ONE LOVE: REGGAE: Martijn Huisman: Academic

“Well the album I chose is a classic reggae album, regarded as a classic album right now, "Catch A Fire" by Bob Marley and The Wailers released in 1973, so quite some time before I was born. But this album really to me represents my journey, let's say, into the world of reggae. I think about 15 years ago I was playing a computer game with a friend at a friends house in the Netherlands and at the time I didn't really have any direction in life, so to speak, in terms of study, in terms of work, in terms of what next in this life. And at that point that friend just put on "Catch a Fire" LP and it was immediately when I heard the first tunes and then the rest of the album I thought 'this is really a sound and a message I've never heard before'. Of course you hear 'Three Little Birds' in summer on the radio or 'Could You Be Loved', songs like that of Bob Marley which are well known. But that "Catch a Fire" album really had a militancy to it, really almost a spiritual message to it, a strong force behind it which made the music somehow very appealing to me. And I could immediately sense or feel, not only hear but feel the power of the music and that there was a whole lot more to it than relaxing tunes to listen to. And basically that album really marks for me a change of direction in my life I might say and I'm also standing here today at a reggae conference because it turns out it was the start of - I guess, a life long love relationship with reggae music and also developing an academic scholarly interest in it and doing research about it and writing about it. And yeah, becoming part world of reggae music. So that's why "Catch a Fire" it also caught a fire in me that's been burning ever since.” 

Martyn Huisman: Parkside Building, Birmingham City University, 4th April 2018 

The Wailers: Catch a Fire released 1973 

Martijn Huisman