By Osagie Alonge
Ky-Mani Marley, one of the sons of the late great Reggae musician Bob Marley travelled to Nigeria for the very first time to perform at this year’s Felabration festival. From the day he arrived Nigeria (Friday, October 18, 2013) Ky-Mani settled in just fine, visiting the New Afrika Shrine just immediately and taking a long walk back to his hotel room several kilometres away.
NET got chatting with Mr Marley a few minutes before he hit the stage on Sunday October 20, 2013 for the Felabration finale – the 37-year-old musician discusses how he feels being compared to his father, his style of music and how he got to know Fela’s music.
Hi Ky-Mani, you’ve been in Nigeria for two days, how has it been so far?
So far it’s been great, enjoying my time, enjoying the people and without a doubt enjoying the show.
Could you tell us about your first album ‘Like Father Like Son’?
The funny thing is that it’s actually not my first album – that album isn’t legitimate to me. It was something someone put together. [Marley’s first album is titled ‘The Journey‘]
I asked about the album because I was going to ask about the comparisons between you and your late dad. Do people always bring it up?
Yes of course, they do that but really, what greater person would you want to be compared to?
Your style of music, what would you define it as?
Eclectic.
You are about to go on stage to perform to thousands of Nigerians, how do you feel about your first performance at the New Afrika Shrine.
I’m looking forward to it; it’s my first time in Nigeria. I’m looking forward to the energy, to the crowd, looking forward to enjoying myself.
Growing up, were you a fan of Fela’s music?
I didn’t learn about Fela when I was young but I did later on. I was raised in the states so I wasn’t really raised hearing Fela music but once I got a little older and started to travel and learnt more about him and we just got drawn into his music.
Can you tell us what to expect from your upcoming ‘Revolution of an Evolution’?
It’s going to be something special. It’s a two disc album; one is Dance meets Hip-Hop while the other one is like Roots-Reggae meets World Music.