Roots, return, exchange
The African Route
Every artist, concert and festival carrying reggae to Africa since 1980 -- and Afrobeats back into Jamaica: Marley at Zimbabwe, Tosh in Swaziland, Fela's Shrine, Burna Boy in Kingston.
36 records · curated by the atlas editors
A sampling, not a complete record — the archive runs deeper than any list of it. Tell us what is missing.
The repatriation vision this whole route grows from.
person · Well supportedBob Marley"War," "Zimbabwe," "Africa Unite" -- reggae's plainest statements of it.
event · Well supportedBob Marley at Zimbabwe Independence (1980)Self-financed, tear-gassed, and played anyway.
person · Well supportedPeter ToshTook the harder route to make the same point.
event · Well supportedPeter Tosh and Steel Pulse in Swaziland (1983)His only Southern African show.
group · Well supportedSteel PulseOpened for Tosh in Swaziland.
event · Well supportedAfrica Unite: Addis Ababa (2005)Marley's 60th, marked in Addis Ababa.
event · Well supportedBob Marley's 61st-birthday concerts, Ghana (2006)A year later, in Accra and Kumasi.
group · Well supportedCultureCarried the Jamaican side of the Ghana bill.
person · Well supportedBurning Spear"Marcus Garvey" put the name in the song.