Marley died from a rare form of skin cancer in 1981, aged just 36. But The Wailers played on. And next month they will hold their first gig in Hong Kong, at Central’s Hong Kong Observation Wheel and AIA Vitality Park, on April 5.
The band will play the full Legend album, a compilation of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ hits released in 1984 that is the bestselling reggae album of all time. It has topped the US Billboard 200’s year-end reggae chart for the last four years.
“If people have just one reggae album in their collection, it’s usually Legend,” says Paul Thompson, co-founder of the Hong Kong International Reggae Ska Festival, which is organising the event.
“[The Observation Wheel] is an iconic venue and with the Rugby Sevens happening in the city [at the same time], the vibe will be amazing.”
The Hong Kong show will see Aston Barrett Jr, The Wailers’ drummer since 2016, perform for one of the first times since portraying his father, Aston Barrett, in Bob Marley: One Love. Barrett Snr was the Wailers’ bass player and musical director, who played with Marley as well as for decades with the band after the singer’s death. Known by the nickname “Family Man” because of his close relationship with the band, he died in February aged 77.
While The Wailers’ performance is no doubt the highlight for Marley fans in Hong Kong, they can also celebrate his life at the Dead& bar in Central’s Lan Kwai Fong area on March 23 when it hosts the Hong Kong launch of the single “Missing Mr Marley”.
Originally written and sung by the late British singer-songwriter Colin Scot as a tribute to Marley in the year he died, “Missing Mr Marley” was recorded in 1982 at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen. The song was co-produced by Danish entrepreneur Jens Peter Jensen, who later relocated to Hong Kong, but it was never publicly released.
Fast-forward and Jensen’s daughter Christina Brandt Jensen, a familiar face on Hong Kong’s arts scene – she is a founder of the Cheung Chau Wave and After Sunset festivals – was determined to make sure the track saw the light of day.
She approached Filipino musician Budoy Marabiles to work on the song with his reggae band Junior Kilat, who then teamed up with another reggae band, Selah Dub Warriors, also from the Philippines. The track they created uses Scot’s original lyrics with entirely new music.
The event at Dead& will bring together a unique line-up of reggae artists from Hong Kong, the Philippines and Shanghai.
Filipino musicians performing a song in Hong Kong that was written by a Briton, originally recorded by a Dane and honouring a Jamaican is the sort of coming together of nationalities in the name of peace, love and music that flows heavily through Marley’s music.
His lyrics resonate with musician Christy Chow. Born in Singapore, Chow has called Hong Kong home for 15 years, where she has been busy building cultural bridges between Jamaica, Hong Kong and the rest of China.
“With his messages for humanity, Bob Marley crosses generations,” Chow says.
In 2019, Chow joined MouseFX, dubbed the father of Cantonese reggae in Hong Kong, on a trip to Jamaica to shoot a documentary and record the musician’s album MouseFX In Jamaica. His “See Jah Light” music video was also shot on the Caribbean island.
In the studio with them was Skunga Kong, the grandnephew of the late Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer Leslie Kong, who founded the Jamaican record label Beverley’s and who, in 1962, recorded Marley’s first singles, “Judge Not” and “One Cup of Coffee”.
MouseFX, real name Mathias Tong, was introduced to reggae in the 1990s while working at his uncle’s fashion boutique in Tsim Sha Tsui.
“The shop only played reggae as background music, including Bob Marley and The Wailers,” he says. “I remember one album, Talkin’ Blues, that had interviews between songs. I tried playing some of Marley’s songs after that.”
He started out singing in reggae bands Crazy Lion and Sensi Lion before going solo in 2015.
Now a songwriter and producer, who also conducts workshops in Hong Kong that focus on reggae culture, he says the reggae scene has slowly gathered pace in the city over the years.
“Looking back more than 20 years ago, many people didn’t even know who Bob Marley was. And it was not common to meet someone with dreadlocks,” he says, his hair a nod to Marley’s long locks that grew from his belief in the Rastafarian spiritual movement that was rooted in 1930s Jamaica.
“The scene in Hong Kong is still growing … hopefully more people will love reggae music.”
The Wailers Live in Hong Kong, April 5, Hong Kong Observation Wheel and AIA Vitality Park, 33 Man Kwong St, Central. Tickets (HK$560) available from Ticketflap.
“Missing Mr Marley” Hong Kong launch, March 23, 9pm-2am, Dead&, 18 Wo On Ln, Central. HK$350 including free-flow drinks.
