THURSDAY afternoon last week, the Muzikeros did a free live performance at the newly resurrected Sunburst Park. Being the only musicians who gave a free concert there since the park was restored after decades of neglect and abuse, it was commendable.
However, instead of just enjoying the moment, there were some comments on social media, particularly Facebook, on what appeared to be a van parked at the back of the performing musicians with a prominent picture of Mayor Joe Espinosa III.
It turned out that the van was carrying the generator set used to give power to the mikes and musical instruments used by the Muzikeros while performing.
Perhaps if the van had the picture of Cong. Jerry Treñas instead, there would be no comments.
Anyway if youâve been living under a rock, the Muzikeros are those guys doing live acoustics sets at Madge Coffee Shop in the La Paz Public Market every Saturday morning, for free of course.
But really, why not a van with a picture of Bob Marley instead of Jerryboy and Joe Baby?
All these talks about Jerryboy and Joe Baby are really quite boring which makes revisiting one of Bob Marleyâs iconic songs a refreshing break.
âRedemption SongââŠ
âEmancipate yourself from mental slavery
none but our self can free our mindsâ…
Perhaps this is the most personal and poignant song from the late singer/songwriter Robert Nesta Marley or more popularly known as Bob Marley.
For the uninitiated, Bob Marley is âreggae music.â Yes, you may argue that Bob Marley did not invent reggae nor is he the only reggae artist. But you must agree with moi that because of him the once obscure and ethnic music from the island of Jamaica became one of the most popular musical genres today.
For the artistically challenged, reggae is âa style of popular music with strongly accented subsidiary beat, originating in Jamaica.
Reggae evolved in the late 1960s from Ska and other local variations on Calypso and Rhythm and Blues and became widely known in the 1970s through the work of Bob Marley; its lyrics are much influenced by Rastafarian ideas.
And âSkaâ is âa style of fast popular music having a strong offbeat and originating in Jamaica in the 1960s, a forerunner of reggae.
Finally, Rastafarian: a member of the Rastafarian religious movement, Rastafarians have distinct codes of behavior and dress, including the wearing of dreadlocks, the smoking of cannabis, the rejection of Western medicine and adherence to a diet that excludes pork, shellfish and milk.
I guess weâre more or less clear here and hopefully you wonât get lost in translation. And now back to the topic on hand.
âRedemption Songâ stands out by itself as it is so unlike almost all of Bob Marleyâs songs. If you heard it for the first time you wonât even say itâs a song by a reggae artist.
Thereâs none of that familiar reggae offbeat, itâs just Bob Marley and an acoustic guitar, almost Bob Dylan-like.
I guess I donât need to rub it in and introduce who Bob Dylan is; for Godâs sake the man just won the Nobel Prize for Literature, you must have read it somewhere or saw it on CNN or BBC.
From that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with cancer in his toe that later took his life. According to Rita Marley, âhe was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortalityâ, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song.
Unlike most of Bob Marley’s tracks, it is strictly a solo acoustic recording, consisting of him singing and playing an acoustic guitar, without accompaniment.
In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the song at #66 among âThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time“. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the Top 20 Political Songs.
In 2009, Jamaican poet and broadcaster Mutabaruka chose âRedemption Songâ as the most influential recording in Jamaican music history.
To appreciate Bob Marleyâs message, excerpts from âRedemption Songâ:
Wonât you help to sing
these songs of freedom?
âCause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
None but our self can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
âCause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it’s just a part of it
weâve got to fulfill de book âŠ
Redemption Song urge us to âEmancipate yourself from mental slaveryâ, because âNone but ourselves can free our minds.â These lines are from a speech by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia sometime October 1937 and published in his Black Man magazine:
âWe are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mindâ… (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
