Ziggy Marley - Musician

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Ziggy Marley has performing in his blood. Ziggy is the son of the legendary Bob Marley and has become an artist in his own right.

A Grammy Award-winner, Ziggy has followed in his father's footsteps as a reggae musician. And Ziggy is also following his father's lead as a political activist. Ziggy has worked with the United Nations and also started a record label, Ghetto Youths Crew. Here, we chat with Ziggy about his views on his music, his spirituality, and what people need to do to get along.

DM) You're looking forward to this tour?

ZM) Yeah, mon very much.

DM) Do you find you're more the kind of guy who enjoys the touring or recording?

ZM) I like it all.

DM) (laughs) Are you ever unhappy?

ZM) Sometimes I get upset, but I'm never unhappy.

DM) Do you find, like you get recharged from the music then, in some sense? Z; Yeah, my music is an inspiration.

DM) It's inspiration for you? Do you enjoy more the performing for the people or the writing of the songs behind the scenes?

ZM) Everything really. The writing of the songs and the performing. Songwriting is something that comes from a higher force, you know?

DM) You feel the music comes from a higher source?

ZM) Yeah.

DM) That sounds like a bit of pressure (laughs). You'd want to make sure you get it right, then, in that sense. It adds a bit of pressure to you, I would think, like a higher standard that you have to follow.

ZM) Yeah, that's why music is my religion. It's a higher standard, not just an everyday thing. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not easy. A lot of times songs aren't written and you have to write them, but sometimes they're already written and they just come to you.

DM) Have you had that exact situation where, you kind of just woke up one morning and the song was in your head?

ZM) Yeah mon, "Love Is My Religion" is one of those songs. At that moment it was like, that's what I've been needing.

DM) And it just came to you like that?

ZM) Just like that.

DM) Do you find your better songs just come to you like that?

ZM) Yeah, it's the one thing that gives me goosebumps.

DM) So this is not the first time that happened. It sounds like you've had a couple times when you just woke up and-

ZM) Yah, mon, it is like… I mean, writing songs on stuff that's more out there in the universe than we can know. It's about understanding that love is my religion. That's all I need is love.

DM) Now, I just read in an article recently where someone said that the music of the '60s and '70s is all about love. The generation is all about love, but they said that it seems to have died away now, that this generation isn't as much about love.

ZM) Here we come again. Love… love never dies. It went away but we have to know when to bring it back.

DM) (laughs) Do you think it went away a little bit?

ZM) Yeah, of course…

DM) Is it something that will come back though? It has to. I would encourage it. I think the world is going to be tried by violence and rage and love must come back.

DM) What do you think made the world pull away from that message that we had in the '60s and '70s?

ZM) Hey, I don't even know why the world would pull away from love, I don't know why that happened. Love is my religion and that's what we need, to have an awakening of love.

DM) So this is the religion you're preaching too, it sounds like: getting across to people the message of love that was lost a little bit.

ZM) Yeah. I mean, I call it religion, just so that you can correlate to the idea of religion, but it is not religion, really.

DM) No, I understand. It's more of a philosophy.

ZM) Yeah, a philosophy.

DM) Do you see the world changing back towards a time of love?

ZM) No, I think finding the message of love is up to the world. I think people have to open their hearts to the idea of loving each other instead of fighting over religion, race, class, culture.

DM) It's interesting you said fighting over religion because also religion is used as an excuse of sorts, it sounds like, for why people fight.

ZM) Yeah, you know, it is not the fault of the concept of God that causes the fighting. It is the fault of the people who institutionalize the idea of God. We are preaching the idea of God, and taking it as something that separates us.

DM) What do you mean, something that separates us?

ZM) I mean anything. Everybody believes in the same God, but there is so much difference. How can you believe in the same thing yet…

DM) Yeah, that's a good point. Have you had a reaction when some people listen to some of your music with people saying, "Oh wow, I believe the same thing, I want to try getting more people into love," as opposed to where they are?

ZM) Let me put it that way. We need to get away from the complication of getting to Heaven.

DM) What do you mean by that? Z; I mean it is so complicated, there is so much you have to do, so much red tape just to get to God.

DM) (Laughs) I like that: "red tape to get to God."

ZM) What I'm saying to you is that I am love. You don't need to go and convert. You don't need all the riffraff-you need love.

DM) It does seem like a lot of religion has become more about what you do, like which ritual you follow as opposed to actually love in any degree.

ZM) Yeah, it's like: you don't condemn, I don't convert. It's a calling. And I don't need to worry about converting them. All I need to do is love. If they follow my example of love, then they will reach the place that I am at. This is the way of peace, of no problems, to realize that we won't need to fight wars.

DM) It's interesting that love, for you, is not just getting along with your fellow man, but also a means of getting closer to God.

ZM) It's the only way. It's the only way. Where's the world today? They're the followers of their religion.

DM) It seems like these people with the violence are all in our own communities. In my opinion, they seem to be the ones who go to church the most, the ones who uphold the war.

ZM) They're in mosques, churches, or synagogues, it doesn't matter. It is not reaching them, it is not working. My philosophy is I don't need you to believe what I believe-not by force, anyway. I need you to believe what I believe by you being yourself and realizing my actions of love. It's not like, you're going to go to hell if you don't do what I do, you're gonna die. That's not what it's about.

DM) It does seem to me like religion has become more about fear than love, at times.

ZM) Yeah, a lot of fear, if I go do something, God won't love me anymore, you know?

DM) Because even the messages of Jesus and every major religion is not normally about fear, it's actually about love, but the message the people hear now is all fear.

ZM) It's about trying to create some kind of institution. It becomes a business, with who can get the most believers.

DM) (laughs) It's true. I laugh because you're right, it has become a business.

ZM) And they'll do whatever it takes to get as many as possible.

DM) It sounds sometimes like they get more members because of fear. "Oh my God, the terrorists are going to get us!" or "The Christians are going to get us!"

ZM) That's what they do. Everybody lives in fear. Would that be America, would that be Saddam, would that be Bin Laden… Everybody lives in fear.

DM) Yeah

ZM) Live in fear of the punishment.

DM) And everyone's trying to scare the other guy.

ZM) Everyone lives with the idea that, "Oh, I have to kill them or they're going to kill me."

DM) It would be interesting if the world just worked along a philosophy of love-love your neighbor. They would be doing things a lot differently at this point, it sounds like.

ZM) I see schools in America, and I think love is important-loving one another.

DM) Do you ever work with children or try getting your message across to children directly? I was thinking if you had a children's album that it would be interesting. You know, if you could speak to the children directly, to some degree.

ZM) My albums are for everybody, children and adults, but the idea of a record particularly for children is something that I worked on.

DM) Oh really? That's an interesting point though, if you could work with the children, that they could grow up and be influenced too at that point. So it's almost like you're planting seeds now for 10, 15, and 20 years from now when the children grow up.

ZM) That's the idea, but I can't be the only one spreading the message.

DM) This is true. If you're just doing it yourself, it's not easy.

ZM) It's what it is. But I'm reaching more people every day.

DM) That's very impressive to hear how you're handling your message, how you're trying to work on the message. Thank you, Ziggy.

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