the street, lord
Kill people
What dem really seek?
Who is it that I man speaking?
Who is it that is controlin’ the system?
Three parties and I’m not dancing
Who is it then?
Who is she then?
Now who is the Mr. In?
Yeah, it is the pain time
Again now… Whoo

[Chorus]

[Verse 5:]
Everything race
But we won’t live in fret
But the air we breath becomes thick with dead
Then we know Jah ah guide
We will never fret
When ever you ready ready
No more sparge
Whenever you light or heavy
Ah pure respect, lord lord lord lord
Now war, now war

While I’m Living
Thanks I’ll Be Giving
To the Most High You know,

[Chorus: ]
I am living while I am living to the father I will pray
Only he knows how we get through everyday
With all the hike in the price
Arm and leg we have to pay
While our leaders play

[Verse 1:]
All I see people a rip and a rob and a grab
Tief never love fe see tief wid long bag
No love for the people who a suffer real bad
Another toll to the poll may God help we soul
What is to stop the youths from get out of control
Full up of education yet no own no payroll
The clothes on my back have countless eyehole.
I could go on and on the full has never been told

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse 2:]
Who can afford to run will run
But what about those who can’t…they will have to stay
Opportunity a scarce, scarce commodity
In these times I say… When mama spend her last and send you go class
Never you ever play
It’s a competitive world for low budget people,
Spending a dime while earning a nickel
With no regards to who it may tickle
My cup is full to the brim
I could go on and on the full has never been told

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse 3:]
All I see people a rip and a rob and a grab
Tief never love fe see tief wid long bag
No love for the people who a suffer real bad
Another toll to the poll may God help we soul
What is to stop the youths from get out of control
Full up of education yet no own no payroll
The clothes on my back have countless eyehole
Could go on and on and the full has never been told
(On and On)
Though this life keep getting me down
Don’t give up now
Got to survive somehow
Could go on and on and the full has never been told

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse 4:]
Who can afford to run will run
But what about those who can’t…they will have to stay
Opportunity a scarce, scarce commodity
In these times I say… When mama spend her last and send you go class
Never you ever play
It’s a competitive world for low budget people,
Spending a dime while earning a nickel
With no regards to who it may tickle
My cup is full to the brim
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on the full has never been told
I could go on and on….
The full has never….

Been…..
Toooooold.
SOURCE :Lyrics on Demand

“The opening shot of the film will feature a tour of Cape Coast Castle, a fortification in Ghana that contains the infamous “Door of No Return” through which many Africans passed before being shipped into slavery. I want to suggest the idea that his ancestors passed through this door and that his music is trying to come home again spiritually, psychologically, politically…He’s universally revered and looked up to as an inspiration. But we’ve never seen anything that gets to the root of who he is as a man..The aim of making any film about the artist is to get people to go back to the music” READ MORE

Jamaica & Ghana have a special bond in history that still prevails in modern day Jamaica through the kept cultural heritage of Jamaican Maroons, so I am not at all surprised, but I am overjoyed & enthusiastically awaiting not only the opening scene of the life story of global musical legend Bob Marley that will start with the opening scene in my homeland of Ghana, but also waiting to learn more about the beautiful mystery that was & is Bob Marley. Bob Marley made his love for Africa & his determination to do more in & for Africa very clear after his Zimbabwe concert tour.

Bob Marley’s wife, Rita Marley has kept that promise of his legacy alive  as a humanitarian & resident of Ghana, West Africa for the past decade & has even gone as far as to build a modern day Ghanaian solar powered version of the legendary Studio One, the Kingston,Jamaica recording studio that was responsible for Jamaica’s musical legends like Bob Marley. Not only has Rita Marley kept Bob Marley’s link & fire burning in Africa, but she has clearly passed the torch onto the Marley children who keep Africa in their hearts & lyrics. Not only did the Marley family come together in Ethiopia to celebrate Bob Marley with the Africa Unite concert, but Damian “Junior Gong” Marley got together with Nas on the critically acclaimed “Distant Relatives” project to specifically take it back to Africa, to unite & pay homage to the roots of not only the Black Diaspora but humankind.  A film on Bob Marley’s life has been long awaited by his legions of global fans spanning multiple generations & what better way to look into the life, the man, the father, the husband,the artist & the prophet than by starting off from the roots! Yes Iyah- We Await Your Return!

