Linton Kwesi Johnson
Encyclopedia
Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952, Chapelton
, Jamaica) is a UK-based dub poet
. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics
series. His 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
. His middle name 'Kwesi' is Ghanaian.
Johnson studied for a degree in sociology
at Goldsmiths College
in New Cross
, London (graduating in 1973), which currently holds his personal papers in its archives; in 2004 he became an Honorary Visiting Professor of Middlesex University
in London. In 2005 he was awarded a silver Musgrave medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry.
While still at school he joined the British Black Panther
Movement, helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.
in Britain, "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon...", he told an interviewer in 2008. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy or the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach
. His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
. The poems contain graphic accounts of the alleged racist police brutality occurring at the time (cf. Sonny's Lettah). 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.
A collection of his poems has been published as Mi Revalueshanary Fren by Penguin Modern Classics. Johnson is one of only three poets to be published by Penguin Modern Classics while still alive.
, and Black Music in the 1970s, and served as writer in residence for the London Borough of Lambeth
.
, Forces of Victory
, Bass Culture
and Making History. Across these albums are spread classics of the dub poetry school of performance – and, indeed, of reggae itself – such as "Dread Beat An' Blood", "Sonny's Lettah", "Inglan Is A Bitch", "Independent Intavenshan" and "All Wi Doin Is Defendin".
His poem Di Great Insohreckshan is his response to the 1981 Brixton riots. The work was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 program in 2007.
Johnson's work, allied to the Jamaican "toasting" tradition, is regarded as an essential precursor of rap
.
Johnson's record label LKJ Records is home to other reggae artists, some of whom made up The Dub Band, with whom Johnson mostly recorded, and other Dub Poets, such as Jean "Binta" Breeze. Past releases on the label include recordings by Mikey Smith
.
Of late, Johnson has only performed live on an intermittent basis, perhaps as a result of modern reggae's shift towards the more spontaneous and rapid-fire performers of ragga
or dancehall
.
Chapelton, Jamaica
Chapelton is a market town in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica and the former parish capital.-Name:According to a long time resident:-Amenities:*Clarendon College, secondary school.*Clarendon Hospital, built c1903, now a community Type 3 hospital.*....
, Jamaica) is a UK-based dub poet
Dub poetry
Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music consisting of spoken word over reggae rhythms in Jamaica in the 1970s....
. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer. He was a member of the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym 'Blackbeard'....
. His middle name 'Kwesi' is Ghanaian.
Johnson studied for a degree in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom which specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1891 as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute...
in New Cross
New Cross
New Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich...
, London (graduating in 1973), which currently holds his personal papers in its archives; in 2004 he became an Honorary Visiting Professor of Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
in London. In 2005 he was awarded a silver Musgrave medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry.
While still at school he joined the British Black Panther
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
Movement, helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.
Poetry
Most of Johnson's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-CaribbeanBritish African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
in Britain, "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon...", he told an interviewer in 2008. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy or the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach
Blair Peach
Clement Blair Peach was a New Zealand-born teacher who was fatally assaulted by a police officer during an anti-racism demonstration in London, England....
. His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. The poems contain graphic accounts of the alleged racist police brutality occurring at the time (cf. Sonny's Lettah). Johnson's poetry makes clever use of the unstandardised transcription of Jamaican Patois.
Johnson's poems first appeared in the journal Race Today
Race Today
Race Today was a monthly British political magazine. Launched in 1969 by the Institute of Race Relations, it was from 1973 published by the Race Today Collective, which included figures such as Darcus Howe, Farrukh Dhondy and Linton Kwesi Johnson...
, 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.
A collection of his poems has been published as Mi Revalueshanary Fren by Penguin Modern Classics. Johnson is one of only three poets to be published by Penguin Modern Classics while still alive.
Other writing
Johnson wrote for New Musical Express, Melody MakerMelody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, and Black Music in the 1970s, and served as writer in residence for the London Borough of Lambeth
London Borough of Lambeth
The London Borough of Lambeth is a London borough in south London, England and forms part of Inner London. The local authority is Lambeth London Borough Council.-Origins:...
.
