Friday, December 24, 2010

BROTHER YOU SHOULD KNOW AND NOT BELIEVE


Brother you should know and not believe.  

C’est quoi Noel?
En cette période nous entendons partout les gens parler de noël, ma force est de constater que Presque personne ne se pose la question qu'il faut concernant cette affaire, des lors je me pose la question devons nous faire en voyant faire ou est il indispensable de se demander le pourquoi des choses afin de joindre ou s’éloigner de la masse? L’histoire a montrée que la masse est victime des manipulations et ne peut être un modèle pour ceux qui se posent des questions.
Retenons cette pensée de Mohandas Gandhi: “Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as You remove the cobwebs of ignorance That surround It, It shines clear”.ma  Force est de constater notre ignorance dans tous les domaines, et surtout la ou nous voyons a l’évidence.

C’est quoi noël? Cette question qui ne peut être répondu avec exactitude par plus de 99% de personnes y compris des théologues, et par évidence la naissance du fils de l’homme, du sauveur, bref de Jésus. Moi pour répondre a cette question, je dois faire recours a l astro-théologie. C’est certes un nouveau mot pour plus d’un et même ironie pour certain, mais c’est ca la vérité.
Le plus grand problème que l'homme peut avoir, c’est de croire au point d’être inapte de suivre un raisonnement qui va a l’encontre de ce qu’il croit ou pense être vrai. Je vous invite ici à me lire jusqu’a la fin et de pardonner mes tars.
Mon approche ici est basé sur le soleil : the Sun, le soleil de Dieu : God’s Sun/God’s son (voir Sonne qui est le soleil en Allemand, n oublions pas que l’anglais dérive de l allemand). Puisqu’il s’agit du soleil, je ne peux pas me faire comprendre sans définir certains mots comme Zodiaque,  course solaire, et signe solaire.
ZODIAQUE : Le Soleil, la Lune et le cortège des huit planètes, tournent dans le ciel autour de nous, à des distances plus ou moins lointaines et à des vitesses différentes. Les plus proches se déplacent rapidement, tels le Soleil, la Lune, Mercure, Vénus et Mars (Planètes rapides). Les plus lointaines gravitent lentement comme Jupiter, Saturne, Uranus, Neptune et Pluton (planètes lentes). Mais tous les astres font leurs rondes régulièrement dans un même circuit du ciel. Cette piste sidérale, ceinture large de 17 degrés environ, est appelée zodiaque.
COURSE SOLAIRE : Dans sa course céleste, le soleil effectue une avance de 1 degré environ par jour. Il met ainsi un mois pour parcourir un signe entier, soit 30 degrés. Et il accomplit le tour entier du zodiaque (360 degrés) en 1 an.
On appelle signe solaire celui des douze signes où se trouve le soleil le jour de la naissance. On dit ainsi que l'on est né sous le signe du ....Bélier par exemple. Cela signifie que l'astre solaire se trouvait alors quelque part entre le premier et le dernier degré de ce signe zodiacal, ce qui est le cas d'une naissance située entre le 21 mars et le 20 avril.
Les anciens avaient compris que la vie sur terre dépend du cycle du soleil et que sans le soleil la vie n’était pas possible sur terre, c’est ce qui les a poussés a lui accorder beaucoup d’importance, l’étudier et décrire avec certitude son évolution et puisqu’il est énergie, donc la vie, il est a la base de toute croyance qui se veut être crédible et temporaire. Puisque la vie c’est l’énergie, et que c’est le soleil qui nous donne directement ou indirectement cet énergie, il devient évidant de dire c’est le soleil qui nous donne la vie. D’aucun vous diront qu’on adore le soleil.
Les anciens que se soit, anciens mexicain, Mayas, Africains, indiens, babyloniens, pour ne citer que ceux la, disaient je site: “nous devons tous dire merci au père de nous avoir donné son soleil (God’s Sun, God’s son) pour la paix la tranquillité qu’il apporte dans notre vie”
Ils savaient aussi que la nuit était dangereuse à cause de l’absence de la lumière donc du soleil, que c’est pendant la nuit que les forces du mal se manifestaient. Ce qui est vrais. Le matin le levé du soleil était une gloire, la résurrection du fils de Dieu qui venait avec sa lumière et donnait son énergie donc sa vie pour nous. Sa course de un degré par jours était divisé en 12 étapes (12 HOURS ou encore 12 HORUS) et sa mort avait le même nombre d’étapes d’ou les 12*2 donc 24 heures.
Toutes les civilisations anciennes parlaient de la trinité qui n’est autre n’étais rien d’autre chose que l’interprétation du cycle solaire.
La naissance du sauveur qu’est rien d‘autre que le levé du soleil
La maturité a 12 h lorsque le soleil est juste au dessus de notre tête
La mort qui n’est autre chose que le couché du soleil
Tous les trios représentaient bien sur les mêmes divinités qu’est le soleil, trois phases différentes mais le même soleil. Des lors nous constatons que la notion de trinité est certes, un mystère de même que l’électricité, la radio, la télévision et autre est mystère pour le profane.
En observant le soleil pendant de longues périodes, les anciens ont donc développés les notions de jour, semaine, mois, années et même des ères, c’est ainsi que certains profane au lieu de parler de la fin de l’ère du poisson, parlent plutôt de la fin du monde. Nous devons voir de près l’évolution annuaire du soleil afin de comprendre la date du 25 décembre qui est pour certains profane la date de la naissance de Jésus.   


