A special concert celebrating Birmingham’s reggae history will be held on what would have been Bob Marley’s 80th birthday. The Reggae Origins event will take place on Thursday evening at the city’s Town Hall, featuring Basil Gabbidon and musicians from the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG).
Bob Marley, the iconic reggae singer, passed away from cancer at the age of 36 in 1981. Gabbidon, a founding member of the reggae band Steel Pulse from Handsworth, believes Marley would be amazed by how reggae has grown and continues to thrive worldwide.
“It’s incredible how the music has spread around the world,” Gabbidon said. “Bob Marley’s music has always been a part of that.”
The concert will blend classical strings with a full reggae band, offering new arrangements of songs from Birmingham’s reggae scene, alongside some of Marley’s greatest hits.
Gabbidon had tried to bring the concert to life a few years ago, but lacked funding at the time. Now, he’s excited to share this fusion of reggae and classical music. “Music is all connected, and this concert shows how different styles can come together.”
Steel Pulse, which was formed in 1975 by school friends from Handsworth, made history as the first non-Jamaican band to win a Grammy for Best Reggae Album.
Gabbidon recalled how Bob Marley’s Catch A Fire album and the song Concrete Jungle inspired him to seriously pick up the guitar. He believes that without that album, Steel Pulse might never have formed.
“There’s a lot of fusion in Steel Pulse’s music – funk, rock, pop,” Gabbidon said. He also praised the Windrush Generation for bringing reggae to the UK, noting how the current British music scene thrives on cultural fusion.
