Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Great Huts to celebrate Bob Marley’s life and legacy

Published:Thursday | February 6, 2020 | 12:06 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer
The Almond Tree room at Great Huts in Boston Bay, Portland.
The Almond Tree room at Great Huts in Boston Bay, Portland.

Great Huts in Portland will, this evening, host a Bob Marley birthday bash, which will precede several days of film screening inside the Great Room of African House to celebrate the life and legacy of Bob Marley. Right Band Entertainment from Trench Town will be the musical foundation for the night.

“As our collaboration with the Agency of Inner City Renewal strengthens into the new decade, we are thrilled to bring musical talent from Trench Town to Portland and salute the great Bob Marley for the enjoyment of the local community and our international guests. I have long encouraged our guests to visit Kingston, the jewel of the African diaspora,” Dr Paul Rhodes, owner and designer of Great Huts, said. Plans for tours from Great Huts to Trench Town are thus in the pipeline.

The screenings start on Friday, the 7th, with Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at the Rainbow (2005). The weekly Saturday night cultural showcase will be a special Bob Marley tribute, while the screenings continue on Sunday with Africa Unite A Celebration of Bob Marley’s Vision (2007). On Monday, Rebel Music The Bob Marley Story takes over the screen, and the activities conclude on Tuesday, the 11th, with Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers (2002).

Great Huts is an eco-friendly, Afrocentric resort located at Boston Bay. People not only go there to hide away from the madding crowd and to enjoy its tropical ambience and beach, they also visit to soak up the culture, history and heritage of Jamaica, to which it is committed and promotes.

“From inception, Great Huts has been the only eco-resort specifically designed to extol Jamaica’s history and ancestry, with over 300 pieces of art, mostly the work of Jamaicans, dotting the rainforest landscape, and meaningful historical message and symbolisms throughout. Most fittingly, Bob Marley’s inspirational words are everywhere to be found,” Rhodes said.

It has two major annual cultural events, Jamaican Arts Odyssey and Cinema Paradise Portie Film Festival, and every Saturday night there is showcase of the kaleidoscope of Jamaican traditional and contemporary music. Also, for the past few years the observance of Black History Month and celebration of Bob Marley’s birthday, in particular, are high on its cultural and entertainment programme.