Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer - Softcover

Talamon, Bruce W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393321738 ISBN 13: 9780393321739

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Synopsis

A photographic and textual meditation on the life of a legend, reissued in special CD-size format.

Twenty years after Bob Marley's untimely death he remains a powerful worldwide presence. His music is at the top of the reggae charts, while his memory is indelibly etched in the minds of millions of his followers.

In the last two years of his life Marley underwent a dramatic change, becoming a gentler and more philosophical version of himself. He also met photographer Bruce Talamon, to whom he granted unprecedented access, both on the stage and off. The result is this remarkable visual record, which, paired with Roger Steffens's sensitive text tracing Marley's life from his youth in Jamaica to worldwide acceptance, captures (in the words of the late Timothy White's introduction) "the private warmth, social equanimity, zealous determination...and personal magnetism" of Bob Marley. 82 b/w photographs

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce W. Talamon has shot for Time, among his many other projects.

Roger Steffens is the world’s leading reggae historian, and former co-host of the award-winning radio program Reggae Beat. His programs on Marley’s life have been presented at the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress, among other venues. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

From Booklist:

Bob Marley is not only an important cultural symbol. He is also something of a cottage industry. Sound recordings, videos, and desultory paraphernalia make of him, even in death, a potent and profitable figure. This volume largely of portraits represents a maturing of the Marley market even as the fascination with all things Marley filters down to fans too young to have seen him alive. Tasteful and well done, Talamon's photographic essay stands in stark contrast to some of the raw, slapdash products intended primarily to cash in on Marley's fame. The photographs catch Marley in relaxed, even introspective moods, and Timothy White's lengthy foreword lays to rest some of the misunderstandings and errors in previous Marley studies. Moreover, this is a thoroughly entertaining book that captures the mystical mood of reggae and advances the study of a figure who, like Malcolm X, to whom Talamon compares him, has grown greatly in influence and stature since his death. A moving portrait of a great musician, religious leader, and force for peace and justice. Mike Tribby

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0393321738
• ISBN 13: 9780393321739
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128