Left: Ziggy Marley (left) performs with his brother Stephen in Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on February 6, 2005. Right: The cover of Ziggy Marley's 'Love Is My Religion'. - Contributed

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

More than a musician, Ziggy Marley is a messenger, delivering love to the youth across the world. Carrying on his father's universal message of peace, love and empowerment, Marley won over the Grammys at the 49th ceremony in Los Angeles, nabbing his fourth win in the Best Reggae Album category for Love is My Religion.

A happy but meditative artiste spoke to The Gleaner yesterday.

Never expecting to win nor aspiring to, Marley claimed that he always "trusts in the will of the Almighty".

"The most important thing about dis one is 'love is my religion', dat message. Winning the Grammy opens up a new avenue for that message to get to people, dat is di most important ting," he said.

Marley, who was in the studio during the ceremony, described the album as "a burning in him that needed to be released".

"Di future album is a follow up to this. You'll see a likkle more ... mi face gonna more frowned. Two faced on the next album, let's put it dat way. I tink it might be more stern, sometimes children need more discipline. Dis one is about love, the concept of love, if dem learn di message, dem gonna haffi feel it."

Love is My Religion was released on July 4, 2006 and is currently being sold exclusively through Target.

Hopes to expand

According to Marley, although the Target distribution deal was a good idea, he hopes to expand beyond that, making the album more accessible to the masses. The fact that he independently made and distributed the album, has been one of the most important aspects of his second solo debut.

For Marley, winning the Grammy is an acknowledgement that self-reliance is worth it. "Dere was no big company behind it. Mi feel good to achieve it cause there was no big help behind it. Mi like the concept, Marcus Garvey concept, we being dependent on ourselves," he commented.

"Entrepreneurs owning di music, that was one of my father's dream so we haffi live up to dat. We hope di sales pick up but it's about di message. That's why I do di music. We still haffi do di hard work, like right now we ready to go China. But we can't depend on selling records, but if that's what we're willing to do to get the message out, that's my ministry," he claimed.

Still going strong, Marley is hoping to release his next album sometime next year.

In May he is hoping to go to Africa to "reunite the consciousness."

While he has been away from Jamaica for years, he wants to come back soon to continue his charity work as he says, " mi do dat already but I have other ideas to uplift di youths. To shine some light and show dem positive examples."

One of his biggest dreams is for himself and all his brothers to come together for an album and tour. He said, "in a few years we gonna do dat. We haffi mek our dreams a reality."

krista.henry@gleanerjm.com