Linton Kwesi Johnson

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Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson (1756331326) (cropped).jpg
Johnson in 2007
Background information
Also known asLKJ
Born (1952-08-24) 24 August 1952 (age 71)
Chapelton, Clarendon Parish, British Jamaica (present-day Jamaica)
Genres Dub poetry
Occupation(s)Poet, activist
Years active1978–present

Linton Kwesi Johnson OD (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002, he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. [1] [2] His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell.

Contents

Early life

Johnson was born in Chapelton, a small town in the rural parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. His middle name, "Kwesi", is a Ghanaian name that is given to boys who, like Johnson, are born on a Sunday. [1] In 1963 he and his father came to live in Brixton, London, joining his mother, who had immigrated to Britain as part of the Windrush generation shortly before Jamaican independence in 1962. [1] Johnson attended Tulse Hill School in Lambeth. While still at school he joined the British Black Panther Movement, [3] helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement, and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.

Johnson studied sociology at Goldsmiths College in New Cross, London, graduating in 1973. [4] Speaking in a 2018 interview about his start as a poet, he said: "I began to write verse, not only because I liked it, but because it was a way of expressing the anger, the passion of the youth of my generation in terms of our struggle against racial oppression. Poetry was a cultural weapon in the black liberation struggle, so that's how it began." [5] During the early to mid-1970s he was employed as the first paid library resources and education officer at the Keskidee Centre, [6] [7] where his poem Voices of the living and the dead was staged, produced by Jamaican novelist Lindsay Barrett, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love. Johnson has recalled: "it was fantastic, you know, having written something and having it staged with actors and musicians. That was back in 1973 before I had a poem published anywhere. That was before anyone had ever heard of Linton Kwesi Johnson." [8]

Johnson wrote for New Musical Express , Melody Maker , and Black Music in the 1970s. [4] As a freelancer for Virgin Records he wrote biographies for their reggae artists, sleeve notes and copy for adverts. [9]

Career

Poetry

Linton Kwesi Johnson at Coachella, 2008 Linton Kwesi Johnson2.jpg
Linton Kwesi Johnson at Coachella, 2008

Most of Johnson's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-Caribbean in Britain: "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon...", [10] he told an interviewer in 2008. However, he has also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. Johnson wrote "Reggae fi Dada" on the death of his father in 1982, blaming social conditions. [1] His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The poems contain graphic accounts of the 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. [4] Dread Beat An' Blood, his second collection, was published in 1975 by Bogle-L'Ouverture. [3]

A collection of his poems has been published as Mi Revalueshanary Fren by Penguin Modern Classics. Johnson is one of only three living poets to be published by Penguin Modern Classics.

Essays

Johnson's essays, spanning 50 years (1976-2021), [11] are collected in the volume Time Come (Picador, 2023). As described by Colin Grant, "The writing is often flinty and flecked with passion; taut and reasoned, but on the edge of fury. ...the grace and power of LKJ's writing are as necessary as ever." [12] Reviewing it in the Sunday Times , Tomiwa Owolade concludes: "this volume emphasises the fact that Johnson is a dedicated cultural critic rather than simply an activist who happens to write dub poetry." [13]

Music

LKJ on stage in Cardiff 1980 LKJ 1980.png
LKJ on stage in Cardiff 1980

Johnson's best-known albums include his debut Dread Beat an' Blood (1978), Forces of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), LKJ in Dub (1980), and Making History (1983). Across them are spread classics of the dub poetry school of performance – and 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. [10] The work was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme in 2007.

Johnson's work, allied to the Jamaican "toasting" tradition, is regarded as an essential precursor of rap.[ citation needed ]

Johnson's record label LKJ Records, launched in 1981, [14] 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. [4]

Awards and honours

Linton Kwesi Johnson in concert in Brussels, 2017 Linton Kwesi Johnson 20171028 B.jpg
Linton Kwesi Johnson in concert in Brussels, 2017

Johnson received a C. Day-Lewis Fellowship in 1977, and that year became writer-in-residence for the London Borough of Lambeth. [9] He was made an Associate Fellow of Warwick University in 1985 and an Honorary Fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1987, and in 1990 received an award at the XIII Premio Internazionale Ultimo Novecento from the city of Pisa for his contribution to poetry and popular music. [15] In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Piero Ciampi Citta di Livorno Concorso Musicale Nazionale in Italy. [15]

In 2003, Johnson was bestowed with an honorary fellowship from his alma mater, Goldsmiths College, University of London. 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. [3] In 2012, he was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". [16] [17] [18]

