Bob Marley Birthday Bash, Jamaica

Posted by David Whitley May 22, 2007

Reggae icon Bob Marley is justifiably loved and revered throughout the world, but nowhere more so than in his home country of Jamaica. On the Caribbean island, Marley has an almost godlike status, as much for the exposure he gave the island and reggae music as for hit songs such as I Shot The Sheriff, Iron Lion Zion and We’re Jammin’.

That there is a Bob Marley Museum and Mausoleum in his home town of Nine Mile, on the other side of the island from Kingston, says an awful lot about the standing that the Rastafarian icon has on the island.

Nine Mile is also the location for an almighty reggae party on February 6th every year, as fans and party-lovers head up into the mountains for the Bob Marley Birthday Bash.

Famous contemporary musicians - including Bob’s son, Ziggy Marley – are roped in from across Jamaica to play laid back tunes for the crowd. The gigs and concerts take place at a variety of venues, some of them rather impromptu.

The problem with Marley’s worldwide popularity, however, is that his music is often the music of choice for those who don’t really like music all that much – something to play quietly in the background at a quiet dinner party for the middle-aged who think that modern music is “just noise”. It has been hijacked somewhat by the Phil Collins and Whitney Houston brigade.

How funny would it be, though, if some of these self-proclaimed Bob Marley likers (fans would be too strong a word) turned up at the Bob Marley Birthday Bash in Nine Mile, expecting a genteel concert? That’s be the last thing they’d see – if, of course, they could see the acts at all through the cloud of rather potent smoke.