Représentons le calendrier annuel sur un cercle que nous divisons en quatre quadrants correspondant aux quatre saisons, puis représentons le solstice d'été, et d’hivers,  l'équinoxe de printemps et d'automne comme le montre la figure ci-dessus. Nous avons maintenant les points de départ pour chacun des 4 saisons. C'est ce qu'on appelle par tous les grands encyclopédies et ouvrages de référence, à la fois ancienne et moderne, comme «La Croix du Zodiaque". Ainsi, la vie de Dieu 'Sun' est sur "la Croix".C'est pourquoi nous voyons le cercle autour du Soleil sur les croix des églises chrétiennes. La prochaine fois que vous passez une église chrétienne, comparer le cercle (le soleil de Dieu )  sur la croix.
   Le Soleil, depuis le premier jour de l'été, se déplace vers le sud, et s'arrête quand il atteint son point le plus bas dans le ciel de l'hémisphère Nord (Décembre 22 - notre solstice d'hiver).

     A ce point le plus bas, le soleil arrête son voyage vers le sud. Pendant trois jours, Décembre 22, 23, et 24, le Soleil se lève sur la latitude exactement la même (déclinaison) degré.
    C'est la seule fois dans l'année que le Soleil arrête éffectivement son mouvement vers le sud ou le nord dans notre ciel. Dans la matinée du Décembre 25, le Soleil se déplace d'un degré vers le nord début de son voyage annuel de nouveau à nous dans l'hémisphère Nord, en fin de compte apporter notre ressort. Tout ce mouvement de façon constante toute l'année qui s'arrête brusquement en mouvement pendant trois jours a été considérée comme étant décédé. Par conséquent, le soleil de Dieu qui était mort pendant trois jours, se déplace d'un degré vers le nord le 25 Décembre début de son voyage annuel de retour à l'hémisphère Nord. Le Soleil est symboliquement .... Né de nouveau.
Et à ce jour, ses adorateurs encore fêtent son anniversaire ! Sans toute fois le comprendre .... Joyeux Noël.
 
