a comic book investigation behind the scenes of Bob Marley’s famous “One Love Peace Concert” in Kingston

If you have not yet had your fill of Bob Marley, whose biopic hit theaters on Wednesday February 14, or if you would like some insight into the famous “One Love Peace Concert” which closes the film, you can read this thrilling investigation to which the screenwriter went to meet several protagonists of the story.

It’s a comic strip, but it’s also much more than that: Once upon a time in Jamaica (Futuropolis editions) is first and foremost an investigation. The one carried out by the Frenchman Loulou Dedola on site to understand what led to the One Love Peace Concert history of April 22, 1978 in Kingston. A concert for which Bob Marley had returned specially from London after two years of exile, following an assassination attempt on his person in 1976.

Welcomed as a hero in Jamaica, the singer of Get Up, Stand Up managed that day, despite the danger, to bring together on stage for an exceptional handshake the two political rivals of the island, Michael Manley and Edward Seaga. At the time, the first, a socialist from the PNP (People’s National Party), had been in power as Prime Minister since 1972. The second, a conservative in the colors of the JPL (Jamaica Labor Party), supported by Washington, was then the leader of the opposition. The two are bitterly competing for power in the Caribbean island gripped by a bloody civil war.

Bosses and politicians in troubled waters

Contrary to what the cover of the book adorned with a portrait of Bob Marley might lead you to believe, the author of the screenplay, Loulou Dedola, who is also a musician and learned to hold the bass by listening to the hits of the king of reggae , does not look at the rise of the latter and his Wailers. On the other hand, he is very interested in the relationships between politicians and the leaders of the Jamaican ghettos, these gangsters who firmly held their territories with murderous intimidation. Politicians were indeed eyeing the slum electorate, crucial to winning elections.

To untangle this tangle and reconstruct how the story unfolded, Loulou Dedola went there, to the source. There, he gained the trust of several still-living protagonists of the 1978 concert event and spoke with them at length. He notably spoke to the politician Edward Seaga (since deceased), to a well-informed police officer, to musicians like Sly Dunbar and to producers, but also to the wife of one of the most famous gang leaders, Claudie Massop, who was also a childhood friend of Bob Marley.

Two gangs decide to make peace

His story shows how the idea of One Love Peace Concert germinated in prison in the heads of two bosses, two sworn enemies: Claudie Massop, who then rode for the JLP and held the dangerous neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens, and Bucky Marshall, who worked with the PNP and held the slum of Arnett Gardens. Their unlikely alliance had only one goal: to stop shedding the blood of their community in vain. “It’s the politicians who wage war on each other through communities.”, sums up a protagonist in the comic strip. “The people have nothing to gain from the clashes.”.

Once the ceasefire was decreed by the two leaders, it remained to seal this pact with music. And who better than Bob Marley to give this concert for peace whose profits would go to the underprivileged? Once Marley was convinced to return, it was necessary to persuade and rally to the cause all the producers, managers and musicians in Jamaica, from Peter Tosh to Dillinger, Jacob Miller & Inner Circle.

The rest, we know it: Bob Marley “came to preach peace” brought the two rival politicians Manley and Seaga on stage for a historic handshake. And after? The clashes resumed a few months later, bloodier than ever: the electoral campaign gave rise to 883 murders. As for the two bosses, who became embarrassing, they were quickly eliminated. A sad epilogue which made Marley say about the two politicians: “I should have killed them both.”

Let’s admit it, it’s sometimes difficult to follow because of the profusion of characters (kings, second-rates, politicians, musicians), alliances, betrayals and low blows. But the tension runs throughout this comic book which is devoured like a thriller and whose elegant graphics, colors and very American comic cutting by Luca Ferrara are appreciated. In any case, there would be grounds for bringing this story of national reconciliation to the big screen. It would undoubtedly be much more thrilling, but much less imbued with good feelings, than the biopic dedicated to Marley, in theaters currently.

“Once upon a time in Jamaica” by Loulou Dedola and Luca Ferrara (Futuropolis, 112 pages, 20 euros)