STUDIO ONE IN THE AKAUPIM MOUNTAINS OF GHANA

“Making a movie about Bob Marley hasn’t been easy. A Martin Scorsese attempt failed. So did one from Jonathan Demme. Now producers of a new documentary about the Jamaican reggae pioneer confirm that Kevin Macdonald is directing the film, a point that had been rumored online since the fall. The director has secured permission of the Marley family and will be free to include material from the archives of the spiritual-minded singer-songwriter…”READ MORE

update
“Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Marley, the first documentary about iconic musician Bob Marley made with the support of the Marley family. The film will open in theaters and on VOD and digital platforms April 20, after its world premiere at the Berlin film festival. VH1 also has partnered to license the first TV window of the film as part of its Rock Doc franchise.” READ MORE

When Bob Marley sang “I’m a soul rebel”, he literally meant it in the fact that his early recordings with the Wailers leaned toward the sound of Soul, Jazz,Blues & Ska more reminiscent of the heyday of Motown or better yet the 1960’s heyday of UK’s Skinhead culture of music & style, more than the classic reggae sound & style that he popularized globally. From is low cut pre-dreadlocks hair to the staple black suit & tie uniform reminiscent of The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight & the Pips & Little Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley & the original Wailers band was Jamaica’s classic soul group.

Most people have no idea about Bob Marley’s early recordings which brought out the bluesy Al Green type of hot like fire gritty soul in his angelically powerful voice. Yes yall, Bob Marley was a blues & soul singer who introduced the world to Reggae music much like Fela Kuti was a Hi-Life musician who introduced the world to Afro-beat. If you don’t already know, get to know Bob Marley & The Wailers early soul recordings at Studio 1 because you will find yourself falling in love with the man named Robert Nester Marley in a whole new way. Bless Up!

“Skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian (specifically Jamaican) rude boys and British mods, in terms of fashion, music andlifestyle. Originally, the skinhead subculture was primarily based on those elements, not politics or race. Since then, however, attitudes toward race and politics have become factors by which some skinheads align themselves…” READ MORE

“I don’t have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.…” READ MORE

I have always understood that Jamaicans are descendants of enslaved Africans from West Africa & Ghana in particular, but I never realized just how similar our roots run hundreds of years after slavery. As Brazilians in Salvador de Bahia keep the Yoruba roots of tradition & language alive in modern day Brazil, Jamaican Maroons keep the Akan traditions & language alive in modern day Jamaica.

When Jamaica’s native son Marcus Garvey shouted for Global Africans to return to Africa, many chanted Haile Selassie I & found home  & Rastafari roots in Ethiopia while many others celebrated Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah & found freedom in Ghana. Today’s Ghana boast a significant Jamaican community brought & empowered by Rita Marley & the memory & foundation of Bob Marley & Marcus Garvey. Jamaicans & native Ghanaian Rastas have created their own governing & financial empowerment council that boasts a credit union called the black star line catering to the financial empowerment needs of Rastafarians in Ghana.

When you walk around Ghana you see Jamaica, from reggae music, to dreadlocks & the culture of Rastafari. I had heard about the Kromanti/Kramanti language in Jamaica which was supposed to sound similar to the Akan languages of Ghana, but I became a true believer when I heard it spoken & found many similar words in Ghanaian Akan languages. Jamaicans like Brazilians have never denied their African roots, but have rather embraced it & used it as a sense of power in knowing who they are & where they came from beyond Jamaica’s sugar cane plantations. With more & more talk amongst African nations about offering our Diasporan brothers & sisters free visas & dual citizenships to come back home to their ancestral roots, perhaps we will all get to learn more about our distant relatives.

Many Africans & Diasporans did not know of Haiti‘s history of successful slave rebellion which led them to independence in 1804  even before slavery was abolished in 1807 until the earthquake that brought Haiti new found global press & historical interest, just as many do not know that Jamaican Maroons had their own successful slave rebellion to freedom 50 years before slavery was abolished & long before Toussaint L’Ouverture brought Saint-Domingue out of the the shackles of the French & renamed the new land of freed slaves,Haiti. The Maroons of Jamaica have been able to keep their identity & autonomy not only from their former slave masters, but also within Jamaica even til today.  The Maroons’ largest town Accompong even has a similar name to Ghana’s Akropong-which is home to one of Ghana’s oldest tribes, the Akuapims & both are ironically located in the hills/mountains of their individual nations. We can not wait nor allow others to tell us our history & to give it to us in small increments as they see fit when knowledge is power & information is available if we truly seek to be empowered by knowledge .