Noubactep Kouadjo

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A PROPHET, A FREEDOM FIGHTER, BOB MARLEY'S STORY

His Story
Bob Marley was a hero figure, in the classic mythological sense. His departure from this planet came at a point when his vision of One World, One Love -- inspired by his belief in Rastafari -- was beginning to be heard and felt. The last Bob Marley and the Wailers tour in 1980 attracted the largest audiences at that time for any musical act in Europe.
Bob's story is that of an archetype, which is why it continues to have such a powerful and ever-growing resonance: it embodies political repression, metaphysical and artistic insights, gangland warfare and various periods of mystical wilderness. And his audience continues to widen: to westerners Bob's apocalyptic truths prove inspirational and life-changing; in the Third World his impact goes much further. Not just among Jamaicans, but also the Hopi Indians of New Mexico and the Maoris of New Zealand, in Indonesia and India, and especially in those parts of West Africa from wihch slaves were plucked and taken to the New World, Bob is seen as a redeemer figure returning to lead this
In the clear Jamaican sunlight you can pick out the component parts of which the myth of Bob Marley is comprised: the sadness, the love, the understanding, the Godgiven talent. Those are facts. And although it is sometimes said that there are no facts in Jamaica, there is one more thing of which we can be certain: Bob Marley never wrote a bad song. He left behind the most remarkable body of recorded work. "The reservoir of music he has left behind is like an encyclopedia," says Judy Mowatt of the I-Threes. "When you need to refer to a certain situation or crisis, there will always be a Bob Marley song that will relate to it. Bob was a musical prophet."
The tiny Third World country of Jamaica has produced an artist who has transcended all categories, classes, and creeds through a combination of innate modesty and profound wisdom. Bob Marley, the Natural Mystic, may yet prove to be the most significant musical artist of the twentieth century.
Bob Marley gave the world brilliant and evocative music; his work stretched across nearly two decades and yet still remains timeless and universal. Bob Marley & the Wailers worked their way into the very fabric of our lives.
"He's taken his place alongside James Brown and Sly Stone as a pervasive influence on r&b", says the American critic Timothy White, author of the acclaimed Bob Marley biography CATCH A FIRE: THE LIFE OF BOB MARLEY. "His music was pure rock, in the sense that it was a public expression of a private truth."
It is important to consider the roots of this legend: the first superstar from the Third World, Bob Marley was one of the most charismatic and challenging performers of our time and his music could have been created from only one source: the street culture of Jamaica.
The days of slavery are a recent folk memory on the island. They have permeated the very essence of Jamaica's culture, from the plantation of the mid-nineteenth century to the popular music of our own times. Although slavery was abolished in 1834, the Africans and their descendants developed their own culture with half-remembered African traditions mingled with the customs of the British.
This hybrid culture, of course, had parallels with the emerging black society in America. Jamaica, however, remained a rural community which, without the industrialisation of its northern neighbour, was more closely rooted to its African legacy.
By the start of the twentieth century that African heritage was given political expression by Marcus Garvey, a shrewd Jamaican preacher and entrepreneur who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The organisation advocated the creation of a new black state in Africa, free from white domination. As the first step in this dream, Garvey founded the Black Star Line, a steamship company which, in popular imagination at least, was to take the black population from America and the Caribbean back to their homeland of Africa.
A few years later, in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia and took a new name, Haile Selassie, The Emperor claimed to be the 225th ruler in a line that stretched back to Menelik, the son of Solomon and Sheba.
The Marcus Garvey followers in Jamaica, consulting their New Testaments for a sign, believed Haile Selassie was the black king whom Garvey had prophesied would deliver the Negro race. It was the start of a new religion called Rastafari.
Fifteen years later, in Rhoden Hall to the north of Jamaica, Bob Marley was born. His mother was an eighteen-year-old black girl called Cedella Booker while his father was Captain Norval Marley, a 50-year-old white quartermaster attached to the British West Indian Regiment.
The couple married in 1944 and Robert Nesta Marley was born on February 6, 1945. Norval Marley's family, however, applied constant pressure and, although he provided financial support, the Captain seldom saw his son who grew up in the rural surroundings of St. Ann to the north of the island.
For country people in Jamaica, the capital Kingston was the city of their dreams, the land of opportunity. The reality was that Kingston had little work to offer, yet through the Fifties and Sixties, people flooded to the city. The newcomers, despite their rapid disillusion with the capital, seldom returned to the rural parishes. Instead, they squatted in the shanty towns that grew up in western Kingston, the most notorious of which was Trench town (so named because it was built over a ditch that drained the sewage of old Kingston.)
Bob Marley, barely into his teens, moved to Kingston in the late Fifties. Like many before them, Marley and his mother eventually settled in Trenchtown. His friends were other street youths, also impatient with their place in Jamaican society. One friend in particular was Neville O'Riley Livingston, known as Bunny, with whom Bob took his first hesitant musical steps.
The two youths were fascinated by the extraordinary music they could pick up from American radio stations. In particular there was one New Orleans station broadcasting the latest tunes by such artists as Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Curtis Mayfield and Brook Benton. Bob and Bunny also paid close attention to the black vocal groups, such as the Drifters, who were extremely popular in Jamaica.
When Bob quit school he seemed to have but one ambition: music. Although he took a job in a welding shop, Bob spent all his free time with Bunny, perfecting their vocal abilities. They were helped by one of Trench Town's famous residents, the singer Joe Higgs who held informal lessons for aspiring vocalists in the tenement yards. It was at one of those sessions that Bob and Bunny met Peter McIntosh, another youth with big musical ambitions.
In 1962 Bob Marley auditioned for a local music entrepreneur called Leslie Kong. Impressed by the quality of Bob's vocals, Kong took the young singer into the studio to cut some tracks, the first of which, called "Judge Not", was released on Beverley's label. It was Marley's first record.
The other tunes -- including "Terror" and "One Cup of Coffee" -- received no airplay and attracted little attention. At the very least, however, they confirmed Marley's ambition to be a singer. By the following year Bob had decided the way forward was with a group. He linked up with Bunny and Peter to form The Wailing Wailers.
The new group had a mentor, a Rastafarian hand drummer called Alvin Patterson, who introduced the youths to Clement Dodd,, a record producer in Kingston. In the summer of 1963 Dodd auditioned The Wailing Wailers and, pleased with the results, agreed to record the group.
