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Love is my religion, says Ziggy Marley
2006-07-13
Talk about war, he replies "Love". Mention football and Zidane, and the answer is the same. "Love is my religion" is not only the title of Ziggy Marley's new album, it is also his personal creed. Ziggy, the oldest son of the late Rastafarian reggae legend Bob Marley, has just launched his second solo album at the start of a month-long European and Middle East tour which will see him play 16 dates. "I am on a journey, I am trying to refine my philosophy in life," the 37-year-old composer and musician told AFP, during a break in rehearsals for the Paris leg of his tour as musicians, dreadlocked hair tucked away in red, green and yellow knitted bonnets, practised around him. "This album 'Love is my religion' is the final refinement, my final philosophy. I have come to my conclusion. No, it won't change. Love is my religion." After the European tour, which kicked off last week in London and then Luxembourg and will also take him to Switzerland, Spain and Germany, he will be spreading the good word in North America, Argentina, and Brazil ending in November in Peru. Ob the programme are several tracks from his debut solo album "Dragonfly" released in 2003, but also new songs such as "Friend", "On the Beach in Hawaii" and "Keep On Dreamin'" in which he reconnects with his father through dreams. Is this new religion something he inherited from his father, who died of cancer in 1981 aged just 36? "I don't know. I don't think it was ever put that way. It was probably there," replies Marley. In fact the album title was inspired by a conversation, a year ago when the reggae star was asked what his religion was. "I said 'Love is my religion' and that was a revelation." In reality, Marley says he is not a religious man. "I think established institutions of religion are a negative force. Institutionalized religion is the devil," he argued. "It makes God into a product, a commodity. Too much red tape, to get to God." Balancing on his chair, an infectious smile on his face and dreadlocks swinging, Marley is far from the image of a sanctimonious preacher. As a child in Jamaica he grew up immersed in the Rastafari religion, a blending of Christian and Jewish faiths, to which his father converted in 1966. The Rastafarian movement was born in the slums of Jamaica in the decades after Ras Tafari Mekonen in 1930 was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie the First of Ethiopia, and gave the poor a sense of dignity and self. But it remains controversial for advocating the smoking of marijuana as a religious rite. "Ganja, it's medicinal," said Ziggy Marley, adding that he is on the way to becoming a vegan having given up meat, with fish and eggs next to go, and sticking instead to a diet of beans, peas, tofu and soya. All that helps to get rid of negative energy, which he maintains his father compared to "mental slavery." "We need to elevate. We have been in the dark side for so long, now we need to let go of that negative energy," said Marley, a father of four children, with the youngest just one year old. "War is never a solution. My philosophy is, give love to people," he said, adding that even French footballer Zinedine Zidane, sent off in the final minutes of the World Cup final against Italy for headbutting an Italian opponent, needed to learn composure. Music was also always a part of his childhood. As a boy, he and his siblings would play concerts for their aunt and grandmother, getting a dollar a performance, he said. Later he formed "The Melody Makers" with his brother Stephen, and his two sisters Sharon and Cedella, with whom he played for 20 years, before leaving to embark on a solo career. This is his first trip to Europe in more than a decade. "I'm happy to be back. To me it's spreading the message. I mean giving love and I have grown a lot since I was here the last time. So it gives me an opportunity for people to see and to hear where I am today."
Britney Spears tops Yahoo's searches (2006-12-04)Materazzi faces disciplinary committee (2006-07-14)Love is my religion, says Ziggy Marley (2006-07-13)FIFA opens probe of Materazzi comments (2006-07-13)Zidane says Materazzi insulted his family (2006-07-12)
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