“I raved about how much African aesthetic is infused into Jamaican life. You’d think I was visiting the island for the first time, even though I was born here and have barely set foot anywhere else since that sun-hot Wenesday in 1972…The thing is this; African retentions in our culture sometimes get compartmentalized and thought of in ways that seem distant. Yes, over 90% of Jamaicans are black and are direct desendants of the people who came from West Africa, so when we look at each other we see our ancestry…” READ MORE

I remember the first time I went to Jamaica right out of college & met up with two Rasta men who befriended me & took care of me & my friend as community elders do in Ghana. The moment they heard I was from Ghana , I automatically became family & was blessed with eating the best jerk chicken I have ever tasted in my entire life even until today. I have eaten a lot of jerk chicken in Jamaica & other places in the world, but this was hands down the best because from the smell, to the serving of it, to the taste, you could see & feel that it came from the love of family in the way that a home cooked meal outshines even the best highly trained chef.

I did not understand back then why these two grown men were so fascinated with asking me every question possible about Ghana & why their desire to go there was so strong until many years later when I witnessed the Jamaican community & influence in Ghana & saw the love that Ghanaians, particularly the youth gave to Jamaican artists who visited & Jamaican citizens who returned back to Ghana to stay because these Ghanaian youth were just as enamored by them & wanted to know everything possible about them & our mutual ancestral global connection. It was truly as Nas & Damian “Junior Gong” Marley put it, distant relatives reuniting on two sides of the Atlantic & getting to know one another again. From Marley, to Tosh, to Sizzla, to Junior Reid, to Buju,  to the new generation Marley, Africa & Ghana in particular has always been in the forefront of their life never to take a backseat in heritage or unity! Akwaaba as we continue to keep it strictly Roots!

Nanny of the Maroons (circa 1700 – 1750), freedom fighter and hero.. READ MORE

We need to stop allowing Voodoo (Voudum) to be interpreted as some sort of “boogie man spirit” any more or less worthy of recognition & respected in its perpetration by humanity in good and evil as the gods and spirits sold in superiority of western worlds and faith. The White man’s reaction to a simplified explanation of voodoo and the laughter of the historian says it all…At some point we must take responsibility for history and the reaction of those who are responsible from spreading it in continuing cycles...

“life is one big road with lots of signs so when u riding thru the ruts don’t u complicate ur mind..wake up & live y’all -wake up & live now..rise oh rise mighty people ..wake up & live”

Billions have been raised so far in charitable donations for Haiti, but more & more Haitians are dying every day after surviving being buried alive in years of poverty & the rubble of the earthquake, having only their sheer will to live to hold onto. International bureaucracy & power struggles of people with invested interest more in economy than humanity is becoming the continued cause of many Haitians being handed their final death certificates.

We need to be diligent & aware about keeping up with who is controlling the purse strings of all the humanitarian aid & the future sovereignty of Haiti. We can raise all the money we want to help Haiti, but Haiti will still be in the same condition & possibly worse, with an achieved loss of sovereignty if Haitians & Pan-Africanists at large do not come to the aid of their brothers & sisters in attaining & retaining economic empowerment & sovereignty. We have seen throughout the history of the world that a nation’s power & health rests upon its economic power & health; however for many African nations & Diasporans, genuinely fighting to attain this reality has been less & less of a priority because it has been easier & less work to collect foreign aid in return for resources, to leave the health & upliftment from poverty of their citizens to NGO’s & to just silently exist without much fight nor change within broken systems of governance, as long as the few in power continue to hold their titles as beneficiaries.

“Something in the nature of an economic revolution is required. Our development has been held back for too long by the colonial-type economy. We need to reorganize entirely, so that each country can specialize in producing the goods and crops for which it is best suited…..We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival. ” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s First President

We need to be diligent about not turning a blind eye to where all the Haitian relief funds are going when there are so many still begging & waiting for relief. Where is all that money being allocated to? Who is watching over the money & making the decisions on how it is spent? These are the questions we should never stop asking as we give of ourselves in charity because what is the point of charity when the situation of the people is never helped, but rather seems to get worse than better? This is the question we should be asking the Red Cross & the 10,000 + NGO/charities that were in Haiti prior to the quake & the numerous more that are in Haiti now.

“We shall measure our progress by the improvement in the health of our people; by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education; by the availability of water and electricity in our towns and villages, and by the happiness which our people take in being able to manage their own affairs. The welfare of our people is our chief pride, and it is by this that my Government will ask to be judged.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

February honors Black History month in America- we should not & can not allow the history of Black people throughout Africa & her Diaspora to be written in the same way in the next decade as it has been written in the past because that only will show the lack of forward movement & the acceptance of stagnation amongst Black people globally. If this decade is going to be diffrent than the last decade for Haiti & Black people globally, then we must recognize our common struggle, the same struggle that became the catalyst for the movement of Pan-Africanism.