It was the time of ska music, the hot new dance floor music with a pronounced back-beat. Its origins incorporated influences from Jamaica's African traditions but, more immediately, from the heady beats of New Orleans' rhythm & blues disseminated from American radio stations and the burgeoning sound systems on the streets of Kingston. Clement - Sir Coxsone - Dodd was one of the city's finest sound system men.
The Wailing Wailers released their first single, "Simmer Down", on the Coxsone label during the last weeks of 1963. By the following January it was number one in the Jamaican charts, a position it held for the next two months. The group -- Bob, Bunny and Peter together with Junior Braithwaite and two back-up singers, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith -- were big news.
"Simmer Down" caused a sensation in Jamaica and The Wailing Wailers began recording regularly for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One Company. The groups' music also found new themes, identifying with the Rude Boy street rebels in the Kingston slums. Jamaican music had found a tough, urban stance.
Over the next few years The Wailing Wailers put out some thirty sides that properly established the group.
Despite their popularity, the economics of keeping the group together proved too much and the three other members -- Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith -- quit. Bob's mother, Cedella, had remarried and moved to Delaware in the United States where she had saved sufficient money to send her son an air ticket. The intention was for Bob to start a new life. But before he moved to America, Bob met a young girl called Rita Anderson and, on February 10, 1966, they were married.
Marley's stay in America was short-lived. He worked just enough to finance his real ambition: music. In October 1966 Bob Marley, after eight months in America, returned to Jamaica. It was a formative period in his life. The Emperor Haile Selassie had made a state visit to Jamaica in April that year. By the time Bob re-settled in Kingston the Rastafarian movement had gained new credence.
Marley was increasingly drawn towards Rastafari. In 1967 Bob's music reflected his new beliefs. Gone were the Rude Boy anthems; in their place was a growing commitment to spiritual and social issues, the cornerstone of his real legacy.
Marley joined up with Bunny and Peter to re-form the group, now known as The Wailers. Rita, too, had started a singing career, having a big hit with "Pied Piper", a cover of an English pop song. Jamaican music, however, was changing. The bouncy ska beat had been replaced by a slower, more sensual rhythm called rock steady.
The Wailers new commitment to Rastafarianism brought them into conflict with Coxsone Dodd and, determined to control their own destiny, the group formed their own record label, Wail 'N' Soul. Despite a few early successes, however, the Wailers' business naivete proved too much and the label folded in late 1967.
The group survived, however, initially as songwriters for a company associated with the American singer Johnny Nash who, the following decade, was to have an international smash with Marley's "Stir It Up". The Wailers also met up with Lee Perry, whose production genius had transformed recording studio techniques into an art form.
The Perry/Wailers combination resulted in some of the finest music the band ever made. Such tracks as "Soul Rebel", "Duppy Conqueror", "400 Years" and "Small Axe" were not only classics, but they defined the future direction of reggae.
In 1970 Aston 'Family Man' Barrett and his brother Carlton (bass and drums respectively) joined the Wailers. They had been the rhythm nucleus of Perry's studio band, working with the Wailers on those ground-breaking sessions. They were also unchallenged as Jamaica's hardest rhythm section, a status that was to remain undiminished during the following decade. The band's reputation was, at the start of the Seventies, an extraordinary one throughout the Caribbean. But internationally the Wailers were still unknown.
In the summer of 1971 Bob accepted an invitation from Johnny Nash to accompany him to Sweden where the American singer had taken a filmscore commission. While in Europe Bob secured a recording contract with CBS which was also, of course, Nash's company. By the spring of 1972 the entire Wailers were in London, ostensibly promoting their CBS single "Reggae on Broadway". Instead they found themselves stranded in Britain.
As a last throw of the dice Bob Marley walked into the Basing Street Studios of Island Records and asked to see its founder Chris Blackwell. The company, of course, had been one of the prime movers behind the rise of Jamaican music in Britain; indeed Blackwell had launched Island in Jamaica during the late fifties.
By 1962, however, Blackwell had realised that, by re-locating Island to London, he could represent all his Jamaican rivals in Britain. The company was re-born in May, 1962, selling initially to Britain's Jamaican population centered mostly in London and Birmingham.
The hot ska rhythm, however, quickly became established as a burgeoning dance floor beat with the then growing Mod culture and, in 1964, Blackwell produced a worldwide smash with 'My Boy Lollipop', a pop/ska tune by the young Jamaican singer Millie.
Through the Sixties Island had grown to become a major source of Jamaican music, from ska and rock steady to reggae. The company had also embraced white rock music, with such bands and artists as Traffic, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Cat Stevens, Free and Fairport Convention so, when Bob Marley made his first moves with Island in 1971, he was connecting with the hottest independent in the world at that time.
Blackwell knew of Marley's Jamaican reputation. The group was offered a deal unique in Jamaican terms. The Wailers were advanced £4000 to make an album and, for the first time, a reggae band had access to the best recording facilities and were treated in much the same way as, say, their rock group contemporaries. Before this deal, it was considered that reggae sold only on singles and cheap compilation albums. The Wailers' first album Catch A Fire broke all the rules: it was beautifully packaged and heavily promoted. It was the start of a long climb to international fame and recognition.
Years later the acclaimed reggae dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, commenting on Catch A Fire, wrote: "A whole new style of Jamaican music has come into being. It has a different character, a different sound. . . what I can only describe as International Reggae. It incorporates elements from popular music internationally: rock and soul, blues and funk. These elements facilitated a breakthrough on the international market."
Although Catch A Fire was not an immediate hit, it made a considerable impact on the media. Marley's hard dance rhythms, allied to his militant lyrical stance, came in complete contrast to the excesses of mainstream rock. Island also decided The Wailers should tour both Britain and America; again a complete novelty for a reggae band.
Marley and the band came to London in April 1973, embarking on a club tour which hardened The Wailers as a live group. After three months, however, the band returned to Jamaica and Bunny, disenchanted by life on the road, refused to play the American tour. His place was taken by Joe Higgs, The Wailers' original singing teacher.
The American tour drew packed houses and even included a weekend engagement playing support to the young Bruce Springsteen. Such was the demand that an autumn tour was also arranged with seventeen dates as support to Sly & The Family Stone, then the number one band in black American music.
Four shows into the tour, however, The Wailers were taken off the bill. It seems they had been too good; support bands should not detract from the main attraction. The Wailers nevertheless made their way to San Francisco where they broadcast a live concert for the pioneering rock radio station, KSAN.