Music
Johnson's best-known albums include his debut Dread Beat an' BloodDread Beat an' Blood
Dread Beat an' Blood is an album by Poet And The Roots released in 1978 on the Frontline label. It was produced by Vivian Weathers and Linton Kwesi Johnson. The Poet is dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson and The Roots are Dennis Bovell, Jah Bunny, Desmond Craig, Winston Curniffe, Everald Forrest, Floyd...
, Forces of Victory
Forces of Victory
Forces of Victory is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1979 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell .-Track listing:All tracks by Linton Kwesi Johnson...
, Bass Culture
Bass Culture
Bass Culture is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell ....
and Making History. Across these albums are spread classics of the dub poetry school of performance – and, indeed, of reggae itself – such as "Dread Beat An' Blood", "Sonny's Lettah", "Inglan Is A Bitch", "Independent Intavenshan" and "All Wi Doin Is Defendin".
His poem Di Great Insohreckshan is his response to the 1981 Brixton riots. The work was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 program in 2007.
Johnson's work, allied to the Jamaican "toasting" tradition, is regarded as an essential precursor of rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
.
Johnson's record label LKJ Records is home to other reggae artists, some of whom made up The Dub Band, with whom Johnson mostly recorded, and other Dub Poets, such as Jean "Binta" Breeze. Past releases on the label include recordings by Mikey Smith
Mikey Smith
Michael Smith, usually referred to as Mikey Smith , was a Jamaican dub poet. Along with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Mutabaruka, he was one of the most well-known dub poets. In 1978, Michael Smith represented Jamaica at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba. His album Mi Cyaan Believe...
.
Of late, Johnson has only performed live on an intermittent basis, perhaps as a result of modern reggae's shift towards the more spontaneous and rapid-fire performers of ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
or dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
.
Discography
- Live in Paris with the Dennis Bovell Dub Band – Wrasse, 2004 .
- Live in Paris – Wrasse, 2004.
- Straight to Inglan's Head – Universal, 2003 (Compilation).
- LKJ in Dub: Volume 3 – LKJ Records, 2002.
- Independent Intavenshan – Island, 1998 (Compilation).
- More Time – LKJ Records, 1999.
- A Cappella LiveA Cappella LiveA Cappella Live is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1996 on the LKJ Records label. LKJ performs all the track, recorded at various venues in 1993 and 1994, without any accompaniment.-Track listing:-Recording:...
– LKJ Records, 1996. - LKJ Presents – LKJ Records, 1996.
- LKJ in Dub: Volume 2 – LKJ Records, 1992.
- Tings An' Times – LKJ Records, 1991.
- Dub Poetry – Mango, 1985 (Compilation).
- LKJ Live in Concert with the Dub Band – LKJ Records, 1985.
- Reggae Greats – Mango, 1984.
- Making History – Island, 1983.
- LKJ in DubLKJ in DubLKJ in Dub is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell...
– Island, 1980. - The Best of Linton Kwesi Johnson – Epic, 1980 (Compilation).
- Bass CultureBass CultureBass Culture is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell ....
– Island, 1980. - Forces of VictoryForces of VictoryForces of Victory is an album by dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1979 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell .-Track listing:All tracks by Linton Kwesi Johnson...
– Island, 1979. - Dread Beat an' BloodDread Beat an' BloodDread Beat an' Blood is an album by Poet And The Roots released in 1978 on the Frontline label. It was produced by Vivian Weathers and Linton Kwesi Johnson. The Poet is dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson and The Roots are Dennis Bovell, Jah Bunny, Desmond Craig, Winston Curniffe, Everald Forrest, Floyd...
– Virgin, 1978. (As Poet And The RootsPoet And The RootsPoet and the Roots are a reggae band formed to record dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's poems with dub reggae backing tracks.Johnson released his later material under his own name, although some of the musicians from this group appeared on his subsequent albums....
.)
External links
- LKJ Records – News, releases, tour dates, etc.
- http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/linton-kwesi-johnson.html includes a “Critical Perspective” section
- Spike Magazine Interview
- Interview with Graham Brown-Martin for Trace Magazine
- Interview with Yuri Prasad in Socialist Review (2002)