成人快手

Dr. Eric Doumerc is conducting an ongoing research of the Caribbean oral traditions' influence on Black British performance poetry. His main interests include the study of Jamaican deejaying (the early 1970s period) and its influence on oral poetry.

In Birmingham he interviews five poets with Caribbean and other international links. In the book are the responses and poetry of Sue Brown, Moqapi Selassie, Leon Blades, Martin Glynn and Roi Kwabena, all poets living in this vibrant British city. Dr Doumerc tells us about Five Birmingham Poets:

The West Indian presence in Brum dates back at least to the 1950s when many immigrants from Jamaica and other then-British islands in the Caribbean came over to rebuild the economy, work in the NHS and on the local buses.

Five Birmingham Poets

Black British

In the 1970s, these immigrants鈥� children, the new Black British generation, made their voices heard through reggae and sound-system culture, and one of the local reggae bands, Steel Pulse, from Handsworth, went on to achieve considerable success all over the world. The other Birmingham-based reggae band that made it internationally is of course UB40, today considered as reggae ambassadors.

So West Indian culture has always been a massive presence in Birmingham, but its local black poetry scene is not as well known as its vibrant music scene.听 A new book attempts to draw attention to that little-known scene.

The book is entitled Five Birmingham Poets and is made up of interviews with and poems by five Birmingham-based performance poets of Afro-Caribbean parentage: Leon Blades, Sue Brown, Martin Glynn, Roi Kwabena and Moqapi Selassie.

Caribbean

These writers represent various facets of the Caribbean oral tradition which includes songs, proverbs, riddles, religious hymns, mento,听reggae and calypso tunes, but are also Black British poets.

Indeed, Sue Brown, Martin Glynn, Moqapi Selassie were born and raised in Britain while Leon Blades and Roi Kwabena came to this country in the 1960s and 1980s respectively and have been living in Britain long enough to be considered as British.

Dialect

The Caribbean oral tradition is probably most visible in Moqapi Selassie鈥檚 and Roi Kwabena鈥檚 pieces, with their debt to听reggae and calypso respectively, and their use of dialect.

Birmingham Dub poet Moqapi Selassie

Moqapi Selassie

In 'Respeck Due', a poem he wrote many years ago and that he uses at the beginning of his performances, Moqapi Selassie pays tribute to the late Louise Bennett (1919-2006), the great Jamaican poet who pioneered the use of dialect poetry in the Caribbean:

Louise Bennett
Shi cum fram Jahmayka
Tuh all de dub poets
Shi ah de predecessah
No, mi wudn鈥檛 wrang
Fi call har de godmuddah
Coz a shi pave de way
An nuff ones follah ahftah (鈥淩especk Due鈥�)

Moqapi鈥檚 'Confidence' is a morale-boosting piece and bears the imprint of the Jamaican deejaying tradition:

If yuh
doin anyting
now it nuh
mek nuh sense
if innah fe
yuhself yuh
nuh ahv nuh
confidence
yuh 鈥榚ad
cuddah full up
ov intelligence
yuh cuddah ahv
charm
personality
an eloquence
(excerpt from 鈥淐onfidence鈥�)

Roi Kwabena

Roi Kwabena

Roi Kwabena鈥檚 'As is Oui' reads or sounds like a calypso and celebrates the power of Trinidadian popular culture and 鈥渕as鈥�, while his 'Birmingham 鈥� Capital of Culture', written when he was Poet Laureate for Britain鈥檚 second largest city in 2001-2202,听 celebrates the many riches听and the multicultural nature of Brum:

cuisines galore
carnivals in the shadow of public art
an entire district dedicated to balti
Lunar society of scientific enquiry
Aston hall where royalty dined
Abolitionists, friends and metal smiths
confer as harvested chocolate is still prepared
sporting arenas and automobile engines fine tuned
(excerpt from 鈥淏irmingham 鈥揅apital of Culture鈥�)

Leon Blades

Leon Blades

Caribbean culture features prominently in Leon Blades鈥� poems and his 鈥淭ribute鈥� to the Baptists of his native Trinidad is a reminder of the importance of religion in people鈥檚 daily lives in the Caribbean, but also of the persecution that the Shouters, as they were known, had to suffer in the days of the Empire:

You shout, you groan, you prophesy,
You moaned and isolated yourself many days,
The people thought you had funny and devilish ways,
For your lives did not portray the ideals of Europe鈥檚
Culture, brought to slaves who toiled dreary days on
Plantations.
(excerpt from 鈥淭ribute鈥�)
听听听
The poems by Martin Glynn and Sue Brown show the influence of a variety of styles, from jazz poetry for Martin to a quiet, relective mode for Sue.

Martin Glynn

Martin Glynn

Martin鈥檚 鈥淭ranes Blue Madness鈥�, his tribute to John Coltrane, pushes boundaries and challenges the notion of what a Black British performance poem is supposed to be. Indeed the poem鈥檚 rhythm is patterned after Coltrane鈥檚 bassline and the relentless drive of the piece is meant to recreate the phenomenon of mental depression:

The pain
In his brain
Remained
Just the same
His thoughts
Twisted strain
Tranes pain
Had no name
Like the wind
Always blew
Without trace
To a place
He fell
Without grace
(from 鈥淭ranes Blues Madness鈥�)

Sue Brown

Sue Brown

Sue鈥檚 pieces about greed, personal relationships or the beauty of an English autumn also redefine the nature of Black British poetry:

Autumn in the park, suddenly it鈥檚 autumn in the park.
That mellow member from the seasons鈥� quartet,
Now gracefully takes her stand to empress.
She鈥檚 the reverse of spring, she鈥檚 the review of summer,
She鈥檚 on route towards winter, suddenly it鈥檚 autumn in the park.
(excerpt from 鈥淭he Empress Autumn鈥�)

Leon Blades, Sue Brown,听Martin Glynn, Roi Kwabena and听Moqapi Selassie represent a tradition that started in the Caribbean and continues to flower in Britain.

Their poems are characterised by a variety of styles and approaches, from dub poetry to jazz poetry, and by a broad thematic range. These poets perform regularly in the West Midlands area. Next time you鈥檙e in Brum, go and see them.听

Five Birmingham Poets is available on www.lulu.com