Those of you old enough to remember will recall the One Love Peace Concert back in 1978 in Kingston, Jamaica, during a political civil war.  Bob Marley joined the hands of political rivals Michael Manley and Edward Seaga, saying in so many words that the country had to “Unite to make it right”.

Putting politics aside but in a similar vein, watching the Reggae bands ‘Kioko‘ and  ‘Aswad‘ play on Friday night at the venue ‘Under the Bridge’, it occurred to me that music does much for race relations.   Kioko, very similar to UB40, consist of black, white and Asian members. The audience was a general mix of black, white and Asian too, most of them dancing and all of them having a good time.  When Kioko had finished playing, they came down into the audience, singled out some ladies, and danced around to Aswad’s songs.  There was a ‘feelgood’ factor to the whole evening.

This caused me to think about all the different religions in the world, some of them at war with others.  What’s the point?  No God is better than anybody else’s; in fact who knows –  there might not even be any Gods up there at all, and so fighting may be pointless!  What’s needed is a big concert where people from all religions come together, listen to some great bands, and realise that underneath we’re all the same.  Somebody with some money and entrepreneurial skills needs to organise one!

So, Bob, may he rest in peace, said it all really.  Unfortunately his concert didn’t do much to stop the political violence, because nobody took any notice of what he was trying to convey.  However, we can still use his words in any concept; race, politics, and even religion.  Until we can all unite, there will be no peace upon this earth.