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Bob Marley was a Jamaican musician born in 1945. He is most well known are respected performer of the reggae music. In addition, Bob Marley is credited with helping the spread of Jamaican music as well as the Rastafarian movement across the world. Just like any singer, Bob Marley’s songs cover a variety of subjects such as peace, love, and freedom. In addition, he has sung political lyrics. Another distinguishing character of his music is that it is attached to religion of Rastafarian. However, the focus of, which means righteousness, is political, which means, the themes of Rasta and politics are intertwined in his music. Moreover, his music is quite educative and can be used to help people understand who they are and how they can liberate themselves from the many ills in society.
Bob Marley’s music also had a great significance on the need to fight for the rights of all. There is one song “Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up For Your Rights” which is used by Amnesty International as unofficial anthem. In this song, Marley shows that he supports the fight for the oppressed to stand up and demand their rights. There is no one who will fight for them, except the oppressed themselves. One of the things that I admire about this song is its secularism and its insistence that people must demand for what is rightfully theirs. In this song, he says that God will not come down to make life easier for each one by doing away with those who oppress the weak. Therefore, people must rise to the occasion and demand their rights.
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Bob Marley also sung several songs based on love and peace. His love songs speak about the various ways in which black people love one another .One song that particularly reaffirmed Black love and independence of thought was the song “Could you be loved.” This song calls on the blacks to love one another freely. Marley shows that, such love, can flow from within the people. In another song “Is this love,” Marley expresses intimate expressions of love as he explores mixed reactions that are associated with feelings of love. The first stanza of this song shows a caring and a devoted part of his personality.
Another of his songs that touch on freedom is the “Redemption Song.” This song is unique in its usage of simple acoustic guitar and voice. In this song, Marley asks people to liberate themselves from mental slavery. He sings, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/None but ourselves can free our minds.” Marley makes clear that most of the attitudes that people have could enslave them. Therefore, it is an individual’s responsibility to free themselves from such slavery. One thing is clear; all that we need is inside ourselves. Whether it is freedom that people seek or whether it is releasing ourselves from any entanglements. The power to achieve all this is inside each individual. This is knowledge might be elusive to many, but Marley is a great teacher indeed as those who realize this, can greatly free themselves of many ills in society.
In summary, Bob Marley’s songs were particularly focused on the plight of the black people and their sufferings. In addition, his songs also had a strong message of unity and peace among all the races of the world and cultures. He did a marvelous work of educating people of various background and cultures around their cause. His messages for the oppressed people in societies against the establishments are lively even to contemporary society.
Plantain Lullabies by Me’Shell Ndegeocello
After listening to this album for a single day had a felt as if I had been listening ‘Plantain Lullabies’ for several years. Although I have been listening to Me’Shell Ndegeocello’s ‘Peace Beyond Passion’ album for some three years now, the ‘Plantain Lullabies’ drew much of my attention. The songs in this album are a soulful journey in Me’Shell’s hip-hop world. The content in the music is quite bold which match well with the singers’ deep voice.
The songs in this album range from love and desire to the wonderfully melancholy outside your door. Me’Shell has a political disposition which she reveals in the album, especially on the songs, such as Step into the Projects’ and ‘Soul on Ice.’ There is also a song about infidelity from a rather different perspective. Most of the album flows uniformly in a highly harmonious groove, without any segueing. The song that I loved most in this album is the seductive ‘Outside Your Door.’ This song implores a man to give Me’Shell an opportunity to know him better. Me’Shell sings, “Tell me everything you fell/Everything that you want/I just want you to stay and talk to me/I’m just so lonely.”
This song has a very big influence on my life. I have come to understand that people have a different ways of expressing their feelings to others. Such an understanding gave me insight on how people reach unto others and how we ought to appreciate others people’s feelings towards us. At the heart of each person is the desire for appreciation, and this should be reciprocated as well. Me’Shell has just helped me to comprehend this, albeit late in my life.