The screening of a one-night-only presentation at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn signals a trifecta next month when British dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson returns to the USA bearing 50 years of gab.
In addition to the fact that LKJ has not performed this side of the Atlantic in almost two decades, the event marks a collaboration with the Atlantic Festival for a showing of his reconditioned documentary and the 50th anniversary of his iconic recording debut, “Dread Beat An Blood.”
The film, directed by Franco Rosso, presents a vividly restored 1978 portrait of the Jamaican trailblazer who migrated to England in 1963 to deliver rhymes and reasons, unveiling wailing commentary on racism and police brutality in the former colonial empire.
With help from the British Film Institute, Rosso converted the original 16mm version to now premiere a brand new tribute to the activist, poet, and reggae artist who used his home-grown music cadence to amplify words and verses of condemnation there.
LKJ was the griot to chant down Babylon; a ‘messenjah’ for migrants and the conscience of proponents of SUS laws, which detained and arrested more than a few deemed suspicious.
In a historic, reconditioned replay, LKJ is captured in his element as he produces and directs the poetry that dubbed him the cultural ambassador of the continent of Europe.
On this anticipated outing, a bonus is promised after the showing when the militant artist takes the stage to recite his words.
LKJ was born in Chapelton, Jamaica, on Aug. 24, 1952.
From his Ghanaian middle name, he arrived on a Sunday in a small rural town in the parish of Clarendon.
Some may surmise the location much too tiny to sustain his ambitions, or maybe his father had bigger plans for the family. Needless to say, by 1963, father and son immigrated to Britain to join a mother who had ventured ahead as part of the Windrush generation.
LKJ paved his course early.
By high school, he had enlisted in the Black Panther Party and earned membership in Rasta Love, a collective of poets and drummers.
“Poetry was a way of expressing the anger and the passion of the youth of my generation in terms of our struggle against racial oppression,” LKJ said.
“Poetry was a cultural weapon in the Black liberation struggle…”
By 1973, his byline frequently appeared under headlines in popular music magazines such as New Musical Express, Melody Maker, and Black Music.
He even worked as a freelance writer for Virgin Records, penning biographies and liner notes of reggae artists signed to the label.
Life seemed tolerable because he was a mere adolescent, and fans clamored for his attention with the Island Records 1980 release of “Bass Culture.”
Collaborating with musician Dennis Bovell, he expressed himself using dub beats to punctuate poetry. Together, they became architects of Black cultural expression and activism.
LKJ spoke truth to power when he penned “Inglan is a Bitch.”
Before that recording, no one had quite described the former colonials with such candid patois.
It was acid.
It was infectious.
And to victims of police brutality, the disenchanted and homesick immigrants, it was a fact.
He did not seem to hold back on revealing the underside of the isle.
LKJ also waxed poetically about “Di Black Petty Booshwah.”
And although his debut had already excoriated “Five Nights of Bleeding,” in an album titled “Dread Beat an Blood” in 1979, “Sonny’s Lettah” resonated as a prescription to avoid visitation to Brixton and Birmingham.
In that poetic correspondence to a mother from a brother, LKJ offered pause to contemplative immigrants, eliciting anger and grief for an undeserved individual.
Gabriele Caroti will curate LKJ’s return engagement on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
For more info, check Atlanticfestival.com
Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ at Delacorte
Tickets are hard to acquire, but Summer would not be the season of classical outdoor feasts without evenings at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
Refurbished and featuring a cast of celebrated thespians, ‘ Twelfth Night‘ offers Shakespearean delight to audiences willing to wait in line for free accessibility.
Log on to their web portal to snag a seat in the landmark theater. Or if you are one of those lucky ones, show up at the box office on any given evening thru Set14. Who knows, William Shakespeare said: “Fortune favors the bold.”
Catch you on the Inside!
