By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
I HAVE been having a growing sense of disappointment in dub poetry. Far too many of the poets passing themselves off as dub poets seem to really be unimaginative persons stuck in single rhythm, who sacrifice substance for noise.
As such, it was with great pleasure that I received a copy of Malachi's Middle Passage. This CD restores my faith in dub poetry.
The work is an example of balance. When the poetry gets strong, it is very strong, but likewise, when it is weak, it's very weak. Fortunately, the stronger poems more than make up for the weaker ones included.
'Dreamer' is easily the most remarkable work on the CD. It speaks to the violence and decay gripping today's society. Of course, that is nothing new and has been dealt with by many writers. However, Malachi's expression and creation of imagery is quite distinctive and vivid, adding something interesting to a tale that has been often told.
In speaking about the increasingly violent nature of the young, Malachi mixes the increase in air pollution with the abuse reaching the young which helps to make them the violent creatures they have become:
"The scorched child lashes out in pain in the silence of the jungle/
he reaches for the embrace of his gun talk to it and fire a round at tomorrow."
The poem makes you celebrate the creation of the repeat button on the CD player, because it is the kind or work that you need to hear again and again.
SOOTHING THE MIND
'Dreamer' is one of the few pieces done without music. The poem deserves this silence so that the words can sink into the mind, unfettered by alien rhythms.
Another poem which celebrates the power of dub poetry is 'This Blue Morning'. There are three versions of 'This Blue Morning' in the collection, and deservedly so (at least the first two versions).
The third version of 'This Blue Morning' is the dub version, so it contains only the poems refrain. The first version is done to a reggae rhythm while the second is an extended a capella version.
Interestingly, the first and second versions are rather different, more so because of the added words than the absence of music. The extra lines change the poem from one which seeks to find the answers to life's trials to one which believes that no answers are to be found.
The poem is vivid with captivating word use. In this poem the person has left out on a journey to "si down face to face and have a brain to brain talk with Massa God." Along the journey he sees everything that is wrong with the world, but all his cries for help go unanswered. It is a wonderfully imagined piece.
'Bob and Peter' is also one of the strong pieces on Middle Passage. Speaking to the deaths and contributions of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, the poem creates a romanticised notion of both reggae revolutionary icons. Despite the idealism the poem contains the classic line, "As a blood-splattered moon cried the day Peter Wailer died," which makes up for everything.
Some of the poems have strong moments, though the overall work is not particularly striking. 'Driver' and 'One Way' make up this category. I find 'Victor' to be a beautiful piece of work displaying great language use to create interesting images, mixing in allusions to the Black Power Movement, and John Coltrane.