The bulk of that session was finally made available in February 1991, when Island released the commemorative album, Talkin' Blues.
In 1973 The Wailers also released their second Island album, Burnin, an LP that included new versions of some of the band's older songs: 'Duppy Conqueror', for instance, "Small Axe" and "Put It On" -- together with such tracks as 'Get Up Stand Up' and "I Shot The Sheriff". The latter, of course, was a massive worldwide hit for Eric Clapton the following year, even reaching number one in the U.S. singles' chart.
In 1974 Marley spent much time of his time in the studio working on the sessions that eventually provided Natty Dread, an album that included such fiercely committed songs as 'Talkin' Blues', "No Woman No Cry", "So Jah Seh," "Revolution", "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" and "Rebel Music (3 o'clock Roadblock)". By the start of the next year, however, Bunny and Peter had quit the group; they were later to embark on solo careers (as Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh) while the band was re-named Bob Marley & The Wailers.
Natty Dread was released in February 1975 and, by the summer, the band was on the road again. Bunny and Peter's missing harmonies were replaced by the I-Threes, the female trio comprising Bob's wife Rita together with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. Among the concerts were two shows at the Lyceum Ballroom in London which, even now, are remembered as highlights of the decade.
The shows were recorded and the subsequent live album, together with the single"No Woman No Cry", both made the charts. Bob Marley & The Wailers were taking reggae into the mainstream. By November, when The Wailers returned to Jamaica to play a benefit concert with Stevie Wonder, they were obviously the country's greatest superstars.
Rastaman Vibration, the follow-up album in 1976, cracked the American charts. It was, for many, the clearest exposition yet of Marley's music and beliefs, including such tracks as "Crazy Baldhead", "Johnny Was", "Who the Cap Fit" and, perhaps most significantly of all, "War", the lyrics of which were taken from a speech by Emperor Haile Selassie.
Its international success cemented Marley's growing political importance in Jamaica, where his firm Rastafarian stance had found a strong resonance with the ghetto youth. By way of thanking the people of Jamaica, Marley decided on a free concert, to be held at Kingston's National Heroes Park on December 5, 1976. The idea was to emphasise the need for peace in the slums of the city, where warring factions had brought turmoil and murder.
Just after the concert was announced, the government called an election for December 20. The campaign was a signal for renewed ghetto war and, on the eve of the concert, gunmen broke into Marley's house and shot him.
In the confusion the would-be assassins only wounded Marley, who was hastily taken to a safe haven in the hills surrounding Kingston. For a day he deliberated playing the concert and then, on December 5, he came on stage and played a brief set in defiance of the gunmen.
It was to be Marley's last appearance in Jamaica for nearly eighteen months. Immediately after the show he left the country and, during early 1977, lived in London where he recorded his next album, Exodus.
Released in the summer of that year, Exodus properly established the band's international status. The album remained on the UK charts for 56 straight weeks, and its three singles - "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain" and "Jammin" - were all massive sellers. The band also played a week of concerts at London's Rainbow Theatre; their last dates in the city during the seventies.
In 1978 the band capitalised on their chart success with Kaya, an album which hit number four in the UK the week after release. That album saw Marley in a different mood; a collection of love songs and, of course, homages to the power of ganja. The album also provided two chart singles, "Satisfy My Soul" and the beautiful "Is This Love".
There were three more events in 1978, all of which were of extraordinary significance to Marley. In April he returned to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert in front of the Prime Minister Michael Manley and the Leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga.
He was then invited to the United Nations in New York to receive the organisation's Medal of Peace. At the end of the year Bob also visited Africa for the first time, going initially to Kenya and then on to Ethiopia, spiritual home of Rastafari.
The band had earlier toured Europe and America, a series of shows that provided a second live album, Babylon By Bus. The Wailers also broke new ground by playing in Australia, Japan and New Zealand: truly international style reggae.
Survival, Bob Marley's ninth album for Island Records, was released in the summer of 1979. It included "Zimbabwe", a stirring anthem for the soon-to-be liberated Rhodesia, together with "So Much Trouble In The World", "Ambush In The Night" and "Africa Unite"; as the sleeve design, comprising the flags of the independent nations, indicated, Survival was an album of pan-African solidarity.
At the start of the following year -- a new decade -- Bob Marley & The Wailers flew to Gabon where they were to make their African debut. It was not an auspicious occasion, however, when the band discovered they were playing in front of the country's young elite. The group, nevertheless, was to make a quick return to Africa, this time at the official invitation to the government of liberated Zimbabwe to play at the country's Independence Ceremony in April, 1980. It was the greatest honour ever afforded the band, and one which underlined the Wailer's importance in the Third World.
The band's next album, Uprising, was released in May 1980. It was an instant hit, with the single, "Could You Be Loved" a massive worldwide seller. Uprising also featured "Coming In From the Cold", "Work" and the extraordinary closing track, "Redemption Song".
The Wailers embarked on a major European tour, breaking festival records throughout the continent. The schedule included a 100,000-capacity crowd in Milan, the biggest show in the band's history. Bob Marley & The Wailers, quite simply, were the most important band on the road that year and the new Uprising album hit every chart in Europe. It was a period of maximum optimism and plans were being made for an American tour, in company with Stevie Wonder, that winter.
At the end of the European tour Marley and the band went to America. Bob played two shows at Madison Square Garden but, immediately afterwards, was taken seriously ill.
Three years earlier, in London, Bob hurt a toe while playing football. The wound had become cancerous and was belatedly treated in Miami, yet it continued to fester. By 1980 the cancer, in its most virulent form, had begun to spread through Marley's body.
He fought the disease for eight months, taking treatment at the clinic of Dr. Joseph Issels in Bavaria. Issels' treatment was controversial and non-toxic and, for a time anyway, Bob's condition seemed to stabilise. Eventually, however, the battle proved too much. At the start of May Bob Marley left Germany for his Jamaican home, a journey he did not complete. He died in a Miami hospital on Monday May 11, 1981.
The previous month, Marley had been awarded Jamaica's Order Of Merit, the nation's third highest honour, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country's culture.
On Thursday May 21, 1981, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O.M. was given an official funeral by the people of Jamaica. Following the service - attended by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition - Marley's body was taken to his birthplace at Nine Mile, on the north of the island, where it now rests in a mausoleum. Bob Marley was 36-years-old. His legend, however, has conquered the years.

