Music Festival to Honour Bob Marley Feb. 28

The 16th annual Caribbean Music Festival honouring the life and philosophy of the late legendary reggae star, Robert Nesta Marley, will be held on Saturday, February 28, at the Bayfront Park, in downtown Miami, Florida, in the United States.

This year's event will also feature a tribute to the late Cedella Marley Booker, mother of the reggae icon, also a songwriter and singer. She died last April in Miami, at the age of 81.

The all-day festival entails a package of music celebration honouring Mr. Marley, as well as art and craft display and sales.

Aside from the entertainment, the Festival has always carried a unique humanitarian message. Each person attending the event is encouraged to make a donation of three canned food items or equivalent monetary donation.

Over the years, the donations have gone toward feeding programmes and homeless shelters in Jamaica, Haiti, the Bahamas as well as South Florida. To date, the Bob Marley 'Movement of Jah People' has distributed more than two million canned goods to the less fortunate. This year, Farm Share, a South Florida non-profit group will distribute the canned goods to the needy.

Four of Mr. Marley's sons, Stephen, Damian, Julian and Kymani, who have made recording and stage names of their own, are expected to headline the musical acts this year, as well as several popular international and local performers who continue to support the event through entertainment or helping in the feeding programmes.

The event is a highlight of Black History Month, and is also celebrated during the anniversary of Bob Marley's birth date, February 6.

Described as one of South Florida's longest running music festivals, the reggae and Caribbean music showcase has attracted worldwide attention from thousands of visitors yearly.

Meanwhile, February has been officially designated Reggae Month by the Government of Jamaica. Earlier, this month (February 20), the Trench Town Culture Yard, internationally recognised as the cornerstone of reggae music, was also designated a protected National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT).
This area has been described as a unique environment that provided the inspiration for many of reggae's greatest proponents, including Bob Marley.

SOurce:MIAMI (JIS)