The Future Is Now
With his latest release,
Ziggy Marley is aiming for the future of reggae.
By Samuel J. Fell
After
the initial niceties that come with a short phone interview are dispensed with,
I congratulate Ziggy Marley on his recent Grammy win. “Thank you,” he says
modestly.
I
go on to point out it’s his sixth Grammy win, and so his trophy cabinet must be
getting quite full. “Yeah, it’s all right, it’s getting there,” he laughs. The
gong was for his 2013 live release, Ziggy
Marley In Concert, in the Best Reggae Album category, no surprise.
It’s
interesting to note that this category was only added to the Grammys in 1985,
and so Marley’s famous father never received one. Having said that, Ziggy,
Stephen and Damien Marley have all won multiple times, so it’s not like the
most famous name in reggae is going underappreciated. At least not by the
establishment, as Ziggy is quick to point out.
“Even
if we didn’t win a Grammy, we’d still be relevant, you know what I’m sayin’?”
he says in his thick, Jamaican accent. “It’s a good thing, but we don’t need a
criteria to validate who we are, or our music.”
It’s
a truth bomb, and it explodes all over the sequined dresses, the rented tuxedos
and the big hats of all who attended the Grammy ceremony itself. The Marley name,
and reggae as a genre of music, doesn’t need awards to validate its success and
reach. Just look at how the music – which is of course as much about community
and culture as it is about how it sounds – has affected people all over the
world.
With
this in mind, Marley has since switched from the live frame of mind, to the
studio frame, a change which has seen him come out with his latest in a long
line of albums, Fly Rasta, due for
release later this month. “I knew what I wanted this record to be about,”
Marley says, the passion evident in his voice, more than aware of what this
music, if done properly, means to so many people.
“I
wanted it to be futuristic, in terms of where reggae is today. I wanted to push
the envelope, be adventurous, push the borders. I want the songs to be full
songs… I wanted them to have emotion, to be alive, to live. I wanted these
songs to have arcs, arc up, arc down, I wanted them to live, to be a living
thing, you know? So I wanted this futuristic thing… this is reggae, but this is
the future.”
In
order to look into the future however, Marley in this instance went back to the
past. In 1979, as an eleven-year-old, Ziggy and a handful of his brothers and
sisters formed The Melody Makers, who despite a debut record which was derided
as too pop, went on to record and tour until 2002. It’s with fellow-original MM
members Cedella and Sharon Marley, along with Erica Newell, that Ziggy reunites
on Fly Rasta.
“Yeah,
it’s been a while, but it’s nice,” he smiles on this musical reunion, the first
time the siblings have recorded together since 1999’s The Spirit Of Music. “They bring a really special sound to the
music [here], really cool and it uplifts the songs. It’s been really exciting
to have that back.”
The
album itself, which is a booming paean to reggae music in general while indeed
reaching to the future via the messages contained within, is being released on
Tuff Gong Worldwide, the label Bob Marley founded in 1965 in order to “produce,
distribute and promote his music free from the constraints of corporate label
politics”, something Marley junior is more than willing and able to continue.
“It’s
something that feels good, it’s something I want to do anyway,” he says when
asked if this ethos is harder to achieve in this day and age. “This is
something that… we have to keep it going. It’s real important to keep to these
roots.”
Roots,
it seems, and obviously so, are incredibly important, not just for Ziggy, but
for all the Marley clan making music today. The legacy of their father, the wide-ranging
reach of reggae, the impact Tuff Gong has had on people all over the world.
It’s not lost on Ziggy, hence his rabid love and need to continue making this
music, paying homage to where it’s come from, but at the same time, pushing it
further. Reggae music is in good hands, there’s no doubt.
Fly Rasta will be released on April 18 through Tuff
Gong Worldwide. Keep an eye out for Ziggy Marley tour dates, later in the year.
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