REF:  http://web.bobmarley.com



MALCOM X, A BORN LEADER, NOT ONLY BLACK LEADER

BIOGRAPHY
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family's eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Earl's civil rights activism prompted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm's fourth birthday.
"When my mother was pregnant with me, she told me later, a party of hooded Klu Klux Klan riders galloped up to our home... Brandishing their shotguns and rifles, they shouted for my father to come out."
Regardless of the Little's efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929 their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the ground. Two years later, Earl's body was found lying across the town's trolley tracks. Police ruled both incidents as accidents, but the Little's were certain that members of the Black Legion were responsible. Louise suffered emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband and was committed to a mental institution. Her children were split up amongst various foster homes and orphanages.

Growing up
Malcolm was a smart, focused student. He graduated from junior high at the top of his class. However, when a favorite teacher told Malcolm his dream of becoming a lawyer was "no realistic goal for a nigger," Malcolm lost interest in school. He dropped out, spent some time in Boston, Massachusetts working various odd jobs, and then traveled to Harlem, New York where he committed petty crimes. By 1942 Malcolm was coordinating various narcotics, prostitution and gambling rings.
"...Early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise."
Eventually Malcolm and his buddy, Malcolm "Shorty" Jarvis, moved back to Boston. In 1946 they were arrested and convicted on burglary charges, and Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison. (He was paroled after serving seven years.) Recalling his days in school, he used the time to further his education. It was during this period of self-enlightenment that Malcolm's brother Reginald would visit and discuss his recent conversion to the Muslim religion. Reginald belonged to the religious organization the Nation of Islam (NOI).
Intrigued, Malcolm began to study the teachings of NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success. Among other goals, the NOI fought for a state of their own, separate from one inhabited by white people. By the time he was paroled in 1952, Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new surname "X." (He considered "Little" a slave name and chose the "X" to signify his lost tribal name.)

A born leader
Intelligent and articulate, Malcolm was appointed as a minister and national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Elijah Muhammad also charged him with establishing new mosques in cities such as Detroit, Michigan and Harlem, New York. Malcolm utilized newspaper columns, as well as radio and television to communicate the NOI's message across the United States. His charisma, drive and conviction attracted an astounding number of new members. Malcolm was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963.
The crowds and controversy surrounding Malcolm made him a media magnet. He was featured in a week-long television special with Mike Wallace in 1959, called "The Hate That Hate Produced." The program explored the fundamentals of the NOI, and tracked Malcolm's emergence as one of its most important leaders. After the special, Malcolm was faced with the uncomfortable reality that his fame had eclipsed that of his mentor Elijah Muhammad.
Racial tensions ran increasingly high during the early 1960s. In addition to the media, Malcolm's vivid personality had captured the government's attention. As membership in the NOI continued to grow, FBI agents infiltrated the organization (one even acted as Malcolm's bodyguard) and secretly placed bugs, wiretaps, cameras and other surveillance equipment to monitor the group's activities.
A test of faith
Malcolm's faith was dealt a crushing blow at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963. He learned that his mentor and leader, Elijah Muhammad, was secretly having relations with as many as six women within the Nation of Islam organization. As if that were not enough, Malcolm found out that some of these relationships had resulted in children.
"I am not educated, nor am I an expert in any particular field... but I am sincere and my sincerity is my credential."
Since joining the NOI, Malcolm had strictly adhered to the teachings of Muhammad - which included remaining celibate until his marriage to Betty Shabazz in 1958. Malcolm refused Muhammad's request to help cover up the affairs and subsequent children. He was deeply hurt by the deception of Muhammad, whom he had considered a living prophet. Malcolm also felt guilty about the masses he had led to join the NOI, which he now felt was a fraudulent organization built on too many lies to ignore.
Shortly after his shocking discovery, Malcolm received criticism for a comment he made regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "[Kennedy] never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon," said Malcolm. After the statement, Elijah Muhammad "silenced" Malcolm for 90 days. Malcolm, however, suspected he was silenced for another reason. In March 1964 Malcolm terminated his relationship with the NOI. Unable to look past Muhammad's deception, Malcolm decided to found his own religious organization, the Muslim Mosque, Inc.


A new awakening
That same year, Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The trip proved life altering. For the first time, Malcolm shared his thoughts and beliefs with different cultures, and found the response to be overwhelmingly positive. When he returned, Malcolm said he had met "blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could call my brothers." He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the future. This time when Malcolm spoke, instead of just preaching to African-Americans, he had a message for all races.
"Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth."
After Malcolm resigned his position in the Nation of Islam and renounced Elijah Muhammad, relations between the two had become increasingly volatile. FBI informants working undercover in the NOI warned officials that Malcolm had been marked for assassination. (One undercover officer had even been ordered to help plant a bomb in Malcolm's car).
After repeated attempts on his life, Malcolm rarely traveled anywhere without bodyguards. On February 14, 1965 the home where Malcolm, Betty and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York was firebombed. Luckily, the family escaped physical injury.
The legacy of "X"
One week later, however, Malcolm's enemies were successful in their ruthless attempt. At a speaking engagement in the Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed Malcolm onstage. They shot him 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
"Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression, because power, real power, comes from our conviction which produces action, uncompromising action."
Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem on February 27, 1965 at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ (now Child's Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ). After the ceremony, friends took the shovels away from the waiting gravediggers and buried Malcolm themselves.
Later that year, Betty gave birth to their twin daughters.
Malcolm's assassins, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1966. The three men were all members of the Nation of Islam.
The legacy of Malcolm X has moved through generations as the subject of numerous documentaries, books and movies. A tremendous resurgence of interest occurred in 1992 when director Spike Lee released the acclaimed movie, Malcolm X. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Denzel Washington) and Best Costume Design.
Malcolm X is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

