The Bob Marley Series: A Controversial Concert

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – 1979 was classified by the UNESCO as International Year of The Child. This was also the year, the Bob Marley & the Wailers Survival Tour came to The Bahamas.  

Newspaper reports of the time identify the International Year of The Child Commission Chairperson as  Beryl Hanna.

She along with committee members Rubbie Nottage and Telzena Coakley invited Bob Marley to perform in Nassau for a benefit concert. 

The announcement created an enormous controversy led mainly by some religious leaders and outspoken community advocates.  

The opposition focused on a belief that Marley’s presence and performance would cultivate the Rastafarian religion and promote drug use among young people. 

The days leading up to the concert were tense.

Bob Marley & the Wailers were met with protests, as they arrived.   

Those who recalled the events of the time, say the tide of opposition to the concert swelled as more and Bahamians shunned and scorred anyone planning to attend the concert. 

The experience still stained in the minds of a generation to this day as many involved still refuse to speak on camera.  

Bishop Simeon Hall was a loud voice in opposition to it, and even participated in the demonstration.

Bishop Hall was not only a voice of disagreement, as evidenced in a photo of him at the protest. 

Bob Marley did several interviews while here.

One in particular with the Nassau Guardian where he declared he will be giving a “regular concert” and that he had no intention of teaching the concert-goers about the Rastafarian faith.

He proudly proclaimed that if he didn’t sing about the Rastafarian faith, nobody would know about him. 

Despite the opposition, it is reported that an estimated 6,000 people attended the concert. 

Hosted by the late Charles Carter, Bob Marley and the Wailers could be heard throughout neighboring communities around the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center.  

This was the first and only concert performed by Marley here. He passed away from cancer in May 1981. 

The Marley’s called The Bahamas home for years. 

It’s where he sought after being exiled by the leaders in his own country much for the same reasons why he was criticized by many in The Bahamas. 

It was his influence and philosophy that frightened a lot of people at the time.

His wife Rita Marley once called Bob’s music a weapon to the point where in 1976 it almost cost him his life.