- Just add music.
Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945, and of course, Cleveland’s reggae community isn’t going to let the day pass without recognizing the towering Jamaican music legend who died of cancer at a tragically young age in 1981. Luckily, his birthday falls on a Saturday this year. The Caribbean Flavor is presenting Songs for Freedom: A Bob Marley Tribute and Live Show tomorrow night, with doors at 8 p.m. and show at 9. Admission is $8.
One of Cleveland’s newer reggae bands, Umajoh Nation, will provide the backbone of the show. The four-woman, three-man multi-racial group, fronted by the husband-and-wife team Stefano Nguma and Tracey Aquart-Nguma will perform their own set as well as back up the other acts on the bill: Sunshade, Pablo and Milton Blake, all from Jamaica.
“Pablo has been singing since 1972,” says promoter Garfield Lawrence Sr. “He has sung with various different bands here; he’s sung with Jah Messengers and been on a lot of show. He goes back and forth between here and Jamaica. Likewise Sunshade. Milton Blake hasn’t done too much work here in the Cleveland area, although he’s played in Columbus and Cincinnati. They’ve been rehearsing together for the last two months, both their own songs and Marley’s. They’ve been working really hard. I’ve been to some of the rehearsals, and it’s going to be a good show.” —Anastasia Pantsios
