Raggamuffins '09

Having just read an awesome Bob Marley biography, there were few places I'd rather be than this concert last night!  It was as close to Bob as I may ever get.

K'naan was the first act I caught and he just had this gleam of love in his eye.  He's a musician from Africa and I saw the movie Blood Diamond (which is awesome if you haven't seen it) the night before.  It is such a powerful, powerful topic;  Africa continually being raped into crisis for it's natural resources for someone else's gain.  And it's easy to forget the situation when you don't come in contact with it.

Next was Julian Marley, who was awesome.  Dreads long and bouncing, made it so every picture I tried to take looked like a spider ghost...hmmmm....

Following Julian was The King, The Upsetter, Lee "Scratch" Perry.  If you don't know who he is, well, he's kind of a big deal to the history of reggae.  One of the original producers in Kingston in the early 60's, his infamous recording sessions with the Wailers and others laid the template for reggae and dub music.  His nickname Scratch came from his signature guitar sound, scratch-scratch...scratch-scratch...possibly the most used pattern in the music's history.  He is an erratic spirit, known for burning down his studio, planting his painted records in the garden, etc.  and he's in his 70's.  I didn't know what to expect but I knew it was gonna be...unique. 

He had an amazing amount of energy for his age and had lots of love for the audience.  He was dressed like a hippie rasta, always changing hats that looked like they'd been sought out for their wackiness.   Everything was dubbed out, smokey and mysterious.  When he played his version of "Sun is Shining" that he recorded with Bob in the hey-day, I was stoked!

Stephen Marley closed the night with an acoustic set of original material and Bob covers.  The audience was singing along, so Stephen backed off the vocals and egged the crowd on.  The crowd got louder, singing at the top of their lungs and in key, "No Woman, No Cry,"  Stephen smiling, very impressed with the choir.  It was such an overwhelming moment, the love, the strength, the joy, the unity, I started crying.

"Some mon just deal wit' information.  An' some mon, him deal wit' the concept of truth.  An' den some mon deal wit' magic.  Information flow aroun' ya an' truth flow right at ya.  But magic, it flow t'rough ya."  -Nernelly, A Jamaican "Bush Doctor"