JOSEPH - A Rasta Reggae Fable - Paperback

by Barbara Makeda Blake-Hannah (Author)

Joseph is a reggae superstar, admired by his musical peers and adored by women wherever he goes. But Joseph is also a devout, herb-smoking Rastafarian who dreams of a new life in Ethiopia. Sister Ashanti tells of Joseph's rise to international stardom, his stormy relationship with the beautiful and passionate Zueleika, his uneasy truce with the press and in particular the intrusive American journalist Sam Bergman. But for all his peaceable Rasta way of life, in certain quarters Joseph is seen as a threat. The concert that is to seal the Peace, ending gang warfare in Kingston, instead ends in the terrible moment when Joseph is shot on stage. Ashanti and her husband Peter are spirited away to Miami and Cuba, not knowing if Joseph is alive or dead, until after many adventures, the friends find themselves reunited in Shashemane and in the mystical Emmanuel.

Author Biography

Jamaican-born Barbara Makeda Blake-Hannah has been a Rastafarian since the 1970s and is amember of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. As well as JOSEPH - A RASTA REGGAE FABLE, a novel inspired by the life of Bob Marley, Hannah wrote 'Rastafari - The New Creation', the first text on Rastafari to be written by a practicing member of the faith. Journalist, broadcaster and producer/director of 8 films, she began by working with her father's news magazine, then in 1964 she moved to England and became Britain's 1st Black TV journalist on Thames TV's daily TODAY programme. Returning to Jamaica in 1972, she has worked in a range of media and also in the Office of the Prime Minister under Michael Manley and Edward Seaga. She served as an Independent Senator in Parliament from 1984-1987 and has lectured on Jamaican culture at Universities around the world.