ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The wife of reggae star Bob Marley said Wednesday that she plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place," Ethiopia. The reburial is set for an unspecified date after monthlong celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Marley's birth to be held next month in Ethiopia. Both the Ethiopian church and government officials have expressed support for the project, Rita Marley told The Associated Press. "We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," said Rita, a former backing singer for Marley's band, The Wailers. "It is part of Bob's own mission." Marley was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, in 1945. He died of cancer in 1981. Rita Marley said her husband would be reburied in Shashemene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Addis Ababa where several hundred Rastafarians have lived since they were given land by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie. Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans embraced Haile as their living god and head of the Rastafarian religious movement. Marley was a devout Rastafarian, a faith whose followers preach a oneness with nature, grow their hair into long matted strands called dreadlocks and smoke mar1juana as a sacrament. "Bob's whole life is about Africa, it is not about Jamaica," said Rita, a Cuban-born singer who married Marley in 1966. "How can you give up a continent for an island? He has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be. This was his mission. Ethiopia is his spiritual resting place," she said. "With the 60th anniversary this year, the impact is there and the time is right." Together with the African Union and the U.N. children's agency, Rita Marley has organized celebrations in Ethiopia, including a concert on Marley's birthday, February 6, to be held in Addis Ababa. The monthlong celebration, dubbed "Africa Unite" after one of Marley's songs, aims to raise funds to help poor families in Ethiopia. The Marley Family, Senegal's Baaba Maal and Youssou N'Dour, Angelique Kidjo of Benin and other African and reggae artists will perform as part of the US$1 million (euro760,000) program. The event is expected to be broadcast in Africa and beyond. http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/12/marley.ethiopia.ap/index.html
Bah, Christian's feel the body is just a vessel to take us to the promised land, as does every religion. Atheists/Agnostics feel the body turns to dust/fertilizer. Either way, I don't know if anyone but the family cares about the body, anymore. If that's what the family wants, so be it. And while they're at it, remove Jim Mossison's grave from Paris. Now that is an attrocity.
Ever study any eastern religions? I'm a big Marley fan btw, owning every album back into his ska era. I don't listen as much as I did 15 years ago however.
No. Are you saying that Eastern religions feel that we stay in our bodies after we die, or that the bodies, themselves are carried up? (THIS IS NOT D&D! JUST CURIOUS)
Please, leave the man alone, he's dead, let him rest in peace. Sounds like Rita wants to make a buck or two... ugh.
Sounds like she's going to be spending money if she's going to dig him up and transport him and then have him reburied. Also, the concert is to raise money for charitable reasons. Did I read the article wrong or something?
"We're sick and tired of your ism and skism game Die and go to heaven in Jesus' name, Lord We know when we understand Almighty God is a living man...." Rasta is an interesting religion nonetheless.... the Jamaicans managed a way to incorporate Rasta and Christianity, Rita Marley herself claims to have seen Stigmata on the Hands of Emperor Selassie when he visited Jamaica...
I am all for him being buried in his holy land. It is what he would have wanted. Now for the sacrament!