ref:   http://www.malcolmx.com/about/bio3.html



Tuesday, December 21, 2010

ONLINE ENGLISH GRAMMAR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE USES AND FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH VERB TENSES
CHAPTER 1. The simple present of the verb to be
    1. Grammar
    2. Verb forms
    3. Uses of the simple present tense
    4. The simple present of the verb to be
         a. Affirmative statements
         b. Questions
         c. Negative statements
         d. Negative questions
         e. Tag questions
    Exercises
CHAPTER 4. The present perfect and the present perfect continuous
    1. Use of the present perfect
    2. Formation of the present perfect: Regular verbs
    3. Spelling rules for adding ed to form the past participle
         a. Verbs ending in a silent e
         b. Verbs ending in y
         c. Verbs ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel
    4. Pronunciation of the ed ending
    5. Formation of the present perfect: Irregular verbs
    6. Questions and negative statements
         a. Questions
         b. Negative statements
         c. Negative questions
         d. Tag questions
    7. The present perfect continuous
         a. Use
         b. Formation
         c. Questions and negative statements
    Exercises
CHAPTER 7. The future tenses
    1. The simple future
         a. Use
         b. Formation
         c. Questions and negative statements
    2. The conjugation expressing determination and compulsion
    3. The present continuous of to go followed by an infinitive
    4. The future continuous
         a. Use
         b. Formation
         c. Questions and negative statements
    5. The future perfect
         a. Use
         b. Formation
         c. Questions and negative statements
    6. The future perfect continuous
         a. Use
         b. Formation
         c. Questions and negative statements
    7. Summary of the formation of the English future tenses
    8. Clauses
         a. Coordinate clauses
         b. Subordinate clauses
         c. The past perfect and the simple past
         d. The use of the present in subordinate clauses to express future actions
    Exercises
CHAPTER 9. The subjunctive
    1. Uses of the subjunctive
    2. Formation of the subjunctive
    3. Formal commands and requests
    4. Wishes
         a. An earlier time
         b. The same time
         c. A later time
         d. Summary
         e. Use of the auxiliary could in expressing wishes
    5. Conditions which are false or improbable
         a. Forms of the verb used in the main clause
             i. Referring to present or future time
             ii. Referring to past time
             iii. Summary
             iv. Use of the auxiliary could in sentences containing false or improbable conditions
         b. Forms of the verb used in the subordinate clause
             i. Referring to present or future time
             ii. Referring to past time
             iii. Summary
         c. Changing a statement containing a probable condition into a statement containing an improbable condition
    6. The imperative mood
    Exercises
CHAPTER 12. The passive voice
    1. Use of the passive voice
    2. Formation of the indicative mood of the passive voice
         a. The Simple Present indicative
         b. The other indicative tenses
         c. Summary of the formation of the indicative tenses of the passive voice
    3. Questions and negative statements
         a. Questions
         b. Negative statements
         c. Negative questions
    4. Changing the voice of a verb
    5. Changing the voice of a verb while preserving the meaning of a sentence
         a. Changing the verb from the active voice to the passive voice
         b. Changing the verb from the passive voice to the active voice
         c. Changing the voice of a verb which takes both a direct object and an indirect object
    6. The subjunctive mood of the passive voice
         a. Use of the simple present subjunctive
         b. Use of the past forms of the subjunctive
    Exercises
CHAPTER 16. Uncountable nouns
    1. The absence of a determiner before uncountable nouns
         a. Making a general statement
         b. Referring to something not mentioned before
    2. The use of the before uncountable nouns
         a. Referring to something mentioned before
         b. Referring to something when it is considered obvious what is meant
    3. The use of uncountable nouns to refer to individual things
    4. Nouns which can be either countable or uncountable
         a. Differences in meaning
         b. Referring to a type of something
         c. Referring to places used for specific activities
         d. Names of meals
    5. Infinitives used in the place of nouns
    6. Gerunds
    7. Specific verbs followed by infinitives and gerunds
         a. Verbs followed by infinitives
         b. Verbs followed by either infinitives or gerunds
         c. Verbs followed by gerunds
    Exercises
CHAPTER 19. Other pronouns
    1. Indefinite pronouns
         a. The use of one in general statements
    2. Reciprocal pronouns
    3. Demonstrative pronouns
    4. Interrogative pronouns
         a. Direct questions
         b. The pronoun who
             i. Who
             ii. Whom
             iii. Whose
         c. What and which
         d. Indirect questions
             i. Interrogative word as the subject
             ii. Interrogative word as the object of a verb or preposition
             iii. The verb to be with a noun or pronoun complement
    5. Relative pronouns
         a. Defining and non-defining relative clauses
             i. Non-defining relative clauses
             ii. Defining relative clauses
         b. That
         c. Which
         d. Whowhom and whose
         e. Comparison of the use of thatwhich and who
         f. Other relative pronouns
    Exercises
CHAPTER 21. Adjectives: Position in a sentence
    1. Proper adjectives
    2. Attributive adjectives
         a. Order of attributive adjectives
             i. Determiners
             ii. General descriptive adjectives
             iii. Adjectives indicating color
