Readings for Reasoning
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48 ❤ READINGS FOR REASONING by Justine Ketola Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley had an opportunity to live and work teaching photography in by Christopher John Farley Jamaica beginning in 1969 and returned there in the mid-90s. Reggae Festival Guide 2006 Amistad, 2006 The environment provided the inspiration to funnel her interest As we mark the in the culture and people into a wonderful blend of personal, 25th anniversary of Bob yet inviting verses. Vivid imagery of fishing traps and painted Marley’s passing on boats, learning the sound of rocksteady, eating a mango while May 11, 1981, there driving around “vine hung switchbacks” and the atmosphere is another fresh crop surrounding cane fires in Spanish Town or swimming in Black of books that aim to River amongst the lilies, take the reader on the journey to the real demystify the legendary Jamaica through poetry. king of reggae’s legacy. The people the author encountered inspired the use of patois This masterpiece language for many aims to offer the more lines and entirely personal side of Bob in some of the Marley’s experience selections. Through on the planet. Written these friendships, by a Time magazine the subjects share and Wall Street Journal their triumphs journalist, it has literary and sorrows. flair, is full of intrigue The Blessed Lime and has its share of centers around a embellishment. woman friend’s The timeline of the book trials such as proceeds from Bob’s birthplace in Nine Mile to his formative years “boys from down growing up in Kingston, to the formation of the Wailers. It then the hill who steal moves into Bob’s time in Delaware to the years with impresario her fowl” and the Danny Sims and ends at Island Records’ studios in London, where redemption of the the breakthrough release, Catch A Fire received overdubs to help tree in her yard form it into a rock-crossover album. which bears “one crop and when it finish, next one ripen up Personal accounts attributed to Bunny Wailer, daughter again...” Cedella Marley, lady love Cindy Breakspeare, wifey Rita Marley The poems are accompanied by a collection of black and and quotes from Aston “Family Man” Barrett help to weave the white photography by the author and her former student, Robin mystique that is Marley. Lai. These photos depict scenes from Kingston such as a woman The writer maintains a sincere passion for his subject, walking her dog in Trenchtown, a rainstorm in Papine with drawing on an extensive bibliography that includes countless goats sheltering under the eaves of a storefront, a hand-painted interviews and accounts that piece together the tale (including restaurant sign, individual portraits and interesting details in one by reggae archivist, Roger Steffens with Bunny Wailer that Jamaican architecture and expansive landscapes. appeared in the Reggae Festival Guide). Dubwise by Klive Walker Train to Skaville Insomniac Press, 2005 Poems and photography by Evelyn Nathan with Informed by his experience as a Jamaican now living in additional photographs by Robin Lai Canada, Mr. Walker’s book covers a multitude of topics with Publishing Works, 2005 interesting analysis of career and music from reggae’s top artists This is a collection of poems, each with careful, evocative from Jamaica, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, placing attribution observations of Jamaican life and the natural surroundings that on those who influenced their work and vice versa. play such a significant part of daily living there. The author For those of us who view ourselves as reggae music buffs, the 50 book’s subtitle, Reasoning from the Reggae Underground, rings Packed with copies ❤ true. Topics covered and references made here will trigger fond of artifacts from the memories from the various eras, from Augustus Pablo to Aswad artist’s career, this one to Shinehead. This is an interesting collection of articles for those is better than a kid’s who have been living the music “above ground” over the years, pop-up book for adults, and an important contribution for those beginning the reggae whimsically unfolding journey. the tale of Marley’s Tracing the Jamaican roots of ska, in the essay Blue Beat, legacy. Chief curator Nyabinghi and Bebop, the author addresses the significance of for the Rock and Roll early Jamaican jazz musicians such as Ernest Ranglin, Tommy Hall of Fame and McCook and Joe Harriott and the direction they took the music. former editor and The percussive element of the genre is tied to its nyabinghi roots writer for Rolling and Oswald “Count Ossie” Williams, who is credited here with Stone, the author Reggae Festival Guide 2006 creating Rasta nyabinghi drumming through teaching burru hand has assembled an drum teaching sessions which date from 1949. The book tracks important