AWAKE and LIVE! Reflect on Carlos Albuquerque's text about the greatest star of the Third World!

Bob Marley didn't die. If someone says he died, ignore it and sneak away, smiling and singing "Is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feeling". What happened on May 11, 1981, in a hospital in Miami, was matter that dissolved, atoms that were recombined. The Stoics, philosophers from the time of the Roman Empire, said that when we die, we don't go anywhere. whether that place is heaven or zion. We just dissolve and return to nature. Look at the world around you and see if that's what happened to Bob Marley.

His music is everywhere. His records still sell today, with an adoration comparable only to that of Elvis and the Beatles. His face and braids are printed on kids' t-shirts in Rio, Sydney and Paris. Marley dissolved and became a sound of nature because of the irresistibly pop songs and all the ingredients - rock, punk, afro, soul - that he added to his reggae. He became a star because of lyrics that had at the same time a breathtaking lyricism and an infectious militancy. It became light because of words, actions and a vibrant message of peace and love.

But Marley was no saint. He was Tuff Gong, a nickname he earned hard, in fights in the ghettos of Kingston. Ironically, if he were here, celebrating his 60th birthday, with white dreadlocks, he would have to fight against the immobility of his fans, who seem to be content with putting on colorful clothes and saluting his memory in endless tributes, instead of moving forward, shifting into second gear, listening to other sounds and seeing that reggae is not just roots, it's not just yo yo, but it's also stem and fruits. As Marley would say, "Wake up and live". The good thing is to spark this idea.

 Carlos Albuquerque is a journalist and author of the book O Eterno Verão do Reggae.