Happy Birthday, Brother Bob

As noted earlier, Ghana has become somewhat of a hub for the Rastafari Movement. Hell, even Bob Marley's widow Rita lives in Aburi, just North of Accra. So, what better place to celebrate Bob's birthday with a giant concert in Accra?

Thus, despite arriving in Accra at 6AM on Sunday morning, I passed over precious time for sleep and went to the "Africa Unite" festival at the Accra Trade Fair - apparently along with all of the obruni population of ISH.

Hosted by Rita with the message of peace and unity among Africans, it was a great show attended by thousands (an accomplishment in Accra for a ticketed event), with every Rasta in Ghana there, or so it seemed. Even Cha Cha from XOFA in Volta Region was there for the event. Also, there were many merchandise hawkers, vegetarian food vendors and even a pan-Africanist bookseller who is a diehard Nkrumahist and may have worked for Mumar Al-Qaddafi back in the day.

There was great reggae, good times and probably good weed, considering the pervasive aroma of the evening. The acts got everybody moving to the funky beat (even Jon's dad, visiting from Canada) and there were some great acts - most notably an rocking artist from Birmingham, England, a fantastic sax player who played a jazzy cover of "Jammin" as well as Rita Marley and the I-Threes (Bob's old backup singers). They sang spiritual songs (even some Bob Dylan) as well as a great medley of Wailers classics. After midnight, they brought out a big cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday, Brother Bob".

By about midnight, I was positively beat, so a few of us went home. We missed the Marley brothers play together, (Ziggy, Stephen and Damien) but we left just in time to run into a mob of pickpocketers right outside the gates. Imagine about 20 people waiting to greet you like at an airport and instead of hugging you, they start crowding you and reach into your pockets all at once, trying to look casual about it. I kept my hands in there and shook them off as best I could, but others weren't so lucky.

While I shrugged it off, it seemed to be a crappy end to an excellent evening. On the inside it was all about peace, love and unity and most people were having a great time dancing and singing along together and suddenly you cross a line into a world in which you're just another target for crime. Ah well, Happy 61st, Bob.