By 1978 violence was still widespread in Jamaica, causing a need for reform. Heading this reform were heads of the PNP and JLP, Seaga and Manley, both key figures in Jamaica before 1978. “Both candidates for prime minister travelled with recorded or live musical shows, and both customarily joined in singing the highly political lyrics” stemming from what Marley had preached before them (Kinzer, 1). This emphasizes the important of music in the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica. Even though Marley didn’t want to become involved with politics, it is clear that his previous music had affected many people. This attracted the attention of all political groups, and eventually “Reggae music, the driving, rhythmic style that Marley popularized, was heard at every campaign stop as candidates and voters alike sang, danced and chanted” (Kinzer 1). Using this new strategy, both Seaga and Manley urged Marley to return from his self-implemented exile and return to Jamaica for the One Love Concert. The idea was to use Marley as an icon to promote between the JLP and PNP, and all political spectrums. It is important to note how Marley was the aim to headline this concert because who else would have been a better candidate to headline it than Marley? His previous concert, the Smile concert, mixed with his messages of anti-imperialism, peace, love and others, crafted him into the perfect icon for the One Love Concert. Looking at the concert, Marley sealed his legacy during this event. Calling it the “One Love” concert shows the significance of Marley being at the event, since it is named after one of his most famous songs. Marley went on to perform “One Love” at the concert, becoming the focal point of the show.
In his song “One Love” Marley sings about people putting aside violence and their differences in favor of love. In the first verse Marley sings, “hear the children crying, hear the children crying.” Using children as his example, Marley gains the attention of his audience using sympathy. For the sake of children, Marley attempts to get people to stop the violence, fighting and oppression in Jamaica. Singing this at the concert, in front of thousands of people, targets both politicians, and challenges them to stop the violence that has been vivid in the past. Marley later says in the song, “Lets get together and feel alright” after referencing to the Book of Revelation “as it was in the beginning.” By doing this Marley makes his message that people should ignore race, color, and any negative connotations and come together because then we will be “alright” (“One Love” Bob Marley). Specifically Marley, again, through this song, verbally attacks each political party and tells them to stop political conflicts because in the past people were coinciding happily together. If they could do it in the past, why can’t it be achievable now?
At the end of his performance Marley ordered both Seaga and Manley to the stage, which is to be considered one of the most radical decisions Marley made. On their way up to the stage Marley says “I just want to shake hands and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite. The moon is right over my head, and I give my love instead. The moon was right above my head, and I give my love instead” (Bob Marley). During this moment, Marley cemented himself as a political leader in Jamaica. This moment is an iconic moment when analyzing Marley’s political impact in Jamaica. Holding the hands of both Seaga and Manley, holding them up, uniting under Marley created a symbol that the world will never forget.
SOURCES: Stephen Kinzer, G. C. (1981, Jun 07). LATIN AMERICA; BOB MARLEY’S LEGACY IS REGGAE POWER; JAMAICA’S FOREMOST ENTERTAINER HAD POLITICAL IMPACT. Boston Globe (Pre-1997 Fulltext). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/294095485?accountid=14214
When going through my sources one resonated with me and became a focal point, if not the focal point of my research about Bob Marley. This source was found on Wikipedia: The One Love Peace Concert. This became my primary source, not because of what it actually conveyed but how many doors it opened me up to while doing my research. Once I found this source numerous ideas and questions flowed into my mind. Being a history major I was eager to know more about the One Love Concert. It created questions such as “How did this impact people? Why did it happen and what factors contributed to this?” among many more. The answers to these questions had something to do with Bob Marley and reflected his importance.
Looking at the document, and actual event, the authors were Jamaican political factions: JLP (Jamaican Labour Party) and PNP (Peoples National Party). The leader of each group coincided with each other to push aside conflict. In response the One Love Concert was held. The aim of the concert was to spread peace on both the political level and social level. It’s not often two political groups push aside their differences, let alone host a concert in collaboration. Both leaders part took in significant methods to ensure that the concert would be as influential, and importance, as possible. The most noticeable method used by the political groups was bringing Bob Marley back from exile to perform. Using Bob Marley instead of another singer was extremely tactical because of the stigma and message attach to Bob Marley. Up until this date in time, 1978, Bob Marley was known for strong messages of peace and love. Using Bob Marley served as a symbol for the concert, hence the name of the concert being after one of his songs. During this time no one was more popular than Bob Marley. So by using him as a symbol the JLP and PNP were allowed to strongly attack their aims with Bob Marley at their side.
Looking at the Wikipedia source and not the content, or event itself, the author changes along with the materials; however the aim stays the same. Looking at the wiki, the audience is the viewer while the author is who ever wrote the information. The event doesn’t change, as history is unchangeable, however as the context that the information is presented changes, the author does with it. The aim stays the same: peace, on both social and political levels. Looking at the Wikipedia article the concert is used as a material to support the aim to its audience. Bob Marley, again, serves as another symbol to allow the audience to connect to a topic of common interest. That means the person can relate to Bob Marley more so than the concert because Bob Marley is more popular.
