Smile Jamaica Concert

The Smile Jamaica Concert was a reggae concert held on 5 December 1976, at the National Heroes Park in Kingston, Jamaica, aimed at countering political violence. Bob Marley had agreed to perform but two days before the concert he was shot in his home. He recovered and with The Wailers played a 90-minute set for the 80,000 people in attendance.

Background

A general election was due in Jamaica in early 1977, and in 1976 there was an escalation in pre-existing political conflict between supporters of the leftwing People's National Party (PNP) of Prime Minister Michael Manley and the pro-US opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). A state of emergency was declared in June.[1] In October the Ministry of Culture planned a free concert to bring people together to defuse tension, and asked Marley to participate.[2][3] Marley was sympathetic, having played the 1975 Wonder Dream Concert.[4][5] He made several conditions to reduce the apparent link to the PNP, including changing the venue from Jamaica House to National Heroes Park.[3] He wrote the cheery "Smile Jamaica" as a theme song.[1][6] Although Marley had declared himself politically neutral, and some of his earlier songs had been banned by the government, the JLP now saw his participation as an endorsement of the PNP, especially once Manley, to Marley's chagrin, brought the general election forward to 15 December.[7] While rehearsing with the Wailers at his home studio, Marley, his wife Rita, and two others were shot by assailants, never arrested, but suspected of links to a JLP-affiliated drug gang.[8][9][5][10]

The concert

Besides headliners Bob Marley and the Wailers, others on the bill were Third World, Ras Michael, Kiddus I, and Bunny Rugs.[11] The emcee was Elaine Wint,[12] a current affairs broadcaster.[13] An unreleased film of the concert was made by Carl Colby, son of former CIA director William Colby.[14]

Despite the shooting, Marley promised to perform one song ("War") at the concert.[15] The crowd that gathered in National Heroes Park were unsure whether he would turn up until the moment he arrived at the venue.[16] While his injured arm prevented him playing guitar,[15] Marley sang for 90 minutes and rolled up his sleeve at one point to show the crowd his wound, saying "Bang bang, I'm OK".[11]

Marley had previously asked the original Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer to participate but they refused for political reasons.[3] All musicians present huddled to decide what songs and parts to play.[17] All current Wailers performed, although Cat Coore of Third World stood in for bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett, who had gone into hiding after the shooting and arrived late.[18] The I Threes sang backup, Rita Marley still wearing the hospital gown she had been discharged with hours earlier.[19] Others included the horn section from Zap Pow and five hand drummers from the Sons of Negus.[20] There were "over two hundred" people on stage, many providing a human shield for Marley.[11][12] Prime Minister Manley came on stage before watching the performance from the roof of a van.[17]

The set list was as follows:

  1. "War" / "No More Trouble" / "Get Up, Stand Up"
  2. "Crazy Baldhead" / "Positive Vibration"
  3. "Smile Jamaica"
  4. "Rat Race"
  5. "Trenchtown Rock"
  6. "Keep on Moving"
  7. "Want More"
  8. "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)"
  9. "Jah Live"
  10. "Rastaman Chant"
  11. "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)"
  12. "So Jah Seh"

Legacy
Damian Marley at Smile Jamaica 2008

Marley's performance has been credited with helping the PNP to win the ensuing election.[9] After the concert Marley left Jamaica for Nassau, Bahamas and later London where he stayed for 16 months. He returned in 1978 for the One Love Peace Concert, at which he brought Manley and Seaga on stage for an "awkward" embrace.[21]

Television Jamaica has a morning show named Smile Jamaica, an obvious nod to the popularity of the concert series.

A "Smile Jamaica Hurricane Appeal" concert was held at the Dominion Theatre in London on 16 October 1988, to raise funds for disaster relief after Hurricane Gilbert. It featured U2, Eddy Grant, Boy George, The Christians, Aztec Camera, Five Star, and Joan Armatrading.[22]

"Africa Unite — Smile Jamaica 2008" was a festival organised by Rita Marley and the Bob Marley Foundation, originally scheduled for South Africa but moved for financing reasons to Jamaica in February 2008.[23][24] Performers included Rihanna, Bunny Wailer, and members of Bob Marley's family.

Stir It Up: The CIA Targets Jamaica, Bob Marley and the Progressive Manley Government, an alternative historical novel by David Dusty Couples, weaves fact and fiction to dramatize the concert.

The novel A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James dramatizes the attempt on Marley's life, including other events leading up to the Smile Jamaica concert.[25]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Smile Jamaica Concert.

Sources
  • Salewicz, Chris (2010). Bob Marley : the untold story. New York: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-86547-999-9 – via Internet Archive.

References
  1. Salewicz 2010 p. 297
  2. Salewicz 2010 p. 295
  3. Marley, Rita (5 February 2013). "I Know a Place". No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-1-4013-0569-7.
  4. Salewicz 2010 p. 203
  5. Schreiber, Brad (21 November 2019). Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice, and the Will to Change. Rutgers University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-9788-0813-3.
  6. Masouri, John (13 May 2013). "Word, Sound & Power". Steppin' Razor: The Life of Peter Tosh. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-871-3.
  7. Prestholdt, Jeremy (1 July 2019). Icons of Dissent: The Global Resonance of Che, Marley, Tupac and Bin Laden. Oxford University Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 978-0-19-009259-7.
  8. Salewicz 2010 pp. 300–302
  9. Fared, Grant (1998). "Wailin' Soul Reggae's Debt to Black American Music". In Guillory, Monique; Green, Richard (eds.). Soul: Black Power, Politics, and Pleasure. NYU Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-8147-3084-3.
  10. MacNeil, Dean A. (27 August 2013). The Bible and Bob Marley: Half the Story Has Never Been Told. Wipf and Stock. notes 690–699. ISBN 978-1-62189-809-2.
  11. Salewicz 2010 p. 304
  12. Masouri, John (2008). The story of Bob Marley's Wailers : wailing blues. London ; New York: Omnibus. p. 424. ISBN 978-1-84609-689-1.
  13. "Elaine Wint-Leslie". The Jamaican (15th ed.). Kingston, Jamaica: Rayne Publications. 4 (1): 14. 1990. OCLC 947278198.
  14. Salewicz 2010 p. 305
  15. Roskind, Robert (2001). Rasta Heart: A Journey Into One Love. Robert Roskind. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-56522-074-4.
  16. Paprocki, Sherry; Dolan, Sean (2009). Bob Marley: Musician. Infobase Publishing. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-4381-0072-2.
  17. Goldman, Vivien (2006). The book of Exodus : the making and meaning of Bob Marley's album of the century. New York: Three Rivers. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-4000-5286-8.
  18. Salewicz 2010 pp. 303–304
  19. Salewicz 2010 pp. 303, 304
  20. Moskowitz, David V. (2007). Bob Marley : a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-313-33879-3.
  21. Iton, Richard (2010). In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Oxford University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-19-973360-6.
  23. Williams, Carol J. (11 January 2008). "One love, one month of parties". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  24. Amiri, Maral (13 December 2007). "Africa Unite - Smile Jamaica 2008". United Reggae. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  25. BobMarley.com - Smile Jamaica Concert 1976 Archived 2006-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
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