Dub Poetry Essay

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According to Wikipedia.org, Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music consisting of spoken words over reggae rhythms in Jamaica in the 1970s. Dub music grew out of reggae, remixing an existing sound track, the subtracting of the vocals and adding more of the beat, riddim (rhythm), echo and words of substance. Unlike deejaying, which also features the use of the spoken words, the dub poet 's performance is normally prepared, rather than the extemporized chat of the dancehall deejay. In musical setting, the dub poet usually appears on stage with a band performing music specifically written to accompany each poem, rather than simply perform over the top of dub plates, or riddims, in the dancehall …show more content…

In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell. Johnson 's middle name, "Kwesi", is a Ghanaian name that is given to boys who, like Johnson, are born on a Sunday. Most of Johnson 's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-Caribbean in Britain. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. Johnson wrote "Reggae fi Dada" on the death of his father in 1982, blaming social conditions. His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The poems contain graphic accounts of the racist police brutality occurring at the time. Johnson 's poetry makes clever use of the unstandardised transcription of Jamaican patois.
Johnson 's poems first appeared in the journal Race Today, which published his first collection of poetry, Voices of the Living and the Dead, in 1974. Dread Beat An ' Blood, his second collection, was published in 1975 by Bogle-L 'Ouverture, cited

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