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ON STAGE: Performers spin their own version of Marley's classics

AN EAGERLY anticipated concert celebrating 40 years of Bob Marley’s seminal album Catch A Fire takes place next weekend.

The show, named after the famous album title, goes ahead on Saturday, July 13, at central London’s Royal Festival Hall.

It will feature acts such as Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Urban Soul Orchestra, Brinsley Forde, and there is also a 240-person strong choir.

The event is the brainchild of Gary Crosby, a double bassist and band-leader of the orchestra that interpreted Marley’s songs to sell-out crowds at the Southbank Centre last year.

Marley’s Catch A Fire was originally released in 1973 and established the reggae singer and The Wailers as Jamaica’s first true global superstars.

The music significantly expanded the appeal of reggae, and listeners more accustomed to rock began to hear the socially aware lyrics and expressions of freedom in Marley’s songs.

ORCHESTRAL: Catch A Fire like you've never it before

Next weekend’s show aims to build on that appeal by taking the original reggae tunes and adding jazz and orchestral twists – audiences will get to hear Marley in a unique way.

2012’s show, which coincided with Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence, received critical acclaim.

Kevin LeGendre, writing in Echoes Magazine: said: “[It] expanded palette serves a dual purpose – to show the absolute richness of the melodies penned by Marley and Peter Tosh and to push their harmonic implications into logical and unforeseen places.

“While double bassist/bandleader Gary Crosby and drummer Rod Youngs nail the offbeat down pat, Jason Yarde's arrangements are imperious. His blend of full-bodied, singing motifs and stark, flinty interludes, particularly for the strings, captures and bolsters the melancholia and menace of the source material”.

For further information and tickets, visit: http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/catch-a-fire-77088?dt=2013-07-13