book that the progression of ska and Jamaican jazz through the work of the is reasonable in price and easy to find on bookstore shelves. Skatalites and their immense influence in the development of the The book has an outer box that it fits into as part of a concept U.K. ska movement and the mod scene. series that includes similar books on Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. The author is sensitive to the contributions of women in Its contents include a fold-out booklet with childhood and family Jamaican music including shots, graphics from 7-inch singles, a great chronicle of Wailers’ Sonia Pottinger, who photos and original posters suitable for framing, including one produced many top-selling from a show at London’s Lyceum Ballroom featuring a photo of releases such as those Bob and George Harrison engaged in a soul-brother handshake in the ‘70s by Marcia promoting a 1975 performance. Another fine replica is the poster Griffiths, Naturally and from the One Love Peace Concert at the National Stadium in ‘78. Steppin’. The songs of Additional pullout goodies include tickets, promotional pieces, Judy Mowatt, on her self- a tour sticker and a reproduction of the news clipping from a produced masterpiece 1977 issue of Melody Maker, the British magazine that spawned Black Woman, are the name of his progeny’s group. Other highlights are copies of explored for their handwritten original lyrics for “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and conscious appeal and “Waiting in Vain.” fiery musicianship. Music industry types may be intrigued by a tour production The author also seeks booklet, which is a reproduction from a 1979 tour to Australia, to address the issues that New Zealand and Hawaii. It lists the crew members, itineraries spawned radical work and dining options. Neville Garrick’s personal lighting and from dub poet artists staging notes, sketches and set lists are reproduced in what such as Black Panther appears to be his personal tour notebook as well. Movement member Quotes from the likes of Toots Hibbert, Chrissy Hynde of the Linton Kwesi Johnson. Pretenders, Ziggy Marley, as well as a 50-minute CD of compiled Connections are clearly made between this culture of musical interviews with a transcription booklet to accompany the dialogue rebellion, the anti-racism movement of the U.K. and the how this help to bring the story full circle through Marley’s own voice. native form – as well as reggae music in general – aided in the development of the rebel music of punk rock. The book makes important references to Rasta teachings as an The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning essential part of reggae and its message of “liberation theology” of Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Album of the Century that informs the listener. In referring to DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaican by Vivien Goldman immigrant to New York City who is widely credited with hosting Three Rivers Press, 2006 the first sound system sessions to inspire and invent the hip hop Bob Marley and the Wailers’ album, Exodus was released genre, he points out that Herc was amongst many to catch a in 1977. It was recorded after the “invasion” that took place in glimpse when Emperor Haile Selassie I visited the island in 1966. 56 Hope Road the night before the Smile Jamaica concert. The The author makes several important connections to people and author writes a sensitive treatment of Bob Marley – a.k.a. “Skip” events that have significance throughout reggae’s history. or “The Skipper” – as he was known, and interviews important people in his life such as Mortimer Planno, Chris Blackwell, Ne- Marley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley ville Garrick and Marcia Griffiths. by James Henke As for the analysis of the making of Exodus, Vivien Gold- Chronicle Books/Tuff Gong Books, 2006 man extracts the essence of the very moment a lyric or line was This year finds us with another batch of Bob Marley books. created, with accounts from the individuals who were actually 52 READINGS FOR REASONING the songs and their origins, such as “So Much Things To Say” ❤ which was a result of many months of deep meditation and time, there with Bob Marley and the Wailers. Goldman was working reasoning with the family he had created through music to deal first as Bob Marley’s London-based publicist for Island Records with this life-changing event. and then as feature writer and editor for Sounds magazine. Her Goldman joined the European tour for Exodus, some 15 keen sense of the art within the context of the times helps shape years after the start of the Wailers’ journey in the music business. the story of Bob Marley and Exodus for the world in the early She points out this tour was the first to have a full-scale budget stages and has formed a great book on the subject.