             iv. Adjectives indicating materials
             v. The position of proper adjectives
             vi. Defining adjectives
             vii. Ordinal adjectives
         b. Punctuation used with attributive adjectives
         c. Stress used with attributive adjectives
             i. Adjectives indicating materials
             ii. Defining adjectives indicating location or time
             iii. Defining adjectives indicating purpose
    3. Predicate adjectives
         a. Attributive adjectives which can be used as predicate adjectives
             i. Order
             ii. Punctuation
         b. Adjectives which can be used only as predicate adjectives
         c. Linking verbs
    4. Interpolated adjectives
    5. Adjectival phrases and clauses
    6. Participles used as adjectives
         a. Present participles
         b. Past participles
         c. Dangling participles
         d. Past participles which follow the verb to be
    Exercises
CHAPTER 22. Adjectives used in comparisons: Part I
    1. Positive forms of adjectives preceded and followed by as
         a. The positive form combined with a noun
         b. The use of ellipsis
         c. The use of the subjective case
    2. Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives which use endings
         a. Comparative forms of adjectives which use endings
             i. Spelling rules
             ii. Irregular adjectives
             iii. The comparative form followed by than
             iv. The comparative form followed by a noun, followed by than
             v. The use of ellipsis
             vi. The use of the subjective case
             vii. Progressive comparisons
         b. Superlative forms of adjectives which use endings
             i. Spelling rules
             ii. Irregular adjectives
             iii. The superlative form preceded by the
             iv. The use of ellipsis
             v. The comparison of one or more things with a group
    Exercises
CHAPTER 23. Adjectives used in comparisons: Part 2
    1. Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives which do not use endings
         a. Comparative forms: The use of more
             i. The comparative form followed by than
             ii. Progressive comparisons
         b. The use of less
             i. The construction less ... than
             ii. The construction not as ... as
             iii. The construction less and less
         c. Superlative forms
    2. The adjectives manymuchfew and little used to compare quantities
         a. The use of manymuchfew and little with countable and uncountable nouns
         b. Synonyms for many and much
         c. Positive forms used in comparisons
         d. Comparative forms used in comparisons
         e. Superlative forms used in comparisons
    3. The adjectives similardifferent and same used in comparisons
    4. Making logical comparisons
    Exercises
CHAPTER 24. Adverbs: Position in a sentence
    1. Adverbs which modify adjectives and other adverbs
         a. Intensifiers
    2. Adverbs which modify verbs
         a. Adverbs of frequency
         b. Adverbs of time
         c. Adverbs of manner
         d. Connecting adverbs
         e. Adverb phrases and clauses of purpose
         f. Adverbs of location
             i. Here and there
             ii. There used as an introductory word
             iii. Inverted word order
         g. Negative adverbs
             i. Double negatives
             ii. Inverted word order
    3. Interrogative adverbs
    Exercises
CHAPTER 25. Adverbs of manner and adverbs used in comparisons
    1. Adverbs of manner
         a. Spelling rules for adding ly
             i. Adjectives ending in ic
             ii. Adjectives ending in le
             iii. Adjectives ending in ll
             iv. Adjectives ending in ue
             v. Adjectives ending in y
         b. Adverbs which do not use the ending ly
         c. The differing functions of adjectives and adverbs
             i. Adjectives which modify nouns compared with adverbs which modify verbs
             ii. Adjectives which modify nouns compared with adverbs which modify adjectives
             iii. Predicate adjectives which modify the subjects of verbs compared with adverbs which modify verbs
    2. Adverbs used in comparisons
         a. The formation of comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
             i. Adverbs used with more and most
             ii. Adverbs used with the endings er and est
             iii. Irregular adverbs
         b. Positive forms of adverbs used in comparisons
             i. The construction with as ... as
             ii. Ellipsis
         c. Comparative forms of adverbs used in comparisons
             i. The construction with than
             ii. Progressive comparisons
             iii. The construction with less and less
             iv. The construction with the ..., the ...
         d. Superlative forms of adverbs used in comparisons
             i. The construction with the
             ii. The construction with the least
    Exercises
CHAPTER 27. Phrasal verbs
    1. Phrasal verbs consisting of a verb followed by a preposition
         a. The position of the object of the preposition
         b. The position of an adverb of manner modifying the verb
         c. Stress in spoken English
         d. Expressions in which the verb has an object
    2. Phrasal verbs consisting of a verb followed by an adverb
         a. The position of the object of the verb
         b. The position of an adverb of manner modifying the verb
         c. Stress in spoken English
         d. Ergative verbs
    3. Distinguishing between verbs followed by prepositions and verbs followed by adverbs
         a. Adverb phrases of location compared with phrasal verbs followed by objects
         b. Words used as prepositions or adverbs
    4. Phrasal verbs consisting of a verb followed by a word which can function either as an adverb or as a preposition
         a. Expressions in which the verb has an object
    5. Phrasal verbs consisting of a verb followed by an adverb followed by a preposition
         a. Expressions in which the verb has an object
    Exercises