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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: Palm Pictures / Umvd
Salesrank: 17915
Released: February 12, 2008 |
| Our Price: $13.39 |
| Used Price: $8.70 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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| Features:
Color DVD-Video Widescreen NTSC | |
Editorial Review:
A concert film of the 1983 Reggae Sunsplash Festival with Third World Rita Marley Gregory Isaacs and others.Format: DVD AUDIO Genre: MUSIC DVD/DOCUMENTARY Artist: VARIOUS ARTISTS UPC: 660200316129 Manufacturer No: PALMDV3161
Description of Africa Unite:
The spirit of Bob Marley imbues Africa Unite, a documentary-cum-concert recorded in 2005, the year of what would have been the late reggae pioneer's 60th birthday. Yet it was more than Marley's music (represented here by versions of classics like "Get Up, Stand Up," "Natty Dread,""Burnin' and Lootin'," and "I Shot the Sheriff," variously performed by widow Rita and sons Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian, and Ky-Mani, along with a few vintage clips of Marley himself in action) that drew thousands of Africans and others to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a week of music, symposiums, and other events. More than any other genre-defining artist of the pop music era--more even than Bob Dylan, who neither sought nor was comfortable with the "voice of a generation" tag--Bob Marley's work contained an overt political element, and it is his message of resistance to oppression and the necessity for people to work together to enact change that galvanizes director Stephanie Black's film. And while Marley, a Jamaican, never actually performed in Ethiopia, the choice of that country (referred to as "the genesis of mankind") as a location makes perfect sense, as it was ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie, whom Marley and other Rastafarians regarded as God incarnate. Selassie, also known as the Lion of Judah, Ras Tafari, or Jah Rastafari, is invoked often; his granddaughter is on hand to welcome visitors (who also include Marley's mother, Cedella Booker, and actor Danny Glover). In juxtaposing old news footage from Africa's colonial past with new material in which participants discuss the vital importance of African self-sufficiency, Africa Unite offers a well-balanced and informative perspective on an important and interesting subject. The music's pretty darn good, too. --Sam Graham
Africa Unite Reviews:
Best Rasta profile 
2008-07-17 - A clear and very well organized DVD. I love the historical clips added to show the story of Rasta and Bob. It is a very nice DVD to have as a collection. I did hear the DVD can be found at other retail stores like Fry's at a lower price.
Uplifting and motivating
2008-04-21 - The film has great coverage on the concert held in 2005 to celebrate what would have been Bob Marley's 60th birthday and remembering his dream of a united Africa. It has great personal interviews as well as numerous concert scenes- with great sound.
Excellent!
2008-03-24 - The DVD is part documentary, part concert. Watching it makes me think how sorely mankind needs divine intervention, bc our problems run so deep, and try as we might we seem to use our differences to our detriment, instead of to our betterment.
Africa Unite is Fire
2008-03-10 -
This documentary/cinematic concert is wonderful. I learned so much about Ethiopia and Africa as a whole, the music was great, and the old footage of Haile Selassie, Bob Marley, and others was also a treat. Something you can watch over and over.