In my rhetorical defense I describe the exigence and kairos for this document. In fact, while looking at this document I found it extremely important to understand the kairos, or timing. After researching the concert more and more, I found that it was held during a time of political turmoil in Jamaican. This contributed to how the concert is looked and why. In result, along with exigence and kairos, this document was my primary source because it contains valuable information as well as demonstrates how an author uses aims, methods and materials.
For my project I think I’m going to do a slideshow. Doing a slideshow I will be able to segment my presentation intro multiple ideas each of which will be on its own slide. These ideas could be how kairos, exigence, etc work in with my topic, Bob Marley. For example one slide could be a video clip of the song One Love. While the song is playing I could rhetorically analysis the song, to what the lyrics mean or are trying to say than what is actually said. The next slide could be on kairos and so on. By doing this it gives the students a visual to look at, to go along with my “lecture” or speaking portion.
With Snoop Dogg changing to Snoop Lion I hope we see the revival of the ideas Bob Marley tried to convey. Being a fan of reggae I don’t think anyone can reach such a high level of influence as Bob Marley did. I don’t see harm in Snoop changing his name especially if the family doesn’t mind. With Snoop changing his name it only strengthens the messages of Bob. This shows Bob was so influential he caused Snoop to change his name and career path. With a celebrity at the helm, Snoop can pave the way for others to change. Bob believed in peace, equality, and many more things. If Snoop can change his career from rapping about ghettos, killing and other rap related terms to peace and love then I think many more people can. They will never be another man like Bob Marley however we shouldn’t criticize those who idolize people with great ideology and motives. It’s better than doing something on the more extreme spectrum. We can only hope his music affects others in the way Bob’s did because even though Snoop Lion isn’t Bob Marley he can still pass Bob’s motives through his music.
^This is the comment I posted on NY Times website…
I decided to use MLA style citations because I used MLA throughout high school. Whenever I’ve done papers in the past I used MLA. Most of the papers I’ve written in the past have required MLA so it’s become the constant citation I’ve used. Some history classes I am taking this semester call for Chicago style citations which will be my first time ever using something other than MLA.
(1) Bob Marley changed the world with his peacefully, reggae music. Preaching peace and love throughout his lyrics, Bob Marley enlightened the ears of whomever listened. This cover of his hit song “One Love” shows how his influence spread outside of his Jamaican roots and across the globe. The video begins with a picture of Bob Marley, signifying respect to the original artist. It proceeds with the song and begins with one person playing the song and switches numerous times between a variation of people. Each person involved in the cover represents a unique country, from African countries to many others throughout Asia. By doing so, the video displays a sense of united between all the countries which provides a message saying conveying that the world can live in peace. Supporting this claim is that they all are singing the same song which is strongly correlated to peace. One line they all seem to sing is “Let’s get together and feel alright” which puts emphasize on the fact that all countries should, and can get together. The audience of this song appears to be anyone interested in Bob Marley, as it is a cover of one of his greatest hits. However the audience expands to more than just fans, but also everyone in those countries, especially those who don’t believe in peace. Many countries in the video had a bloody past, for example Congo(Mobutu Years, etc) or Israel. These people singing are trying to convince their respective countries that different races, skin colors, and so on can coexist.
(2) One Love Lyrics: In his song One Love, Bob Marley motivates people to “get together and feel alright.” Bob sings One Love, like all of his other songs, in effort to inspire peace throughout the world. In the first verse he sings, “hear the children crying, hear the children crying.” In these lines he trying to preach his message by connecting to children, a topic that most people are sensitive too. He’s saying lets stop the violence, fighting and oppression for the children’s sake. Children are viewed as harmless and innocent, so using them in his lyrics make his message more significant. Marley later says, “Lets get together and feel alright” after referencing to the Book of Revelation “as it was in the beginning.” By doing this Marley makes his message that people should ignore race, color, and any negative connotations and come together because then we will be alright. In his song One Love Bob Marley references common themes that resent sympathy like children, as well as reference religious. Doing so allows him to connect to his audience on a more personable way. His audience in the text is to all the “sinners” and wrong do-ers to stop violence and spread peace.
