Bluebird brings reggae rocker Marley

He’s a Grammy award-winning reggae musician, the oldest son of Bob Marley and his name, he claims, means “a small joint.”  

Ziggy Marley, leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Bluebird Nightclub.

Bob Marley’s son has dreads and is politically active, like his legendary father, but he holds his own.  

In 1979, Ziggy created a musical group with his siblings. They earned their first Grammy Award for their third album, “Conscious Party,” in 1988. The band continued to produce several award-winning albums until 2002, when Ziggy started his first solo tour.

Dave Kubiak, owner of The Bluebird, said he expects Ziggy to perform old hits and songs from his most recent album, “Wild and Free,” which was released in June 2011, with singles such as “Forward to Love” and “Personal Revolution.”

He added that while reggae music has always appealed to Bloomington’s audience, Ziggy’s performance at The Bluebird would be an exceptional experience for IU students and community residents alike.

“It’s so rare that you can see a musical icon like this in a small setting and venue,” Kubiak said. “The experience is just one that’s hard to come by. Usually, you see a person like this in a large city or club setting, not like this in Bloomington. It’s a rare opportunity.”

Ziggy steadily put out a number of albums after he became a solo artist, including one in 2006 titled “Love is My Religion,” which won his fourth Grammy for Best
Reggae Album.

But Ziggy didn’t stick to reggae. He branched out into children’s music and has produced music for children’s television series, such as “Arthur,” “Sesame Street” and “Dora The Explorer.” In 2009 he released “Family Time,” which won a Grammy for Best Album for Children.  

Much of Ziggy’s music promotes the same ideals as his father’s: marijuana, peace and activism, which deeply contrast the themes of his children’s music.   

IU Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Daniel Reed said world music with these types of messages is appealing to college students for several reasons.

“Most students are living away from home for the first time, establishing their own identity from families they’ve grown up with. ... It involves rebellion almost always,” Reed said.

“There is a resistant nature in reggae. Even if you just talk about pot in itself it’s obviously illegal. Here, it’s a way young people like to relax, and it can be associated with rebellion in an anti-authoritarian kind of nature.”

Reed said the key to popular music is great songwriting, catchy phrases and wonderful melodies. He noted that Bob Marley’s music represented something exotic from a far-away land and had a kind of Rastafarian, religious, spiritual element that drew people in.

Reed said Ziggy’s music does something similar.

“It’s important we can learn a lot about other people around the world, how they make music and what they believe in terms of how music should be used,” Reed said. “It’s beneficial that people are exposed to music out of mainstream.”