Remembering Bob Marley: His Death, Music and Rastafari Movement

Today, May 11, 2011, is the 30 year anniversary of the death of Bob Marley, a Jamaican musician credited as a legend of Jamaican music and a spreader of the Rastafari movement, a religious "way of life" that is centered on the belief that Jamaica's former emperor, Haile Selassie I, is the second reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley was born on February 6, 1945 and died of cancer on May 11, 1981 in Miami while switching planes to fly back to Jamaica. Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, and died eight months after his diagnosis. He is survived by at least 11 children from multiple women, including his wife.

Marley's most well-known music hits were "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", and "One Love". Much of his music reflected his religious beliefs and viewpoints.

Marley's final words to his son Ziggy before his death were, "Money can't buy life". He was buried a week later in Jamaica with his red Gibson Les Paul guitar.

Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley: "His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation."

Today Bob Marley is a legend known for his music, though many are not familiar with his religious views. To put it simply, Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, which is movement stemming from Christianity in Jamaica.  Members of the movement worship Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, former Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974), as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

Marley was asked often about his religious beliefs. An interviewer once asked, "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"

Bob responded: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true."

While his statement seems offensive, Marley swore during his lifetime that he was not prejudice at all: "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."

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