Ambassadors for a Just World
With “Redemption Song”, Bob Marley created a peacemaking masterpiece.
Bob Marley’s work is more relevant today than ever. His music and his lyrics are timeless and unmistakable.
Today we would need far more artists who call, by peaceful means, for civil disobedience and who firmly reject any participation in armed conflicts.
The author of the following article has chosen a special gem from the artist’s rich body of work and grants us a very personal insight into why he picked this song.
Peace, freedom, love and faith – that is the stuff Bob Marley’s songs are made of. He created many songs that give voice to the longing for a world free of domination. Again and again he calls on his listeners to engage in peaceful civil disobedience. Most of his songs are written in the typically bouncing garb of the reggae beat, the musical genre Marley shaped like no other. He was a tireless ambassador for a just world. His beautiful, warm vocal tone and the phrasing of his singing are unmistakable and carry his message with great urgency.
For my contribution to the #Friedensnoten initiative I chose Marley’s only folk song, “Redemption Song”, the last single he recorded before his far too early death.
Here Bob Marley leaves the field of his consummate reggae art. Why he did not opt for “his typical sound” on “Redemption Song” will remain his secret. He accompanies himself entirely alone, without his magnificent band The Wailers. Yet it is precisely this pure version that is so deeply moving.
There is another reason why this song of all songs is so intensely lodged in my memory to this day. In 2017 a friend of mine died who, for many reasons, no longer felt at home in the here and now. He chose to leave this life of his own accord. His work and his art accompanied me for a long time. The bandmates with whom he had been successfully in the charts and on tour for years sang “Redemption Song” at the funeral. The day became a very heartfelt celebration of togetherness – exactly as he had always imagined that day. Everyone present drew close together. Mortality was within arm’s reach, humility before life ever-present. Grief, but also peace, was in our hearts and united friends and family.
Neither the art of Bob Marley nor that of Demba Nabe Boundzound will be forgotten. Some things are immortal and outlast even the hardest crisis. It is not for nothing that this very masterpiece was voted by Rolling Stone Magazine one of the most important songs of all time, covered by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, Rihanna, Cast, U2, Arrested Development, Beyoncé and many others.
I hope that the power of music will bring us together again, even in these turbulent times, and can thus counteract the division of society.
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