One love, one month of parties

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Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has proclaimed February Reggae Month and urged fellow islanders from the music genre’s birthplace to steer their songs toward the healing themes of unity, joy and justice that its founders embraced.

Opposition to oppression and suffering, the voicing of hope, with love as the underlying constant –- these are the elements that propelled reggae into hearts worldwide, Golding said of the music that some artists have lately employed to denounce homosexuals and degrade women. To guard against such distortions, Jamaica must ‘guide the future development of the music and ensure that it can remain powerful even a hundred years from now,’ Golding said.

The month of celebrations kicks off with a Feb. 6 birthday bash for the late Bob Marley, to be followed by a Reggae Academy Awards festival, a Global Reggae Conference at the University of the West Indies and a concert called ‘Africa Unite –- Smile Jamaica’ hosted by Marley’s widow, Rita, and the Bob Marley Foundation.

-- Carol J. Williams in Miami