Bob Marley Exodus

1520 Words7 Pages
Exodus and Globalization As nations grow increasingly interconnected, the varying cultures of the world have greatly influenced each other. In the field of music, artists from around the world have started to utilize different styles of music from other cultures. The album Exodus from the late Jamaican musician Bob Marley exemplifies the effects globalization has had on music. Exodus incorporates various genres from different parts of the globe, like British rock and American blues, with traditional Jamaican and Reggae styles of music, creating an extremely unique set of tracks and sound. While the varying styles of music demonstrate worldwide interconnectedness, it also relates to the overall theme of the album. At the time of Exodus’s…show more content…
Raised as a devotee to Rastafarianism, he grew up performing and listening to the Reggae style of music (Biography). His love for music caused him to explore the many different genres of songs from around the world. Listening to British radio stations and living in the United States for several years, Marley was exposed to Rock and Roll, R&B, and many other styles of music (Biography). From the immensely popular British rock group “The Beatles” to American Blues performers like Ray Charles and Fats Domino, Marley was influenced by a wide range of artists and genres from all around the world. As a result of this exposure, Marley began to blend these types of styles with traditional Reggae (Biography). This eventually led to the creation of arguably Marley’s magnum opus, the album…show more content…
This theme of global connectedness is prevalent in the lyrics of one the album’s most popular songs “One Love”. Throughout the song Marley insists that the people of the world are meant to “get together and feel all right” through the repetition of this line. There is further emphasis on the unity and cohesiveness of mankind through the parallelism of the word “One”, “One Love”, “One Heart”, “One Song”, implying a singularity and inherent togetherness of all humans. In the track “People Get Ready” this idea of solidarity among all of mankind is present with lines like “There's hope for all, among those loved the most” stating that everyone can have salvation, no matter what race, creed, or political affiliation. Finally in the song “War” Marley figuratively declares war on all forces of oppression until “the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, Without regard to race”. This theme coincides with the symbolism behind the album’s varied styles. Using completely different musical genres to create an extremely successful album is meant to show how the people of the world, despite differing convictions and ideals, can work together and be successful. However, some have criticized Marley’s beliefs as being naïve and impractical, since writing music is easier than solving geopolitical

More about Bob Marley Exodus

Open Document