Why, Jah, Why?

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Rastaman Vibration, 1976

In reflecting on the recent Grammys, I can agree that a Bob Marley tribute is a worthy thing, if a touch obvious. But why in the world would I want that tribute to feature Sting, Bruno Mars, and Rhianna? It strikes me as the final, inevitable reduction of the mystic musical prophet Marley to nothing more and nothing less than a “pop star.” In reality, this has been the case for a long time, but my lingering youthful idealism kept me from acknowledging this sorry fact until now. It’s true that pop has unitive properties, which is good and something reggae aspires to, but for reggae to be reggae, and for reggae to make the impact that only reggae can make, it has to communicate a very specific vibration: a rastaman vibration.