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Published: March 14th 2023
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When Bob Marley moved onto Hope Road in Kingston back in the 70s, it was a big deal. This was the rich, fancy neighborhood, the place for the politicians and business owners, inheritors of plantation-power and colonial power. They didn't like this little Rasta boy from the ghettos moving in. And it wasn't just him, he brought all his people along with him. From the stories I've read and photos I've seen of Bob Marley's house in the 70s, it was a gathering place for Rasta people and many others, including the working-class Jamaicans who weren't normally welcomed in that neighborhood. Musicians went there to rehearse and record. Poor folks went there to get a little assistance from Bob. Gangsters went there to work out peace treaties. The hip & cool set from abroad went there to smoke herbs and be part of what was going on. Photographers and journalists went there to capture the moment. Even football stars went there to kick the ball around with Mr. Marley.
Now the house on Hope Road is a museum and Hope Road itself looks more like a highway. The grounds have been built up with high walls and the property is
packed with additional structures. There's a gatehouse, a cafe, a marijuana dispensary, a gift shop, a museum building, offices for the Rita Marley foundation and the Marley family companies, an employees-only building, and a little hut for Bongo Herman to sell his drums and CDs and things.
We didn't do the official museum tour. We just kind of sneaked around the back and parked by Rita's foundation offices, then wandered around and did our own thing. So, we didn't get to go inside the famous house and hear all the stories from the tour guide. Not that we were opposed to paying money to do that and waiting for the next group, but we were way past exhausted from the ordeals of our trip so far. Remember how we hadn't really slept much in a couple of days?
Even though we didn't do the tour inside the house, we were very happy with what we were able to see.
The highlights for me were:
• Perusing all the famous photos and memorabilia of Bob Marley's life in the museum annex.
• Recognizing the Marley family's ability to capitalize off of his success in order to build multi-generational
wealth, when many other Jamaican musicians and famous Rastafari pioneers have not been able to do so.
• Witnessing the benefits the Marley's are making from legalized cannabis. Again, many of the communities who promoted and developed the cannabis trade when it was illegal have now been cut out of any legal profits from the plant.
• Seeing some of the original mural paintings from the 1970s still up on the walls.
• Finding two gorgeous Ethiopian Orthodox crosses on the front doors of the house.
• Bumping into Bongo Herman.
I first met Bongo Herman more than a decade ago when I was in Jamaica with Winston Jarrett filming our documentary,
True Born African. Bongo Herman is a legend of the Jamaican music scene and the Rastafari culture. He is one of the Nyabinghi elders who was there to beat Binghi drums and chant in the presence of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I on his visit to Jamaica in 1966. He has featured on innumerable classic recordings of Jamaican music, as well as appearing in the film Rockers. It was a joy to reconnect with Bongo Herman, and yes, he did remember meeting me the first time.
I gave Bongo
Herman a copy of the True Born African collector's edition double-DVD boxed set. He critiqued my 1-2 technique on the heartbeat drum (the Funde drum, part of the Nyabinghi trinity of harps) and he told me stories about the 1966 visit of His Majesty. In fact, we reasoned so long on this occasion that my wife wandered off to do her own thing. Bongo Herman quoted many scriptures from the Bible and reminded me that it was not essential for a Rastafari person to have black skin or dreadlocks or anything like that. He emphasized the spiritual livity (lifestyle) of Rastafari and the integrity of conduct it required. He related to me how he had been baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as Haile Yohannes, and encouraged me to continue my spiritual growth in the Church.
And that was about it. After taking a few photos around the front of the place, Chelly was ready to go. We still had a 2-hour drive to Ocho Rios ahead of us.
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