Reverences of Brazilian Jamaica!

Bands and sound systems honor today the 21st anniversary of Bob Marley's death with shows and parties. One of the predominant rhythms in the "air" of São Luís Island gains a special dimension today, on another May 11. The so-called "Brazilian Jamaica" marks the date of 21 years since Bob Marley's passing in the same language the reggae king used to spread his message of peace: music. The main tribute takes place today from 2 p.m. in the Liberdade neighborhood. Held traditionally every March 11 for the past 21 years, the party gathers reggae fans from across the island under FM Natty Nayffson sound system command, drawing an average crowd of seven thousand. "I started the party when he died. It was a gathering of people who liked reggae, with a sound system. Today the audience is much bigger," recalls organizer Natty Nayffson. The program will also feature dance groups and a mass at 6 p.m. Sound system Itamaraty will pay tribute to the Jamaican idol within the Geração 90 party starting at 10 p.m. at clube Jamaica Brasileira (retorno da Forquilha). According to councilman José Eleonildo Pinto — vereador Pinto da Itamaraty, owner of the sound system — the event, recalling reggae hits of the last 10 years, will devote about an hour and a half to Bob Marley. "It's a tradition for sound systems to always play his music on May 11, also talking a bit about his story. No doubt that whenever reggae is mentioned, Bob Marley must be played," Pinto stresses.

BANDS

But today, tributes to the idol won't be limited to reggae sound systems. Local artists of the genre are using the date to sing the king on stage. Band Nó de Fumaça got ahead of the curve and paid its tribute to Marley yesterday at a party at bar Armazém, on Praia Grande. Led by musician Dário Ribeiro, the band is the guitarist's third reggae venture after Mystical Roots and Legenda. Tonight's show is by Guetos at Bar do Nelson (av. Litorânea, Calhau) from 11 p.m., at the Tributo a Bob Marley party. On stage, the band sets aside its CD Lida repertoire to perform only Marley classics. To set the mood, the scene will share time with sound system Vibration Sound, which was part of Armazém's program yesterday. Admission to the Guetos show costs R$ 4.00. Maranhão residents have long sung Bob Marley and Bob Marley. Recent examples include the latest albums by singer Rosa Reis and Tribo de Jah. Despite a career tied to regional music, Rosa sings love and reggae openly to the Jamaican's sound on CD Balaio de Rosa. "I put a Bob Marley on the turntable / broke many stones without watching the clock / traced close together / rastapé on the floor / my room became a ballroom," she sings on the track Amor Reggae, her own composition. Reggae artists Tribo de Jah joined tributes to 20 years without Bob Marley and last year released the album A Bob Marley. Among its 16 tracks are re-recordings of classics like Stir It Up, I Shot The Sheriff and Is This Love, and versions of hits such as One Love (Um Só Amor), Sun Is Shining (Sol No Céu) and Natural Mystic (Magia Natural). rei - Robert Nesta Marley's life was short but intense. Born in the small village of Nine Mile, in the rural interior of the Parish of St. Ann (Santa Ana), northern Jamaica, the son of an 18-year-old black woman and a fifty-something Englishman, Marley had his first contact with music as a child in Trench Town slum, Jamaica's capital Kingston, with friend Neville O'Riley Livingston, Bunny, with whom he would later form Wailing Wailers, together with Peter Tosh, a fellow student in singing lessons with Joe Higgs. Blending influences such as rhythm & blues and ska — then the most popular beat among Jamaican artists — Marley and his companions began a life and career path marked by many ups and downs, but with a final result of human enrichment not only for the musicians but also for their audience. It took time for the world to recognize the son of Nine Mile, who managed through reggae to unite music lovers and followers of the Rastafari philosophy. At the height of success, after finally breaking into the American and European music market, Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981, at age 36, in Miami. What three years earlier was merely a wound on his toe became cancer that spread through the idol's body. Robert Nesta Marley was buried in his hometown after a funeral with honors from the Jamaican government.