TWENTY YEARS after his death reggae icon Bob Marley has received yet another prestigious honour. This time Hollywood, California, film and entertainment capital of the world, has accorded him a place on the Walk of Fame a five-point star etched in a ceramic pavement.
Mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant, who presided at the unveiling ceremony, described the award as the most prestigious bestowed on persons in the performing arts. Some 3,000 such stars are engraved on the Walk of Fame representing the world's top entertainers in music, film, and television.
Bob Marley is acknowledged to be the best known Jamaican across the world. At the start of the year 2000, widely celebrated as the beginning of the new millennium, Time Magazine rated his 1977 album Exodus as the album of the 20th century; and the BBC named his song One Love as the Millennium Anthem.
Those accolades were a measure of the reach of his musical genius. He spearheaded the spread of reggae as a popular art form which has influenced other musical forms. The homespun philosophy which marks the message of the music is exemplified in one of the most familiar: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery" from the classic Redemption Song.
The music continues to keep his memory alive in a way which the Hollywood honour should stimulate. It is interesting to note that the Rastafarian faith he espoused has also spread to a wide variety of nationalities which attended the ceremony in Hollywood.
But it is somewhat surprising that neither government nor Tourist Board representatives were there. This suggests that a source of potential earnings from this segment of the entertainment industry is being ignored; quite apart from the opportunity to challenge the Biblical quotation that "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country...".
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