Poets deliver at Edna Manley

BY BASIL WALTERS Observer staff reporter

Thursday, February 09, 2012

DURING the late 1970s dub poetry emerged in Jamaica. And, much of this spoken words performance was associated with the Jamaica School of Drama where some of its leading pioneers — Oku Onuora, Mikey Smith, Noel 'God Fadda' Walcott and Jean 'Binta' Breeze — had studied.

Last Tuesday evening, Oku returned to the school — now renamed The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts — as the guest performer for the Poetry Society of Jamaica monthly fellowship. The first of its kind for the year, it was dubbed: In The Beginning: The Odyssey of The Demystification of Verse.

"...I am no poet. I am just a voice," was how Oku Onoura (born Orlando Wong) made his appearance.

"I am bilingual. I speak two languages. I speak Jamaican English and Jamaican," he said before getting into his edifying and entertaining stint.

"Right now yuh see me, me nuh perfect. Straight up. Me a soldier, me nuh preacha, me nuh teacha, word bullets, rapid fire style, straight to heart and thought. Poetry can inform people, it can give ideas, it can inflame, it can stir up things... It take more than just poetry to change things, it takes correct political actions to change things," he said.

Onuora then went on to deliver some of the poems he wrote that were still relevant. Standing On Di Corner, Day After Day, Iyah Tell, Pressure Drop, Equal Rights, Justice, The Beat Well Red, Education, and Dawg Heart, were some of the poems he chanted.

"It come in like I have not performed for years. I have done stuff, but this, I feel it," Onuora told the Observer after his performance.

"I am stepping out for a little while. Me a come out with an album, a half-hour documentary, Fire: Oku Onuora Dubbing Away, coming shortly. The album has Monty Alexander, Sly and Robbie. Mi just feel fi talk. A so me stay. From time to time, me wi just chill (take a break). But I feel the need to talk. There is a generation that need to be spoken to and to listen to."

Most of the poets performing before Onuora on that evening represented the current generation. One such is the trio LSX, an acronym for Lynch, Sage and X. The poet calling himself X, in one of his pieces took an amusing swipe at pioneer Mutabaruka.

"We waan see a change in a poetry,

Geh me sum a dis, geh sum a dat,

A 30 year now yuh deh pon top,

Geh we a chance, stop hold we back

Muta a yuh me a chat

Muta a yuh me a chat," he chanted.

When asked what inspired him to write the yet-to-be titled poem, X was just as outspoken as the prominent wordsmith about whom and whose generation he is taking aim at.

"Mi lyrics dem sharp, dem a cut like axe. We nah see nuh transition from the poets of the past to poets of the present. And, even if poets from the past are still present, me waan fi see a transitional link where the youth dem weh a come up inna di thing are encouraged and nurtured and we nah see dat," X said.

Lynch, another member of the group, which has been around since 2004, said that they intend to record this year.

"We did a demo CD with seven tracks about 2007 and we are looking forward to doing a lot more productive work in 2012," he said.

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Poets deliver at Edna Manley