New generation celebrates Tosh tonight

Music legend Bunny Wailer, his son Abijah, Ky-Mani Marley, Andrew Tosh and Tosh I are featured artistes among a heavyweight line-up of talent, performing at Studio 38 tonight in celebration of Peter Tosh's life and legacy.

 Other stars include Sizzla Kalonji, The Mighty Diamonds, Junior Reid, Pinchers, Josey Wales and the Tamlins, plus several others, including superstars inspired by Tosh but not yet named. Ky-Mani Marley and his siblings, the Tosh Brothers, Bunny Wailer and his son Abijah, continue to carry the torch of the original Wailers, the greatest musical aggregation Jamaica has ever produced. That original trio consisted of Bunny, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

The Associated Press and music's bible, Billboard Magazine, are in the island to cover the event, among several other local and international music journalists.

Tonight's Tosh concert starts at 8 p.m.

Join luminaries

On Monday, Tosh was conferred with the Order of Merit, Jamaica's third highest honour. With the receipt of the OM, Tosh now joins such luminaries as Miss Lou, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Rex Nettleford, as recipients of this high category of national honours.

On Friday, a symposium in honour of Tosh will cover his life and legacy and will be held at the University of the West Indies. The symposium marks the official end of a week of celebrations, a period that covers not only Jamaica's 50th Anniversary, but also 50 years of the Wailers, 25 years since Tosh's passing, the award of the OM, and his birthday tomorrow.

The Tosh events are presented by the Peter Tosh Estate and Pulse. Pulse has had a long and historic relationship with Tosh and his legacy. The artiste's last concert performance before his untimely death was at Pulse's Superjam.

Pulse has long held the rights to the video of that concert, some of which was shown at Monday's reception and will again be shown at tonight's concert.

The proceeds will wholly benefit the Peter Tosh estate and related charities, along with the planned Peter Tosh Museum.

One of the greatest reggae artistes of all time, Tosh's many achievements are a critical part of Jamaica's musical history. He is revered by millions as probably the most radical revolutionary ever to be produced by Jamaica's musical culture. His struggles for equal rights and justice, one of the themes of several of his songs, as well as his campaign for the legalisation of marijuana, are just two of the ideas he promoted long before they were popular concepts.

Another was his early opposition to apartheid, refusing to perform in countries having links to South Africa.

On his final tour in support of one of his biggest albums Mama Africa, which spawned the hit single Johnny B Good, Tosh finally conquered the world, converting many naysayers (who previously cited his radical style as a negative), to his philosophy and importance as a musical messiah.

The world tour ended with a tour de force of a performance at Reggae Superjam in Kingston. That December show, which left his audience spellbound, was considered by many who were fortunate enough to see it as one of the greatest musical performances ever seen on Jamaican soil.

(from Jamaica Gleaner)