Watch the video "Why can't we roam this open country?" sings Ky-Mani Marley in this powerful rendition of his father's 1974 classic, "Rebel Music," defending, as his father had before him, Rastas' rights to be treated fairly by authorities in their own country. "Oh, why can't we be what we wanna be? We want to be free."
Although "Rebel Music" was released on Bob Marley's first solo album for Island, Natty Dread in 1974, Ky-Mani's cover during the 2005 Africa Unite concert in Ethiopia was as relevant as ever. When Bob wrote the lyrics, he was angry about complications he regularly encountered on nighttime drives across Jamaica to his second home in Negril. Due to political unrest between the JLP (Jamaican Labour Party) and the PNP (People's National Party) during the '70s, the government in Jamaica often harrassed Rastafarians widely considered outcasts, regardless of weather they were involved in any disturbances of the peace.
Today throughout Africa, roadblocks still block Africans from travelling through their own country due to their tribal or political affiliations. At the time when Ky-Mani performed at the weeklong Africa Unite conference and festival, violence continued to rage throughout the Congo, Rwanda and the Sudan. Arab militias continue to rape and murder civilians in Darfur. And dictatorial President Robert Mugabe was clamping down more than ever on basic freedoms in Zimbabwe.
As Ky-Mani echoes his father's words from 30 years prior, he shows compassion for those whose lives are being ravaged by these and other obstacles to personal liberty. Underscoring the role of reggae music as form of rebellion, as well as contributing to a concert that helped raise valuable resources for education, health care and infrastructural services, Ky-Mani helps move his father's vision of a united Africa further ahead.