As well as his musical legacy, Marley embodied the close relationship between reggae and Rastafarianism, which accepts the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, as the incarnation of God. So great was Marley’s devotion to his religion that he refused surgery – notably the amputation of his foot which could have saved his life – on his cancer, as Rastafarianism demands that the body be ‘whole’. While Marley was the global face of reggae, acts such as Burning Spear, Toots And The Maytals and Black Uhuru ploughed their own successful furrows. In recent years the genre has splintered into a range of styles, including having a big infl uence on rap and hip-hop. Dub, lover’s rock, roots reggae (generally devoted to Rastafarian themes), dancehall, ragga, reggaeton and reggae fusion all take the basic themes of reggae – the strong bassline, relaxed tempo and offbeat rhythm of the guitars – and carry them beyond existing boundaries.

Such change and development is a characteristic of Jamaican music since the 1960s. Since the fi rst sound systems travelled the island on the backs of trucks and people started tuning in to the American radio stations, reggae has travelled the world, changing, adapting and mutating yet all the while remaining essentially Jamaican. And Jamaicans still do it best – of the six acts nominated for the Best Reggae Album award at the 2009 Grammys, despite the worldwide popularity of the music and the myriad directions in which it has spread, all six nominees were born in Jamaica.