(3) Legacy of Bob Marley Article: Looking back at the life of Bob Marley, one can sum him to be a unique talent that will always have an influence inside and outside of Jamaica through his music. “It might be that no one will ever again scale the musical heights reached by Bob Marley, with his influence not just on the charts but on politics, international relations and human rights” (Ian Burrell). Through his messages of peace and love Bob Marley achieved things many contemporary artists couldn’t. The author of this article, Ian Burrell, targets these modern day artists to take a page out of Bob Marley’s playbook. Burrell states, “It would be nice if more modern artists felt inspired enough to at least give it a try.” In saying this Burrell attempts to attract the audience of other artists. Bob Marley was an extraordinary man however, what says another artist can’t be similar? The goal behind writing this piece, Burrell tried to challenge other artists to preach, or at least convey the messages of peace and love towards everyone. This article comes at an important time, as reggae music is becoming forgotten and masked by other mainstream genres of music. Reviving the legend of Bob Marley gave the author strong support to challenge artists to change their perspectives and musical motives to those similar to Bob Marley. “Songs such as “Simmer Down” and “Jailhouse” reflected the inner city tensions that Marley had experienced and were imbued with the rebel spirit that became his trademark” (Burrell). In this article Burrell used Marley as an international icon that is to be idolized and mimicked in order to support his claim.
(4) One Love Peace Concert: The One Love Peace Concert was held in spring 1978 in Jamaica. The idea of a concert started with the motive to create peace between two political parties: the People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaican Labour Party (JLP). It wasn’t just for fans of music and reggae but for all fractions of politics to see this concert as a stepping-stone towards peace and unity. At the concert Bob said “I just want to shake hands [with a guy from each the JLP and PNP] and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite.” This act resembles Bob Marley not just seeking peace between two people or politic groups, but peace between everyone. Activists and Rastafarian’s like Bob Marley used this concert as a tool to progress world peace. The rhetoric behind this concert is an act of world peace, much more than what appears to the eye: a concert for the entertainment of the fans. The timing of this concert was vital. It occurred when: (1) Bob Marley was exiled, and was what brought him back to Jamaica (2) The JLP and PNP were in the midst of a political war. Also getting steam during the 70s was the Cold War. This concert reflected the ideals behind the majority of people. Unfortunately the result wouldn’t come close to the aims people had when constructing the
concert. A few years later the JLP and PNP still had tension and conflict, and more importantly Bob Marley would past away in 1981.
(5) Bob Marley became successful not through his shear vocal talents, but through his strong diction throughout his songs. He uses words and concept that appeal to everyone so his claim becomes more important and focused on my his audience. Using concepts and terms that appeal to others is important because it attracts interest in comparison to if he was talking about something irreverent like baseball, then no one would pay attention. In Rebel Music he sings “Oh, why can’t we be what we wanna be?” Jamaica and other Latin American countries recently (50 to 100 years ago) had struggles for independence so the timing of this (1972) is important to look at. It was a period with tensions still revolving around freedom and independence so Bob Marley used music to help further his goals of peace and freedom.
(6) Snoop Dogg went into Jamaica a Dogg but came out a Rastafarian Lion After going to Jamaican for a “spiritual” trip Snoop Dogg changed his name to Snoop Lion after Rastafarian priests bestowed this name to him. The New York Times quotes Snoop in doing so because “I [Snoop] was Bob Marley reincarnated.” Snoop changed his musical motives to a more peaceful approach identical to Bob Marley hence the claim that he was actually Bob Marley reincarnated. Snoop claimed to be over rapping, specifically due to the fact that he’s done singing about “hustling and making money and drug-dealing and shooting.” This is important because it shows Bob Marley’s influence in the current generation. Snoop lion in this article exemplified this because he’s obviously not Bob Marley reincarnated. The audience of Snoop’s isn’t directs towards a specific group but to all ages. In the article Snoop emphasized how one reason he’s gone into reggae was to produce music for all ages to enjoy. So why is all this important and how does Bob Marley correlate to this? Well, Bob Marley achieved his goal by spreading his music and message: peace. In doing so through a national icon many people will follow in his footsteps in comparison to if a random stranger did so. Even though Snoop Dogg isn’t Bob Marley, Bob Marley will live on through Snoop Lion and his work, influencing people in modern day society. The timing of this news doesn’t come at a significant time. However a line can be drawn between this and the end of the War in Iraq. The war official ended around 2011 (however there is still current occupation and conflict overseas) and Snoop announced his rastafarian revival in 2012. Although he isn’t, Snoop Lion could be the person needed to began a movement for a time of peace and prosperity much like Bob Marley would do.
A rhetorical analysis is action that focuses on how and why the author writes something rather than what the author writes. Similar to what Ramage says about “kairos”, a rhetorical analysis “concerns a whole range of questions connected to the timing, fitness, appropriateness, and proportions of a message”(91). Instead of looking at one side of an argument, rhetorical analysis looks at all perspectives to gain the most knowledge from the text. By looking at all perspectives of a text you are able to understand the reason why an author wrote something and the factors that lead to it. For example looking at a memoir of a German soldier during World War, the text may talk about a man’s life. However, analyzing why it was said reflects more knowledge to the reader. The memoir, after analyzing it, tells us more about German society as a world during the era. So by using rhetorical analysis the reader gains a deeper understanding of why an author writes something.
Legend of Bob Marley 