Tonight: Free Screening of Bob Marley Documentary at Yo! The Movement

Download: Bob Marley - "Stir It Up"
Download: Bob Marley - "Slave Driver"

Though it may be hard to believe it so many years after his death (it seems like copies of his greatest hits collection Legend are issued with admissions applications and samples of Tide to suburbs across the nation), Bob Marley was once, and still is, a radical and important presence in the context of popular music. Marley, along with his band The Wailers, is credited for not only popularizing reggae music to Western audiences with albums such as roots reggae classic Exodus, and the reflective Rastaman Vibration (Marley's only top ten album in the US), but for using his religious beliefs to act as an agent for social change. Marley was a strident Rastafari, a cultural and philosophical movement which stresses love and respect for all living things. Naturally, he was viciously assaulted only a few days before playing a the One Love Peace Concert to ease tensions amongst Jamaican political parties who were waging civil war against one another at the time. Nevertheless, the One Love Peace Concert ended with with People's National Party leader Michael Manley shaking hands with his opponent Edward Seaga, the leader of the Jamaican Labour Party (both men were prime ministers of Jamaica at one time or another).

Marley died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 36. Since his passing, he has become an international icon. In order to celebrate his legacy, Minnesotan non-profit organization Yo! The Movement is sponsoring a free screening of the documentary about Bob Marley's family first trip to Ethopia in order to attend the Africa Unite concert. The film takes its title from the festival itself and will be shown here:

AFRICA UNITE DOCUMENTARY ADVANCE SCREENING (FREE)
A Celebration of Bob Marley's Vision - Released Internationally By Palm Pictures in March
Host: YO! The Movement, The Nia-Imani Youth Center, and CRUNC
Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Time: 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Location: YO! The Movement - (Inside Kwanzaa Community Center/Church)
Street: 2100 Emerson Ave N
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN
Phone: 612.874.9696
Email: info@yothemovement.org

Listen to two MP3s at the top of the post from Bob Marley & The Wailers debut album Catch A Fire.

Yo! The Movement MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

(Jonathan Graef)