The Wailers, reunited at last! Featured
Bunny Wailer, 73, reggae pioneer and last surviving member of the Wailers, has died.
The Wailers, which included superstars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, were Jamaica’s Beatles. They made ska and reggae music known to the world.
They were famous not only for their beats and melody, but for their lyrics. They made music that talked about the ordinary person, the poor, Blacks, and about discontent, personal and social change, rebellion, revolution.
Wailer and others started the band when they were still teenagers. Youth, indeed, is an age of creativity and revolutionary daring.
An author says Tosh was the group’s militant member; Marley, the poetic revolutionary humanist; and Wailer, the spiritual mystic.
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our mind.” Powerful words brought together in a lovely but haunting melody. Truly, we have to free our minds so we can free ourselves.
All members of the Wailers have died, but their music won’t die. They will live forever in the hearts of the oppressed and fighting peoples of Africa and the world.
Kyle Haselsteiner
Socialist Youth League
Deputy General Secretary