- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Dub poet Mutabaruka signs a copy of the book at its launch at Sangster's Book Stores, Sovereign Centre, Liguanea, on Saturday. Publisher Paul Issa looks on.
Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor
DEARS, THE invites are out, and the buzz of high society this week is all about the much-anticipated Texan shindig, at the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club, next Saturday.
For this weekend, however, its all about the Piscean birthday shindig, over there in Mammee Bay, as high society plans on taking that north coast resort community by storm and then some, for the birthday do of one of Kingston's ruling social empress!
And, luvs, it promises to be all that and then some, so wait for it!
BIRTHDAYS
And speaking of birthdays, dears, the fabulous Janet Farrow celebrates her special day tomorrow; as will Joan Clarke Ford, who will be blowing out the candles on her cake over there in the Big Apple as she, too, celebrates her birthday.
Well, come Sunday, social denizen Thalia Lyn will blow out the candles on her cake at one fabulous shindig, so wait for it!
Last week, however, the lovely Shirley McCarthy-Harrison (Kettle to her friends) celebrated her birthday, just a day after celebrating her wedding anniversary with hubby George Harrison, with a special north coast outing.
Belated birthday wishes to Lady B, who had her special day on March 8 and Lily Scherer, who celebrated her day on Wednesday. Special champagne wishes to Harriet Huber, who will toast a new year on the 15th.
BUNDLE OF JOY
And then, the 'Stork' is expected to deliver a little bundle of joy to British High Commission, Third Secretary, Mark Waller, and his companion, the lovely Wendy McMinn, also of the British High Commission, any day now.
And it was a boy for Stephen Robertson and wife Diane Legere-Robertson.
Many happy returns, y'all!
Brian Sang is in from Barbados, to bury his father.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the late and much admired Dr. Napoleon Ochoa said their goodbyes to him yesterday.
Novia MacDonald-Whyte laid her mom to rest only a few weeks earlier. Heartfelt condolences all around.
His poetry was once at the vanguard of the anti-apartheid struggle, and the worldwide movement to free the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, from his apartheid cell, and his fellow South Africans, from the oppressive yolk of apartheid.
The same poetry gave voice to the poor and dispossessed emerging middle-class blacks, feeling trampled upon by a system and social order that seemingly relegated them to the role of serfs, yet accommodating of and promoting the mediocrity of their intellectual inferiors, who were of a lighter pigmentation.
That his poetry was regarded as confrontational was no surprise at all, as there were those who thought it not poetry at all, but the ranting and ravings of yet another political and social misfit, who never knew how good he had it, and was using his so-called poetry to ferment discord.
CONFRONTATIONAL
To be sure, the style was somewhat confrontational in its delivery, and with his flowing dreadlock mane, framing his distinctly African features, Mutabaruka was not only regarded as highly suspect, ganja-smoking member of the polloi, by the ruling classes, the new art form he was helping to pioneer dub poetry equally suspect, his style and preferred mode of deportment, becoming the very bane of their existence!
Now, if Mutabaruka was the bane of the lighter-skinned ruling politburo, he was the devil incarnate to some members of the emerging black bourgeoisie, who saw in him and his poetry, all that they would dearly like to forget, as his barefooted presence, and anti-establishment 'rhetoric' was cutting it way too close to home for comfort. After all, they had put their blackness behind them and had quite comfortably assimilated themselves into the way of life of their 'betters', now how dare he remind them of who they are and where they were coming from!
CAPITALISM VERSUS SOCIALISM
And so, Mutabaruka and his poetry were relegated to the sub-cultural, fringe element even, and not regarded at all as a meaningful and essential part of the emerging dialogue of a period dominated and polarised by the vocabulary of capitalism versus socialism and communism.
