Last month when the Wailers were in town, I naturally listened to a lot of reggae both before and after the concert, it revived my interest in the genre. While I was listing to the songs as I biked to work, or walked to class I could not help but think about them in relation to the class themes. Many of Bob's songs are about redemption and self purification. The Myth of The Eternal Return, Dolce Domum, are two prevalent themes in his music. So I started to research about how Rastafarian tradition got its start. A man named Marcus Garvey started professing what would later become known as the Rastafarian religion. In the last 1920's he had a vision that the blacks in America and Jamaica alike needed to return to their native land, Africa. Although later in his life he was deemed a racial elitist for his purification beliefs, he had a profound effect in African culture and societal relations. I need to come up with a thesis still, but that's what I have so far. I'd like to focus more on what Bob was saying in his music as he was able to blend the Rastafarian beliefs and his musical talents in a way that sent a message to those listening.
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