Baroque, Folk Music, Intermediate Cellists, Online Purchase, Pop Music
First published on Mar 15, 2026 by Seb
Last updated on Mar 16, 2026 by Seb
Sheku Kanneh-Mason‘s arrangement of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” is a perfect example of the vision we advocate for here at Project BachWroteWhat. Sheku transformed a reggae classic by the reggae legend into a Baroque self-accompanied cello piece. He then performed it with great technique and expression, channeling Marley and breathing reggae soul back into the music. This was released on his debut album Inspiration in 2018, when he was just 19.
The title of this music actually means “Woman, don’t cry”, or “No woman, nuh cry” in Jamaican Patois. The lyrics make this pretty clear. The singer reassures a woman that “Everything’s gonna be alright”, despite present poverty and hardship. Here is Marley’s 1974 release.
Sheet music for Sheku’s arrangement is one of 14 cello pieces included in the first cello sheet music collection he released: The Sheku Kanneh-Mason Cello Collection. It’s widely available, including at Southwest Strings and at Presto Music. In this collection you’ll find 6 self-accompanied pieces. The rest are cello/piano arrangements.
You may be puzzled by the sheet music attributing “words and music by Vincent Ford”. Vincent was Marley’s childhood friend who once saved him from starvation. Bob Marley officially credited the song to Vincent so that royalty payments could keep his soup kitchen open, at the same “government yard in Trenchtown” mentioned in the lyrics.
Sheku transposed the song from its original C major to D major. This allows a cellist to incorporate abundant octave harmonics from the A, D, and G strings on the melody line with ease. At the same time, open D and G strings often serve as grace notes to provide easy bass line support. Chords D, A, Bm, and G can be played comfortably in support of the melody without disrupting its flow. While no longer accented in Sheku’s later performances, the A2-to-D2 glissando with vibrato as written on the sheet music can sound sublime.
Here is a studio recording of this arrangement.
The next one is a version recorded at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert.
Lastly, there is a full documentary about the Marley family. You will find the first part of “No Woman, No Cry” featured at time 16:17.