February 2, 2005
ARTICLE: Bobfest launched
This is a story I filed for AP on last night's launch of Africa Unite, a festival to celebrate Bob Marley's 60th birthday. They only used a couple of pars "for colour". So I thought I'd put the rest of it up here.
Bob Marley’s 60th birthday celebrations were launched in Ethiopia last night to the sound of massed African drums and an emotional song from the Reggae legend’s own mother.
Mother Cedella Marley Booker, still frail after a recent illness, won a standing ovation from a crowd packed with celebrities, leading Rastafarians and the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abuna Paulos.
More than 300 people packed into Addis Ababa City Administration’s hall to mark the start of a month’s worth of concerts, discussions and exhibitions organised under the banner of 'Africa Unite'.
"Bob Marley was the voice of the voiceless. He represented those who were disenfranchised and gave them power," Dr Desta Meghoo-Peddie, managing director of the Bob Marley Foundation, told the audience.
"We are here tonight to commemorate his memory and also to realise that Brother Bob lives on. It is eternal life that we are dealing with as Rastafari."
During the concert Rita Marley sat in a row alongside to Abuna Paulos, six senior Orthodox bishops and Sheik EliasRedwan, vice chairman of the Ethiopian Muslim Affairs Council. "Bob said ‘Africa Unite’ and that’s what we are doing", said Dessi, a leading member of the Rastafarian community in Shashemene south of Addis Ababa. "In Ethiopia Christians live in harmony with Muslims."
At one point in the concert Mother Cedella Marley Booker was joined by US actor Danny Glover, in town to chair sessions in the ‘Africa Unite’ symposium which will take place over the next three days [Wed-Fri].
Bob Marley’s mother made her first public appearance since flying into Addis Ababa last week. She arrived in a wheelchair but managed to walk on stage towards the end of the proceedings to sing what she described as a “song for the children of Ethiopia” with the chorus “let the children play”.
The crowd chanted ‘Go Nana, Go Nana’ as Rita Marley was made an honorary citizen of Addis Ababa by the town’s mayor Akebe Oqubay.
They also heard from Prince Bede Mariam Mekonnen, grandson of Ethiopia’s last Emperor Haile Selassie who is seen as a spiritual leader by Rastafarians. He paid tribute to Bob Marley and called on Ethiopia to set up a memorial and an annual reggae festival in the singer’s memory.
Other entertainment came from the National Drummers of Burundi and the Drums of Rastafari - a band of Addis Ababa-based Rastafarians who led the crowd in a stirring rendition of the Marley classic ‘Get Up Stand Up’.
Posted by aheavens at February 2, 2005 1:41 PM