To be sure, Mutabaruka had his fans and admirers. And these were to be found from within all strata of the Jamaican society and the world at large. But even more importantly, that Mutabaruka and his dub poetry were relegated to the sub-cultural underground and regarded as a non-event was its surest sign of its international and mainstream appeal, as indeed, mainstream culture here and elsewhere has the uncanny habit of having its genesis and energy in the depths of the ghetto and experiences of the underclass and not on the verandahs and or dinner tables of the self-appointed custodes of 'our culture'!
Now, Mutabaruka and his art form have not only survived, they have gone on to influence other emerging art forms and musical styles the world over, and in this speak to the universal nature and appeal of the content of his dub-poetry. That, he, too has parlayed this new art form into an internationally recognised and accepted 'legitimate' artistic expression, has not only confounded his detractors, in attaining iconic status along the way, still causes those surviving detractors to stew in consternation.
It's been decades since Mutabaruka, the dub poet and black consciousness and human rights advocate, first emerged on the social and political radar, and the world has undergone several social and political upheavals since then. And even though some of the causes and topics championed by the young dub poet are no longer dominating social and or political issues, Mutabaruka's dub poetry still resonates with the oppressed and the voiceless universally, whether they be the voiceless undereducated white youth in the urban ghettos of North America or Europe, or the barely educated black people of the slums of Africa and or the African diaspora.
Not unlike Bob Marley, with his natural mystic music, Mutabaruka and his dub poetry are not only a call for introspection and self-liberating actions, but also serves as an all embracing bosom for those seeking refuge from the drudgery of social, economic and political hopelessness!
Now decades into his lyrical revolution, Mutabaruka has evolved into the great 'dub poet laureate' of his genre and an elder disciple of Rastafari. It is at this juncture of his evolution that his work now takes on a new mode of communication, as with the timely intervention of long-time friend Paul Issa, who dons the hat of publisher, a double tome of the works of Mutabaruka, dubbed in one part The First Poems, and in another manifestation The Next Poems, has now added another printed literary collection to the growing medium offering his work to the interested.
POEMS
And dears, Mutabaruka, The First Poems and The Next Poems, are a treat, offering, the first published works of the dub poet that was first printed in early 1980s, and his latest works, in a double-faced reversible tome.
Launched at an official book signing outing last Saturday afternoon, over there at the Sangster's Book Stores, in the trendy Sovereign Plaza, Liguanea, the affair was classical 'Baruka'.
Getting off a tad behind the 3:00 p.m. starting time, for the many who gathered, and milled about the Sangster's Book Stores, the little wait was worth its weight in literary gold, as with Publisher Paul Issa, welcoming guests and introducing guest speaker Professor Barry Chevannes, and with space at a premium, none was prepared to miss the event.
And so, guests not only queued, but packed into the bookstore, for the launch, and with passersby also determined to share in the moment, there was no mistaking the air of reverence and esteem in which the dub poet is held by some.
Introductions and felicitations out of the way, the master himself took the podium, and gave his audience glimpses of his earthy brilliance, his prose that more commanding by the imposing stature his robed figure cast on those gathered in his honour.
Those out, included: companion to the dub poet Empress, Jackie Amber OlaBisi; his former empress Yvonne Hope, of Ashanti Oasis, (Hope Gardens); Publisher Paul Issa, his wife Oriente and their son young Noah Issa, co-founder and DJ of Amplifide Sounds; Honorary Consul of Iceland, Robert MacMillan; Honorary Consul of Slovakia Christopher Issa; Professor Mervyn Morris: Professor Carolyn Cooper; Lennie Little-White; Paula Lewellyn; Dr. and Mrs. Leachim Semaj; Charles Campbell; Johanna Hart; Munair Zacca; Sarah Manley; Evah Gordon; Cherry Natural; Dennis Lee; Elizabeth Wilson; Stafford 'Ashani' Harrison; Velma Pollard; Melissa Gordon; Martin Harriott; and Stephanie Jackson-Lodge, Myrtha Desulme plus several others.
Dears, it was quite a refreshing outing, and wonderfully so!
