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- Journalist Anne-Sophie Jahn recounts the love story between the daughter of Gabonese President Omar Bongo, a 23-year-old student, and planetary superstar Bob Marley. © editions grasset
But, Pascaline, darling daughter of her almighty father, is not used to being put off. Tall and sculptural, she looks the superstar straight in the eye for a moment, dumbfounded, then bursts out laughing. It is because she has relaxed hair, or for the Rastafarians, her hair is sacred, it must not be cut or combed … Pascaline then suggests to Bob to give a concert in Gabon, for the birthday of his father. The singer has never performed in Africa. He answers “yes” to his invitation. Thus begins the great love story, the last of his life, long kept secret, between Pascaline and him. A passion that crystallizes the history of decolonization, of the Rasta religion, of the trauma of slavery.
« It is impossible to forget the first glance at a loved one, the first impression he made on us, the first time his presence pressed against ours left a mark there. Forty years after the meeting between Pascaline Bongo and Bob Marley in the locker room of the Pauley Pavilion at the University of California at Los Angeles (Ucla), I imagine what she went through. Anne-Sophie Jahn investigated for many months and collected the unpublished testimony of Pascaline Bongo. His personal story mixes scenes and confidences, solos and crowds in a trance, in a free, burning, desirable tone.
Bob Marley, the reggaeman and the daughter of Omar Bongo! It hits like a headline in a celebrity newspaper. However, from the pen of the journalist Anne-Sophie Jahn, it is indeed a love story in question, born of the improbable meeting between the planetary superstar and the daughter of… Liaison never formalized, ” not hidden but not public », Coming up against the realities of Gabon at the time and relations between Jamaicans and Africa at the time. Pascaline Bongo loved, lived this love, embedded in the very complicated sentimental life of the most famous rastafarian in the world; very short story since his idol has only seventeen months to live when they meet. The fruit of her two-year investigation through the prism of Omar Bongo’s daughter, Anne-Sophie Jahn brings to life the Rastafarian icon, who left too early at the age of 36, in a captivating book.
Mireille SANCHEZ
“Bob Marley and the Dictator’s Daughter” by Anne-Sophie Jahn published by Éditions Grasset. 224 pages. 20 €
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