Bunny Wailer Family Asks For A Virtual Candlelight Vigil For The Reggae Legend

The family of reggae star Bunny Wailer is asking his legion of fans worldwide to participate in a virtual candlelight vigil to celebrate the life of the legendary music icon on March 11th during a special ‘Tan A Yu Yard’ nine-night.

“It’s a prayer for Bunny Wailer’s peaceful ascension. We are asking all and sundry to light a white candle, it could be a tea light candle or any white candle of your choosing and pray for Jah B as he traverses to higher ascension into the unknowable world,” Maxine Stowe told DancehallMag.

“He is now in conscious form and radiating a peaceful light free from the denseness of human form. So with this transformation, we assist in his travel with our own light and prayers. May he be received well. As Above So Below.”

In the meantime, Bunny Wailer’s fans can take pics and tag it to the Bunny Wailer IG page.

Nine-Nights, also known as Dead Yard, is a funerary tradition practiced in the Caribbean. It is an extended wake that lasts for several days, with roots in African religious tradition. During this time, friends and family come together to the home of the deceased and share their condolences and memories while singing hymns and eating food together.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to all gatherings of over 10 people and Prime Minister Andrew Holness has placed a ban on funerals and burials for two weeks beginning March 7 through the 22.

The number of total confirmed cases has almost doubled in the first two months of the year in Jamaica. It has risen around fourfold in Cuba, eightfold in Barbados and around tenfold in St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, according to Oxford University’s Our World in Data database.

Jamaica should start receiving its 124,800 doses via the COVAX facility this month, and 1.8 million via the African Medical Supply Platform from April. The island nation received a donation from India of 50,000 vaccine doses recently.

Bunny Wailer died on March 2. The legendary icon, whose real name was Neville Livingston, had an illustrious career that spanned at least seven decades. He was the last surviving member of the original Wailers that included Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

After leaving the Wailers in 1974 after the one true Wailers tour of England and the United States, Bunny embarked on a solo recording career that established him as one of the most compelling voices in reggae. Wailer launched his own label, Solomonic, in the early ’70s, and his 1976 solo debut, Blackheart Man — considered one of reggae’s magnus opuses — set the stage for other masterpieces, such as his next two albums, Protest and Struggle which featured strong Pan African themes.

He is best known internationally for the singles, Pass it On, This Train, I Gotta Keep on Moving, and Fighting Against Conviction. He also wrote and produced Marcia Griffiths pop hit, Electric Boogie.