PAU Anglès 2000 · Juny · Sèrie 1 · Part 1 · Reading comprehension

MARLEY’S GHOSTS1 There is something mystical about the man and his music. Before Bob Marley, reggae was an island; after him, reggae was global. Today, almost 20 years after his death, Marley’s influence is still growing. A dance remix of his hit Sun Is Shining is the No. 1 song in many U.S. clubs. Next month an all-star tribute to Marley will be held in Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica. Earlier this year a Marley-themed restaurant opened in Orlando, Florida. The menu features Caribbean cuisine, and the decoration is based on Marley’s home in Kingston. A Bob Marley restaurant? Strange. But listen to the music. “There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air...” One of the coolest new additions to the Marley catalogue is the just-released CD Chant Down Babylon. The album contains duets with Marley and some of today’s best hip-hop performers. The hip-hoppers supply new vocals, while Marley’s vocals are taken from unused recordings in old studio sessions. “We got the idea, well, from Daddy basically,” says Marley’s son Stephen. “It was one of his dreams to get the urban youth of America.” These days Marley’s musical message is gaining new audiences. Legend, the songwriter’s greatest-hits album, is, after 15 years and 10 million copies sold, still on the hit-parade charts. Songs of Freedom has been reissued after selling 1 million copies. Cris Blackwell says Marley’s lasting appeal is based on his approach to music. “His music was never overplayed at the time he was making it. This underground feel gives each new listener a sense of discovery. That’s what makes him almost everybody’s favourite. That and the fact that it’s incredible music.” Marley, who died of cancer in 1981 at age 36, brought the Third World to the whole world. The dirty streets of Jamaican slums2, the tales of the Caribbean, the fire of the Old Testament –he was influenced by it all, creating rebel music which was full of poetry and prophecy. Love and romance, for him, were not incompatible with revolution; bullets3 and ballads were both the stuff of his work. A wide range of young performers cite Marley as a role model. Stephen Marley says this is Bob’s extraordinary legacy. “The thing is you have to accept that these songs are yours,” he says. “Me having kids now, I know that any song I have is really my children’s. Like my shoes, like my pants. Once they can fit in them, it’s theirs.” Projects that pair living stars with dead ones inspire terror in music fans. Fortunately, the matches4 on Chant Down Babylon are both fascinating and respectful. It is wonderful to listen to Laurin Hill and Bob sharing laughs and warmth across decades on Turn Your Lights Down Low. “It didn’t feel as if I was recording with someone who wasn’t there,” says Hill. Stephen says that during the recording of the CD, he could feel his father’s spirit, even smell his sweet paternal presence in the studio. Reggae ghosts? Spiritual aromas? Strange. But listen to the music. 1 ghost: fantasma, esperit / fantasma, espíritu 2 slum: barri baix, suburbi / barrios bajos, suburbio 3 bullet: bala / bala 4 match: aparellament, acoblament / aparejamiento, mezcla