We need this new decade to be a revival of Pan-Africanism with new, young, intelligent, concerned, enlightened, awake, aware, unabashed,unbought, unbossed, pride filled Black people in the likeness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Jomo Kenyatta, Marcus Garvey,Patrice Lumumba, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Ahmed Sékou Touré ,Gamal Abd El Nasser,Haile Selassie,Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti etc. -everyday people turned leaders who knew,understood & accepted that although they have been spread all over the world, their legacy empowerment & economic freedom is intertwined in the legacy, empowerment & economic freedom of Africa-the spiritual birthplace of home. The type of feeling of home where one always comes back to pay homage while seeking the guidance & comfort of mama Africa’s bosom -the only true mother of our blood & roots regardless of our adopted mother nations.

There are the Kimmie Weeks of Africa & the Wyclef Jean’s of the Diaspora, who need to join forces with the likes of people like Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who has decided to take on the mantle of her father by starting a new intelligent revolution toward real resolution. There needs to be a new era/new decade of Pan-Africanism with a Pan-African summit based on the original teachings & goals of empowerment & health through our collective economic freedom at the forefront.

“She is emerging as the new face of the current crop of selfless continental African leaders who think more about the development and prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa, first and foremost than looting from the continent.” Ghanaweb.com.

Sami Nkrumah & the growing crop of new thinkers & leaders are the only way to make this new decade, a decade where Africa & the Diaspora truly gets our house in order in efforts to write our own history in the manner that we would like to be recognized & heralded. We can’t rest on touting the legacy & greatness of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah or Toussaint L’Ouverture when there has been little to no forward movement created by the generations after them, in terms of the level of global respect & conditions of Africans & her Diasporans.

“Achieving political and economic liberation, social justice and national and continental unity including the African Diaspora are yet to be realized.” Samia Nkrumah

Pan-African movement
“Movement dedicated to establishing independence for African nations and cultivating unity among black people throughout the world. It originated in conferences held in London (1900, 1919, 1921, 1923) and other cities. W.E.B. Du Bois was a principal early leader. The important sixth Pan-African conference (Manchester, 1945) included Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. The first truly intergovernmental conference was held in Accra, Ghana, in 1958, where Patrice Lumumba was a key speaker. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) was founded by Robert M. Sobukwe and others in South Africa in 1959 as a political alternative to the African National Congress, which was seen as contaminated by non-African influences. The founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now the African Union) by Julius Nyerere and others in 1963 was a milestone, and the OAU soon became the most important Pan-Africanist organization.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60U0IV20100131

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1455459.html

http://mashable.com/2010/01/13/haiti-red-cross-donations/

http://open.salon.com/blog/ezili_danto/2009/10/13/oil_in_haiti_-_economic_reasons_for_the_unus_occupation

“When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta, Pan-Africanist & first president of Kenya

“It is said, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs…Yet all the stock exchanges in the world are pre-occupied with Africa’s gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ores. Our CAPITAL flows out in streams to irrigate the whole system of Western economy. Fifty-two per cent of the gold in Fort Knox at this moment, where the USA stores its bullion, is believed to have originated from OUR shores. Africa provides more than 60 per cent of the world’s gold. A great deal of the uranium for nuclear power, of copper for electronics, of titanium for supersonic projectiles, of iron and steel for heavy industries, of other minerals and raw materials for lighter industries – the basic economic might of the foreign Powers – comes from OUR continent.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

http://ghanaianoracle.wordpress.com/the-history-of-ghana/

The Achievements and Failures of President Kwame Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

Richard Helms (CIA) file on Nkrumah
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/cia_nkrumah.php

“Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life? ”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah -Address to the National Assembly. 12 June 1965

Happy New Year Globalnistas & Global Fusionistas!
Salute 2 a New Decade & New Beginnings! AFIHYIA PA , felice anno nuovo, gelukkige nuwe jaar, Boldog Új Évet!, an nou fericit, سنة جديدة سعيدة, glückliches Neues Jahr, ハッピーニューイヤー, manigong bagong taon, feliz año nuevo , Καλή Χρονιά, feliz ano novo etc.! Let’s Conspire Globally for ONE LOVE-LET’S GO!

10 Years Later How Far Have We Come-New Decade, New Beginning 2 Get It Right!