- Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Jean 'Binta' Breeze.
Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
IT IS a Sunday afternoon and in a few short hours Jean 'Binta' Breeze will be stepping on to the stage of the Diamond Theatre, where she was a part of the production What A Gwaan, which recently ended its Montego Bay run.
She greets us with a broad smile and quickly admits that it is a good day because her eldest child, Gareth Breese, captain of the Jamaican cricket team, is doing well in the Carib Beer Cup match against Guyana.
Jean Breeze is one of the foundation forces behind dub poetry. The female voice among the manly dubs of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Oku Onuora, and Mickey Smith, Breeze's voice rose to prominence in the 1970s.
Her first collection of poetry Riddim Ravings, with 'The Madwoman's Poem' at its centre, was published in 1988. Since then, Breeze has published four collections: Spring Cleaning Poems (1992), On The Edge of an Island (1997), Song Lines (1997) and The Arrival of Bright Eye and Other Poems (2000). Her repertoire also includes audio recordings and the film script for Hallelujah Any How, which aired on BBC2.
Her involvement in the comedy revue What A Gwaan is not the reason that the writer and performer was in the island for an extended period. After publishing four collections of poetry, she is currently engaged in research for her first novel. Her work is being facilitated by a 53,650-pound sterling two-year fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for Science Technology and The Arts, (NESTA) a United Kingdom organisation.
As we talk she is sipping on a Red Bull and smoking a cigarette, lounging easily. Having had a performing career which dates back to her youth, she has evidently long grown comfortable with interviews. Breeze explained that she got involved with What A Gwaan because of her long-time friendship with its director, Owen 'Blacka' Ellis.
Indeed, Ellis is the one who dubbed her with the name Binta, while the two were at the School of Drama during the late 1970s.
She notes that at the time she was told that the name meant "close to the heart", but during her travels has discovered several other meanings including prostitute. One of her favourite meanings is 'a little bag'. "I like the idea of a little bag that you throw over your shoulder because I travel light," she says.
Ellis explained that he had given her the name because it was a reflection of her role as frank but sensitive advisor when they were at The School of Drama. "I think she's a very beautiful person who gives so much of herself to everything she does," he says.
The mother of three has had to do a lot of travelling in her career as she works out of London, though she continues to live in Hanover for the greater part of the year. Her work has taken her to South America, Africa, Singapore and several countries in Europe and generally keeps her off the island for five months of the year.
She explained that as a child her readings had taken her on many travels but that she never imagined that she would grow up to be well-travelled. Breeze explained the awe that filled her upon her visit to Africa. "It was just so huge that I realised for the first time that I'm an island girl," she said.
Her writing reflects a very Jamaican sensibility. She explains that for her, writing is not a craft but a way of being. "After 30 years I have no formula for writing. Words are still magic," she says. "I breathe and I breathe in where I am and who I'm with."
She notes, however, that she has written a self-portrait, Dreamer:
Round a Rocky Corner by the sea
Seated upon driftwood you can find she
Gazin cross the waters
A stick in her hand
Trying to trace a future in the sand
The image reflected in Dreamer, she explains, is where she escapes to when she is writing, regardless of where she is at the time.
Despite the political nature of her poetry, whether personal or global politics, Breeze has not grown bitter, not even about love. She explains that none of her relationships have left her embittered, so she has a very good outlook toward love. "I've just been in love a lot of times and I've broken up a lot of times," she says. "I'm always willing to fall in love again," she says.
"I find it's a wonderful energy, being in love. I hope that I never become bitter or cynical."
Breeze explains that cynicism has been kept at bay because of her outlook. "I think it comes from a political view that says people need to be able to make their own mistakes," she said.
Though her issues vary from the Jamaican experience to the immigrant's experience in London, Breeze's works are acutely Jamaican and female.
"I travel with my own piece of ground and it is Jamaican," Breeze explains, pointing out that she was first pointed toward home by Kamau Brathwaite on her first day at the School of Drama.
This direction has worked wonderfully for her, though despite her long years as a writer Breeze admits to having found no formula to make the process easier.
"Writing comes from a very vulnerable place in me and I'm not comfortable there all the time," she says. "Writing is not easy for me. I am very comfortable performing, but the writing in itself is what leaves me vulnerable, hence I'm not prolific."
For her, words remain a magical thing.
