Staff WriterThe 16th annual Caribbean Music Festival honoring the life and philosophy of the legendary reggae star, Robert Nesta Marley, C.D., will be held this Saturday (Feb.28) at the Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
This year’s event will also feature a tribute to the late Cedella Marley Booker, mother of the famed international artist, also a songwriter and singer. She died last April in Miami, Florida, at the age of 81.
The all-day festival entails a package of music celebration honoring Bob Marley, as well as art and crafts display and sales.
Aside from the entertainment, the Festival has always carried a unique humanitarian message. Each person attending the event is encouraged to make a donation of three canned food items or equivalent monetary donation.
Over the years, the donations have gone towards feeding programs and homeless shelters in Jamaica, Haiti, Bahamas as well as South Florida. To date, the Bob Marley Movement of Jah People has distributed more than two million canned goods have been distributed to the less fortunate. This year, Farm Share, a South Florida non-profit group will distribute the canned goods to the needy.
Stephen, Damian, Julian and Kymani four of Bob Marley’s sons, who have made recording and stage names of their own, are expected to headline the musical acts this year, as well as several popular international and local performers who continue to support the event through entertainment or helping in the feeding programs.
The event is a highlight of Black History Month and is also celebrated during the anniversary of Bob Marley’s birth date (February 6, 1945).
Described as one of South Florida’s longest running music festival, the reggae and Caribbean music showcase has attracted worldwide attention from thousands of visitors yearly.
For more information contact www.bobmarleymovement.com
Meanwhile, February has been officially designated Reggae Month by the Government of Jamaica. Earlier, this month, (Feb. 20), the Trench Town Culture Yard, internationally recognized as the cornerstone of reggae music was also designated a protected National Heritage Site by Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT).
This area has been described as a unique environment that provided the inspiration for many of reggae’s greatest proponents including the late Bob Marley.
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