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In 2005, the Marley family celebrated Bob Marley's 60th birthday in Ethiopia with a 13-hour concert and a week-long conference about the future of a united African continent. Award-winning filmmaker Stephanie Black documented the week of discussions, seminars and live music in a feature-length film, now available on DVD.
On what would have been Bob Marley's 63rd birthday, the film "Africa Unite" made its debut in Jamaica at Kingston's Carib 5 Cinema. The film documents Bob's 60th birthday celebrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which are crowned by a monumental outdoor concert that attracted more than 300,000 people, was enthusiastically received by the near capacity crowd at the 1,500 seat theater.
A troupe of traditional African drummers welcomed the film attendees which included Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, opposition party leader and former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Rita Marley, three of the film's stars, Benin born singer Angelique Kidjo, African American actor Danny Glover, Jamaican Rastafarian elder Ras Bongo Tawney and director Stephanie Black.
The world premiere of "Africa Unite" was held at Ethiopia's Royal Palace, the former residence of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, (whom most Rastafarians regard as a Deity) in September 2007 as part of Ethiopia's millennium celebrations. The film's public premiere took place last week at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. "My biggest joy is how happy Mrs. Marley is with the film and that she wanted to honor Bob's vision by showing the film here," Ms. Black told BobMarley.com before the screening. "I feel that the film represents Bob's vision, a Rastafarian vision of African unity and the people here can appreciate that vision so a lot of Rasta elders will come out to see it today."
Indeed, the many Rasta elders in attendance waved red, green and gold Ethiopian flags and cheered wildly at the film's inclusion of historic footage featuring His Majesty Haile Selassie's 1930 coronation, his 1963 address to the United Nations (which Marley later adapted into the song "War") and especially his defeat of the Italian army in 1941. "This is truly a joyous ocassion and I am blessed to have been a part of it," said Bongo Tawney following the screening. Tawney, now 73, has spent more than 50 years of his life as a Rastafarian. "Africa Unite" chronicles his trip to Ethiopia, the spiritual home of Rastafari, while his first hand accounts of the persecution experienced by Rastas in Jamaica throughout the 1950s and 60s places Marley's achievements in a broader historical context. "Traveling to Ethiopia, being a part of the celebrations," observed Tawney, "it is all a fulfillment of the works of His Majesty."
Meanwhile, Danny Glover, also cognizant of the importance of screening "Africa Unite" to a Jamaican audience on Bob Marley's birthday, recounted his three decade relationship to Marley's music. "I remember in the fall of 1975 attending a concert in San Francisco by Bob Marley and the Wailers and the I Threes," he said. "It was an extraordinary experience that transformed my life. No musician has been able to articulate my rebelliousness the way Marley did. Paul Robeson said it is not enough for us just to create reality but it is our responsibility to create the reality we can imagine. Bob Marley's imagination of Africa, his imagination of peace, his imagination of bringing our stories together is the kind of work Robeson identified with. Today we have the opportunity to go on this extraordinary journey because Marley's music is alive. He is here with us and he is represented in every single one of us that sits here who fights injustice and believes in peace and standing up for our rights."
The proceeds from the Kingston screening of "Africa Unite" will be donated to the Praise City International Skills Training Program (in Trench Town) and the Jamaican Childrens Heart Fund.
[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/dance01.gif[/img] Source [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/dance01.gif[/img]
On what would have been Bob Marley's 63rd birthday, the film "Africa Unite" made its debut in Jamaica at Kingston's Carib 5 Cinema. The film documents Bob's 60th birthday celebrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which are crowned by a monumental outdoor concert that attracted more than 300,000 people, was enthusiastically received by the near capacity crowd at the 1,500 seat theater.
A troupe of traditional African drummers welcomed the film attendees which included Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, opposition party leader and former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Rita Marley, three of the film's stars, Benin born singer Angelique Kidjo, African American actor Danny Glover, Jamaican Rastafarian elder Ras Bongo Tawney and director Stephanie Black.
The world premiere of "Africa Unite" was held at Ethiopia's Royal Palace, the former residence of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, (whom most Rastafarians regard as a Deity) in September 2007 as part of Ethiopia's millennium celebrations. The film's public premiere took place last week at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. "My biggest joy is how happy Mrs. Marley is with the film and that she wanted to honor Bob's vision by showing the film here," Ms. Black told BobMarley.com before the screening. "I feel that the film represents Bob's vision, a Rastafarian vision of African unity and the people here can appreciate that vision so a lot of Rasta elders will come out to see it today."
Indeed, the many Rasta elders in attendance waved red, green and gold Ethiopian flags and cheered wildly at the film's inclusion of historic footage featuring His Majesty Haile Selassie's 1930 coronation, his 1963 address to the United Nations (which Marley later adapted into the song "War") and especially his defeat of the Italian army in 1941. "This is truly a joyous ocassion and I am blessed to have been a part of it," said Bongo Tawney following the screening. Tawney, now 73, has spent more than 50 years of his life as a Rastafarian. "Africa Unite" chronicles his trip to Ethiopia, the spiritual home of Rastafari, while his first hand accounts of the persecution experienced by Rastas in Jamaica throughout the 1950s and 60s places Marley's achievements in a broader historical context. "Traveling to Ethiopia, being a part of the celebrations," observed Tawney, "it is all a fulfillment of the works of His Majesty."
Meanwhile, Danny Glover, also cognizant of the importance of screening "Africa Unite" to a Jamaican audience on Bob Marley's birthday, recounted his three decade relationship to Marley's music. "I remember in the fall of 1975 attending a concert in San Francisco by Bob Marley and the Wailers and the I Threes," he said. "It was an extraordinary experience that transformed my life. No musician has been able to articulate my rebelliousness the way Marley did. Paul Robeson said it is not enough for us just to create reality but it is our responsibility to create the reality we can imagine. Bob Marley's imagination of Africa, his imagination of peace, his imagination of bringing our stories together is the kind of work Robeson identified with. Today we have the opportunity to go on this extraordinary journey because Marley's music is alive. He is here with us and he is represented in every single one of us that sits here who fights injustice and believes in peace and standing up for our rights."
The proceeds from the Kingston screening of "Africa Unite" will be donated to the Praise City International Skills Training Program (in Trench Town) and the Jamaican Childrens Heart Fund.
[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/dance01.gif[/img] Source [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/dance01.gif[/img]
mi get big up from jah yout 
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