First Annual Dub Poetry Day On Eglinton West

 

*Click on images to enlarge*

In the intimate confines of Studio M, promoter Masani Montague's Eglinton West enclave, a gathering of Caribbean cultural caretakers convened on the last day of April to celebrate the seventh Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto, Dr. Lillian Allen.

Prominent guests such as singer Jay Douglas (right) and activist Dewitt Lee, chairman of The Poetic Justice Society, who organized this event, shared fond anecdotes of her legacy and her guidance with De Dub Poets, a trio of poetic outsiders who brought the spoken word to music venues in the late seventies and eighties, in Toronto and across Canada.

Along with playwright Devon Haughton and M.C. / raconteur Clifton Joseph, the three released an E.P. of their poetry accompanied by members of T.O.'s reggae community scions, Truths & Rights and Le Dub Sac in 1983.

Although it was refused recognition by the City of Toronto, Dub Poetry Day is meant to highlight the historical significance of Toronto's "Little Jamaica" neighbourhood in the international Dub Poetry movement that also emerged elsewhere, with Oku Onuwara

and Mutabaruka taking leadership roles in Jamaica along with Linton Kwesi Johnson and Benjamin Zephaniah in the U.K. Over the sound of dub, a unique and largely instrumental offshoot of reggae music, full of echo, reverb and mournful horns, poets began speaking out on behalf of the poor and downtrodden with an articulate vengeance.

Masani Montague and her daughter Jem (above)

At popular Queen Street clubs such as the Bamboo, The Cameron House and The Rivoli, and in basements and storefronts from Spadina to Scarborough, De Dub Poets, along with similarly-aligned artists, such as Ishaka, Ahdri Zhina Mandela and Donna Makeda, would evoke new ethical standards and call for action, often accompanied by live reggae from the bands that abounded in the city at that time.

As unified international resistance movements began to subside, and conscious rap music began to demand attention from the youth, the movement lost its media prominence. Lillian Allen won two Junos, Clifton Joseph became well-known on TVO and the CBC and for his audacious live hosting skills, and just recently released a collection of dub and jazz based poetry entitled Shots On Eglinton, while Devon Haughton has created a television series, Lufalo Rising, that is currently winning awards everywhere.

 To see them reunited - and still raging - at an event that promotes their well-considered history with a vanishing-but-still-vital art form reminds us that, as Dewitt Lee made us chant out loud, "Poetry is not a luxury, poetry is a necessity."

L. to R.: Elle de Lyon, Program Director of RISE Edutainment, Jay Douglas, Masani Montague, (?) Jill Andrew (NDP-Toronto-St. Paul's), Lillian Allen, Dewitt Lee (rear), Devon Haughton, Clifton Joseph, Jammal Augustine and DJ Mike Stoan with National Poetry Month Literacy Awards.