Handing over of the Marley Music Room to Haile Selassie High School

The Music and Performing Arts Programme at the Haile Selassie High School, has gotten a well-needed boost. The Bob Marley Foundation handed over the Marley Music Room to the school, on Tuesday, April 30, during the school’s 50thAnniversary celebrations.

The vision of the partnership with the school is to create a space that is more comfortable for the students and teachers and more conducive to learning, creativity and positive expression. In addition to the renovation of the room, the music programme has been enhanced with additional musical instruments including drums, guitars and keyboards, which were donated from proceeds earned from the partnership between the Bob Marley Foundation and Raymond Weil, the Swiss luxury watchmaking brand.

The Foundation’s Marley for Music in Schools Programme, stays true to its mandate that embraces the spiritual, cultural and musical ideals that guided and inspired Bob and contributes to the education and cultural development of our youths through music and music education. Bob Marley’s song ‘Music Lesson’ says ‘Music gonna teach them one lesson’ and the lesson for the students is how to use Music and the Arts as tools of empowerment and for rising above adversity.

The students and staff of the school are elated about the upgraded facility and are convinced that it will bring some students one step closer to realizing their dreams to becoming trained musicians and while giving others the space to create, to express themselves and to excel outside of academics.

The Bob Marley Foundation and the Marley family have had a productive, longstanding and ‘heartical’ relationship with the Haile Selassie High School that was gifted to the people of Jamaica by Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia, when he paid a State Visit to the island in April 1966.

Bob Marley Foundation Media Contact
Sister Mitzie Williams
communications@bobmarleyfoundation.org
876-485-2984

***

From the Gleaner:

In celebration of their 50th anniversary, Haile Selassie High School’s music and performing arts programme has received a facelift. Thanks to the Bob Marley Foundation, the students and their music teacher, Tino McDermott, can now gather in the corner room on the campus’ third floor in an air-conditioned space that is completely shielded from the elements.

“For me, words can’t explain it. It is a dream come true, because before up there used to leak. There was water coming in. But now, I can see my way out much better,” McDermott told The Gleaner. In addition to the renovation of the music room – the Marley Music Room – the music and performing arts programme was enhanced with additional musical instruments, donated from proceeds earned by a partnership between the Bob Marley Foundation and Raymond Weil, the Swiss jewellery and watch brand.

At McDermott’s request, the inventory has increased from just a handful of conga drums to an assortment of recorders, acoustic guitars, tambourines, rhythm sticks, guiras, maracas and two keyboards. The music room now also holds a refurbished stage, where the student musicians and theatre artists can comfortably hone their skills.

Please read more: Jamaica Gleaner