Ky-mani in Chapters Vancouver
By Leela Donna TheAfroNews Vancouver : On July 8th, Ky-mani Marley, the third youngest child of reggae icon Bob Marley and Gramps Morgan from Morgan Heritage rolled through Vancouver on their “Reggae Revolution” tour. The sold out Melo Productions show at the Commodore Ballroom left fans of both the artists and their famous families satisfied as both played tunes from their solo projects, and Gramps paid tribute to Morgan Heritage with “Down By the River” while Ky-mani sang several of his dad’s famous tunes including “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Roots Rock Reggae”, “No Woman No Cry” and had Gramps join him on stage for a killer version of “Redemption Songs”.
Earlier that day, Ky-mani met with a small group of fans for a Q & A and to sign copies of his book Dear Dad at Chapters on Robson Street, an event that was arranged by Vancouver Roots Reggae Festival Society. From recounting his earliest memories of his father at Nine Mile in Jamaica, to talking about his upcoming album, Ky-mani’s down to earth nature and approachability reflected the humility and generosity of a person who has had first hand experience overcoming hardship and tragedy.
Having lived in Miami for the past 28 years after leaving Jamaica when he was only seven years old, he was estranged from his siblings and cut off from any financial benefit of the Marley estate for the first half of his life. Now 35, Ky-mani’s biography Dear Dad tells the story of his rise from a life of extreme poverty on the Miami streets defined by brawling, street hustling and gunplay action from the age of nine years old to finally finding his calling in music and spreading his father’s legacy, the philosophy of One Love.
In addition to a music project he is currently working on together with his brothers, Ky-mani will be releasing a double disc CD entitled Evolution of a Revolution… “The Evolution side of the album is where reggae meets soft rock, alternative, jazz and all the other wonderful coloring. The revolution is where dancehall meets hip-hop so the contrast is there”.
