www.traversepoetry.org
Dub poetry
My mate Raf has enlisted my help in rounding up some poets for a dub poetry event, happening 14 March at The Front. I’ve always wanted to find out more about dub poetry so I took this opportunity to do a bit of research.
I found a good definition on Geoffrey Philp’s blog (which I encourage you to visit and check out the example poems):
The origins of dub poetry begin somewhere between the dancehalls of Kingston and London and the work of poets such as Kamau Brathwaite. Unlike traditional poetry, dub poetry emphasizes sound (repetition, rhyme, and word play) rather than sense (imagery, metaphor, simile) to convey themes of social (in)justice. Besides the subtle racism and class warfare that greeted their work, the earliest pioneers of dub poetry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Oku Onoura, Benjamin Zephaniah, Malachi Smith, Mutabaruka, and Mikey Smith, confronted resistance, especially in Jamaica, because it was thought that sense (imagery, metaphor, simile) was sacrificed to sound. However, in the best dub poetry there is a fusion of sound and sense that is emotionally stirring, and many who have been trained to mistrust their emotions often find these sensations uncomfortable. At its worst, there’s a monotonous obedience to sound that produces the same effect as poems that rely only on sense—boredom in the audience. In many ways, dub poetry resembles the chanting style of dancehall deejays, but whereas the deejay is bound to the riddim track, the dub poet experiments with words/sounds (almost like a jazz musician) and transcription to the page aims at reproducing the effect of the beat.
I also found a few videos that are pretty impressive (well, the poems are – the recordings: less so). First up: Oku Onuora. This is a very short but good example. I presume the piece he’s performing is ‘Wi a Come’.
Next: Lillian Allen’s ‘Riddim an’ Hardtimes’ (jump ahead two minutes to get the uninterrupted full piece) unfortunately you don’t get to see Allen in action but at least the sound is reasonably clear:
One last poem for now: Linton Kwesi Johnson’s ‘Inglan is a Bitch’. I would have liked to include a musical version, but the rhythm is so strong in this piece I think it stands very well on its own.
Hopefully this is has sufficiently piqued your interest to come and check out the RockSteady event:
RockSteady! *Dub Poetry/Spoken Word Special*
14 March 2:00pm-8:00pm
The Front Gallery and Café
Wattle St, Lyneham
Raf asked me to try and round up some performers, so if you want to the chance to perform your poetry at the event (with a DJ and drummer!) please let him or Joshua know:
Rafael Florez: crimson_robe AT yahoo DOT com
Joshua James: hal9000 AT goodfootpromotions DOT com
Malcolm
March 11th, 2010 at 9:51 pm #
No thanks! That’s not my kind of poetry at all. It looks to me as if it’s suited to rebellious young men. Good on ‘em. But I am a lover of more conventional poetry.
jools
March 13th, 2010 at 4:54 pm #
Interesting. Would you describe your poetry as ‘conventional’? Is any poetry ‘conventional’?