In April 1979, Bob Marley and the Wailers visited Japan for eight concerts in Tokyo and Osaka as part of their Babylon By Bus-tour through Asia and Oceania. The tour proved a great success, as reggae music became increasingly popular in the land of the rising sun in the years thereafter. 1979 was also the first time in three years that Marley and his Wailers did not visit the Netherlands. In 1976, 1977, 1978 and … Continue reading
Today, May 11, 2011, it is exactly thirty years since reggae-king Bob Marley died just before noon at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami at the age of 36. On this day, I honor Marley’s memory and celebrate his music with my second research project, Babylon By Bus. Bob Marley & The Wailers in The Netherlands, a project which started in September 2010. I hope readers will enjoy in the same way I enjoyed … Continue reading
How and when did reggae music travel from its birthplace Jamaica to Japan, and what role did Bob Marley play in this process? When did Marley visit Japan, and who were the first Jamaican reggae artists to come to the land of the rising sun? When did the Japanese start to make their own Japanese reggae? And in what ways does reggae appeal to the Japanese? These and many more questions are answered in a … Continue reading
Today – the 23rd of September 2010 – it is exactly thirty years since Bob Marley performed live on stage for the last time. Diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage which had spread throughout his body, an exhausted, sick Marley took the stage for the last time in his life on Tuesday, September 23 1980 in a sold-out Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). A few months earlier during a tour through Europe to … Continue reading
On a late afternoon just before Christmas 2009 I was walking through the bustling streets of Shibuya, a major nightlife area and one of the fashion centers of Tokyo where the young and hip gather. As I walked through the small and crowded streets to my favorite sushi restaurant, I suddenly noticed familiar colors on a billboard on top of a nearby building. Red, gold, green and black. Squashed in between two tall buildings and … Continue reading
One Love.
Bob Marley, the King of Reggae, recently ‘visited’ Keio University as a special guest in a class about reggae music and Rastafarianism. As the enormous classroom was filled with anxious Japanese students, Marley appeared on the big screen and was heard on the many speakers throughout the room. Thanks to Saori-san I also found out about this class at Keio University. As I am doing research about Bob Marley in Japan I thought it would … Continue reading
Thirty years have passed since Bob Marley visited Japan to give eight concerts in Tokyo and Osaka, thus popularizing reggae in the country of the rising sun. Today Marley’s star still shines brightly in Japan, where his words and music have been embraced by fans with different predicaments but similar feelings. While the painful restructuring of corporate Japan in the 1990′s was no source of lyricism for Marley his passion to be free against the … Continue reading