Marley to be exhumed, reburied in Ehtiopia

[Chrome]

Marley to be exhumed, buried in Ethiopia

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Posted: 10:51 AM EST (1551 GMT)

"Bob's whole life is about Africa," says Marley's wife, Rita.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The wife of reggae star Bob Marley said Wednesday that she plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place," Ethiopia.

The reburial is set for an unspecified date after monthlong celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Marley's birth to be held next month in Ethiopia. Both the Ethiopian church and government officials have expressed support for the project, Rita Marley told The Associated Press.

"We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," said Rita, a former backing singer for Marley's band, The Wailers. "It is part of Bob's own mission."

Marley was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, in 1945. He died of cancer in 1981.

Rita Marley said her husband would be reburied in Shashemene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Addis Ababa where several hundred Rastafarians have lived since they were given land by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie.

Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans embraced Haile as their living god and head of the Rastafarian religious movement.

Marley was a devout Rastafarian, a faith whose followers preach a oneness with nature, grow their hair into long matted strands called dreadlocks and smoke marijuana as a sacrament.

"Bob's whole life is about Africa, it is not about Jamaica," said Rita, a Cuban-born singer who married Marley in 1966.

"How can you give up a continent for an island? He has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be. This was his mission. Ethiopia is his spiritual resting place," she said. "With the 60th anniversary this year, the impact is there and the time is right."

Together with the African Union and the U.N. children's agency, Rita Marley has organized celebrations in Ethiopia, including a concert on Marley's birthday, February 6, to be held in Addis Ababa.

The monthlong celebration, dubbed "Africa Unite" after one of Marley's songs, aims to raise funds to help poor families in Ethiopia.

The Marley Family, Senegal's Baaba Maal and Youssou N'Dour, Angelique Kidjo of Benin and other African and reggae artists will perform as part of the US$1 million (euro760,000) program.

The event is expected to be broadcast in Africa and beyond.

[BeBop]

I'm interested in seeing if there is any 'flak' about this move. My personal impression was that Marley was a 'big deal' to Jamaicans; I've never heard a word about him from anyone in Ethiopia. Just one man's observation.

[Jim Alfredson]

He's dead. It don't matter.

[Brandon Burke]

Hey, it worked for Parsons.....

[EDIT: found a photo.]

Edited January 12, 2005 by Brandon Burke

[Dr. Rat]

How can you give up a continent for an island?

There's probably plenty of Afrcians willing to give up a continent for a decent apartment in the US, let alone an island.

--eric

[Alexander]

Ethiopia is regarded as the spiritual homeland of Rastafarians. The Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie is regarded as having been a living incarnation of Jah. While many Jamaicans might object to this move, serious Rastafarians will probably support it.

As to whether one would "give up a continent for an island," it is important to remember that Jamaica was essentially a sugar plantation up until the 19th century. Not only are all black Jamaicans decendents of slaves, but it was an especially brutal slavery (much worse than that experienced by American blacks). Think of it: Of the millions of Africans brought to the west as slaves, only 8% went to the North American Colonies! I'm serious! The rest went to the Carribean and South America (mostly Brazil). Treatment of slaves in Jamaica was so severe that they did not have a self-sustaining black population until the early 19th century! No kidding! They worked the slaves to death, and then imported more to replace them! And this went on for 200 years (the earliest plantations in Jamaica date back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries). All of this is to say that blacks in Jamaica do not have a happy history. Remember what Peter Tosh said: "Don't matter where you come from, as long as you a black man you are an African..."

[sal]

I work with Jamacians on a near daily basis, and one of my clients told me that the press just reported that this story is bogus, and that Rita Marley is denying saying anything of the sort.

[Dr. Rat]

I work with Jamacians on a near daily basis, and one of my clients told me that the press just reported that this story is bogus, and that Rita Marley is denying saying anything of the sort.

I, for one, am glad to hear it. I found the story to be rather depressing.

--eric

[Rooster_Ties]

Can't find anything on the wires (or at least nothing with the Google news search) that refutes the original now-supposedly-bogus story.

I have a slightly formed opinion about this, but frankly -- it's really a family matter, and something about which my opinion doesn't matter even one tiny bit. (Plus, I can see both sides of the argument too.)