F  L  A  U  N  T

From the get it’s clear something singular is going on. First off, the West Hollywood 1 Hotel has been rechristened The One Love Hotel. Second off, there’s a heaping helping of reggae coursing through the air. There’s also a branded pop-up, a ready-to-rock stage and the kind of fauna and furniture more likely to be found in Jamaica than in West L.A. Jamaica, you say? Yes, Jamaica. See, this is, was and will be the year of Marley75. Basically, a full 365 days of global events, concerts, co-brandings and other activations put on to celebrate the day of Bob Marley’s birth. And it all kicked off right here in Los Angeles over the week leading up to the 2020 Grammys. As you might suspect, the action involved some heavy hitters. Island was the record label. Mastercard was the proud sponsor. And, as mentioned, 1 Hotel was the inn. Also in on the action was UMe (Universal Music’s catalog division) and Primary Wave Music Publishing (which handles Marley’s catalog). But this is Bob Marley we’re talkin’ about here, and Bob Marley doesn’t get properly feted and celebrated without the expressed written consent and participation of the Marley Family. It’s a large and extended clan, natch. Primarily based in Jamaica, but stretching around the whole wild world. It also now includes three very adept Frenchmen: Octave Marsal, Theo De Gueltzl and Fabien Moreau; who were granted a chance to join the clan through one of its patriarch’s most resounding milestones.  Bob Marley "Redemption Song" directed by Octave Marsal & Theo De Gueltzl We’re talkin’ about “Redemption Song,” the last track on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1980 _Uprising_ album. And perhaps the first track that springs to mind when people bring up poignance and politics and the capacity of a single song to inspire vast multitudes. It’s also one of the first tracks that springs to mind when people bring up the word ‘legendary.’ Of course, one doesn’t dare take on a track of such magnitude without carefully attending to even the minutest of details, and these three amigos were relentless in their care. Moreau put together the project, part by part, connection by connection. And he freed Gueltzl and Marsal to realize the grand vision, page by glorious page. In fact, it ended up being over 6000 pages, whittled down to 2747 hand-made drawings, clipped at 12 images a second. A whopping full kilometer of sketches just to create a 3 minute and 14 second video.  It took the pair four months of 10 hour-a-day, seven-day weeks to bring the clip home. It only takes them just over three minutes to take everybody’s breath away. The magic begins with the Lion of Judah being outfitted with staff and crown, then deep-dives through the soundhole of Marley’s intricately-entwined acoustic guitar and into the mind of the master himself. It’s a potent visual metaphor, not to mention a glorious portal. And it sets us up perfectly to experience the vast past, present and future “Redemption Song” represents.  Octave Marsal & Theo De Gueltzl And oh, what a wondrous onslaught of evocative imagery for us to enjoy. There’s the swirl of Egyptian hieroglyphs, the launching of an ancient slave ship (or is it a warship?), and the rising of a Petra-like outcropping, as well as a small island forest of temples and tabernacles. The structures all become overcome by nature, as do our senses, which serves as a picturesque allegory for the Rastafari’s righteous, everliving, lifeforce. That lifeforce is called “livity.” It is conferred by no less an authority than Jah. And it exists in each and every one of us. The deep dive is bookended by the earth (One World?) and the cosmos (One Love?) and, perhaps most poignantly, cored by a Black Mount Rushmore featuring Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie, Malcom X, Martin Luther King and Bob Marley. Mostly though there’s the dedicated impression of true homage. A devotional, if you will, of and for a song that has spawned legions of devotees -- and of and for a legend whose following continues to grow, even nearly four decades after his death.  And, yes, 75 years after his birth. While there are certain to be milestone events marking the 40th and 50th anniversary of Bob Marley’s death, it seems much more fitting to be celebrating the day of his birth, especially considering the continuing reverberations his life continues to bring forth to the world. Reverberations like this awakening take on Marley’s ever-influential “Redemption Song.” Marsal and Gueltzl aren’t the first to set their sights on Marley’s timeless classic (over the years the song’s been covered by everyone from Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash to Alicia Keys and John Legend, Eddie Vedder and Beyonce, and Rihanna), but they are the first to officially put image to the track. That they did so with such great grace and sublimity makes the wait all the more worth it. It also makes the sensation all the more singular. A singular sensation indeed.