Friday 30 November 2007

Performance Poets 2 - Linton Kwesi Johnson

The original Dub poet whose first album appeared in 1973 with LKJ reciting his poems in Jamaican creole over dub reggae music.

Initially his poems were highly political reflecting the problems that faced Afro Caribbeans in England in the seventies. I bought several of his early releases before losing track of his work in the eighties.

Always liked the rhythm of his words and especially their juxtaposition with some very fine dub reggae.

So here are some clips, starting with It Dread Inna Inglan from his first album.

Then we have If I Was a Top Notch Poet which is a more recent work.

Finally the title track of his first album Dread Beat An’ Blood, shot in Paris with some fine reggae going on in the background.

2 comments:

Sezme said...

When I saw the name, I thought it looked familiar. Then, when I listened to Dread Inna Inglan, I was convinced I'd studied that rhythym. I took a British lit class in which the professor required we read Afro-Carib'n work. I remember her trying to get us to get the rhythm. I think we may have read one of his poems. The name just sounds so familiar to me.

DBA Dude said...

rt, Probably was him if the name sounds familiar.

The other two contenders would be Benjamin Zephaniah (having trouble tracking down his early work online) or Michael Smith.