In honor of what would have been Bob Marley’s 75th birthday on February 6 2020, Universal Music and Island Records have joined forces with the late reggae icon’s family to shoot an inspirational music video for Bob Marley & the Wailers’ “Redemption Song.”
French artists Octave Marsal and Theo De Gueltz used 2,737 original drawings to create stop-motion scenes depicting culturally significant African and African-American figures, Jamaican landscapes and wildlife, and Marley himself strumming a guitar full of flowers in front of a packed arena.
“From the history of Slavery and Jamaica, Rastafarian culture, legacy of prophets (Haile Selassie the 1st, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X), as well as Bob’s personal life, we take the audience on a journey through allegories and representations,” Marsal and De Gueltz said a statement.
As Rolling Stone notes, “Redemption Song” was last track on Marley’s final album Uprising, which was released in 1980 before he died from cancer the following year. The video is the first part of a series dubbed “Marley75” that celebrates his life. Look for new videos featuring previously unreleased music, art, photography and more throughout 2021.