Bob Marley brings Ethiopians and Rastafarians together – but all is not
harmony
By ANTHONY MITCHELL
.c The Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) – Throughout his life, Bob Marley looked to
Ethiopia as the spiritual home of his Rastafarian faith.
But as Ethiopia welcomes hundreds of thousands of revelers for a month
of festivities starting Tuesday in honor of the Jamaican reggae
legend, many here view Rastafarians – some of whom settled in Ethiopia
because they could worship the nation’s last emperor – with deep
suspicion.
At best, the tiny Rastafarian community is tolerated as an oddity in
the deeply traditional and overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian country
on the Horn of Africa. At worst, they are accused of spreading drugs
and crime – claims they dismiss as springing from prejudice.
Organizers of this month’s celebrations hope music will melt away
tensions.
Marley’s widow, Rita, together with the African Union and the U.N.
Children’s Fund, is organizing the US$1 million (euro770,000)
extravaganza dubbed “Africa Unite” in honor of one of his most
famous songs. The highlight is Ethiopia’s largest-ever concert on
Marley’s birthday – Feb. 6 – in the capital, Addis Ababa.
“I have dreamed about doing this for years,” said Marcia Griffiths,
a singer in Marley’s former backing group, as she arrived in Ethiopia
for the first time Monday. “All my life I wanted to come here with
Bob in the flesh. Now I’m here and I know he is here in the spirit.”
It is the first time the annual commemoration has been held outside
Jamaica. Ethiopian officials estimate 500,000 people will attend the
festivities. After the concert in Addis, celebrations will move to
Shashemene, where the Rastafarians have built their community.
Marley’s music has always been popular here, and Ethiopians welcome
the many visitors – and money – the event could bring their
impoverished country. The capital’s cassette and CD stalls, which
normally blare Ethiopian pop, have changed tunes to Marley classics
‘Get Up, Stand Up’ and ‘I Shot The Sheriff’.
“I think the Bob Marley concert will be very good for the country,”
said Yared Kebede, a teacher. “With thousands of people coming here
and spending money, that can’t be a bad thing.”
Rastafarians worshipped Ethiopia’s last emperor – Haile Selassie, who
died in 1975 – as their living god, a belief based on a 1920 prophecy
by Jamaican civil rights leader Marcus Garvey that a black man would
be crowned king in Africa.
Selassie in turn granted Rastafarians land in 1963 at Shashemene, 250
kilometers (155 miles) south of Addis Ababa, where several hundred
continue to live. But successive governments have refused to give
Rastafarians citizenship in their adopted country.
“In any other country in the world, if you stay in the country a
number of years and have children, those children would have
citizenship – but not here,” lamented Ambrose King, deputy head of
the Rastafarians’ Ethiopian World Federation.
On Friday, Rita Marley said she was determined to honor her husband’s
wish for burial in Ethiopia, but did not say when the body might be
moved from Jamaica. She first announced the reburial plans earlier
this month – to the chagrin of many in Jamaica who feared losing their
cultural heritage.
Historian Richard Pankhurst said Selassie never held a particular
affinity for Rastafarians. The late emperor, who ruled from 1930 until
he was overthrown in a 1974 military coup that abolished the monarchy,
also granted land to Armenian refugees, Pankhurst notes.
Some Ethiopians are irked by the deification of Selassie, a man many
saw as an autocrat, albeit a benevolent one. The Orthodox Church never
granted Selassie – who claimed to be a direct descendant of King David
– the status of saint, which it bestowed on other Ethiopian emperors.
Regular drug busts in Shashemene – a dusty, wind-swept town of sleazy
bars and prostitutes – have also fueled local prejudices against
Rastafarians.
“The problem with the Jamaicans is that they smoke drugs,” said
Kebede, the teacher, using the local expression for Rastafarians,
regardless of their origin.
For Rastafarians, who preach a oneness with nature, smoking marijuana
is a sacrament.
Commemoration organizers hope to highlight issues like HIV/AIDS, war
and poverty, while raising funds for tsunami relief in Somalia, the
Shashemene Medical Center and a Bob Marley Youth Development Center in
downtown Addis Ababa.
Rita Marley will sing with Griffiths and Judy Mowatt as the I-Threes,
Bob Marley’s former backing group, on Feb. 6. Joining them on stage
will be Senegal’s Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour, Benin’s Kidjo, Reggae
rapper Shaggy, soul singer India.arie and Marley’s children.
Associated Press writer Andrew Heavens contributed to this report.
02/01/05 04:27 EST