He is a Trustee of the George Padmore Institute (GPI), [19] and is a contributor to the GPI's collection of dialogues Changing Britannia: Life Experience With Britain, edited by Roxy Harris and Sarah White (New Beacon Books, 1999). [20]

In August 2014, it was announced that he would receive the Jamaican national honour of the Order of Distinction in October that year. [21]

On 20 April 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) by Rhodes University in South Africa. [22]

In July 2020, Johnson was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize – established in Harold Pinter's name to defend freedom of expression and celebrate literature – for his commitment to political expression in his work. [23] [24] Announcing the award, the judges described Johnson as "a living legend", "a poet, reggae icon, academic and campaigner, whose impact on the cultural landscape over the last half century has been colossal and multi-generational.... His political ferocity and his tireless scrutiny of history are truly Pinteresque, as is the humour with which he pursues them." [25] [26] Receiving the award at a live online event hosted by the British Library in October 2020, Johnson named Eritrean poet, poet, songwriter and journalist Amanuel Asrat as the "International Writer of Courage" with whom he would share the prize. [27] [28] [29]

Johnson is chair of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, an art gallery and learning institution in Brixton. [30]

Bibliography

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dub poetry</span> Form of performance poetry

Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry of Jamaican origin, which evolved out of dub music in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s, as well as in London, England, and Toronto, Canada, cities which have large populations of Caribbean immigrants. The term "Dub Poetry" was coined by Dub artist Linton Kwesi Johnson in 1976, and further popularized by artist Oku Onoura, which consists of spoken word over reggae rhythms, originally found on the backing or "version" side of a 12 or 7 inch vinyl record.

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 best-known dub poets. In 1978, Smith represented Jamaica at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba. His album Mi Cyaan Believe It includes his poem of the same title. He had left-anarchist leanings and Rastafarian sympathies, and was allegedly murdered by political opponents associated with the right-wing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) after he had heckled the Jamaican Minister of Culture at a political rally on 17 August 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean "Binta" Breeze</span> Jamaican dub poet and storyteller (1956–2021)

Jean "Binta" Breeze MBE was a Jamaican dub poet and storyteller, acknowledged as the first woman to write and perform dub poetry. She worked also as a theatre director, choreographer, actor, and teacher. She performed her work around the world, in the Caribbean, North America, Europe, South-East Asia, and Africa, and has been called "one of the most important, influential performance poets of recent years".

The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. The blaze killed 13 young black people aged between 14 and 22, and one survivor killed himself two years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Bovell</span> Barbadian-British reggae musician (born 1953)

Dennis Bovell is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in England. He was a member of a progressive rock group called Stonehenge, who later changed name and became the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym Blackbeard. He is most widely known for his decades-spanning collaborations with Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Allan Hope CD, better known as Mutabaruka, is a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica's most popular radio programmes, The Cutting Edge and Steppin' Razor. His name comes from the Rwandan language and translates as "one who is always victorious". His themes include politics, culture, Black liberation, social oppression, discrimination, poverty, racism, sexism, and religion.

<i>Forces of Victory</i> 1979 studio album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

Forces of Victory is the debut solo album by Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was released in 1979 on Island Records.

<i>LKJ in Dub</i> 1980 studio album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

LKJ in Dub is an album by the Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on Island Records. It was produced by Dennis Bovell. It contains dub versions of tracks from the two previous LKJ albums, Forces of Victory and Bass Culture.

<i>Making History</i> (album) 1984 studio album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

Making History is an album by the Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was released in 1984 on Island Records. It was produced by Dennis Bovell.

<i>Dread Beat an Blood</i> 1978 studio album by Poet and the Roots

Dread Beat an' Blood is the debut album by British reggae band Poet and the Roots released in 1978 on the Front Line label. It was produced by Vivian Weathers and Linton Kwesi Johnson. The "Poet" is dub poet Johnson and "the Roots" are Dennis Bovell, Lloyd "Jah Bunny" Donaldson, Desmond Craig, Winston Curniffe, Everald Forrest, Floyd Lawson, John Varnom, Lila Weathers and Vivian Weathers. Vivian Weathers and Winston Curniffe were school friends of Johnson's. They all attended Tulse Hill Secondary School. Most of the tracks are based on poems that first appeared in Johnson's 1975 book of poetry Dread Beat an' Blood.

Poet and the Roots are a reggae band formed to record dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's poems with dub backing tracks.

The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, who had been a Vice President of English PEN and an active member of the International PEN Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC). The award is given to "a British writer or a writer resident in Britain of outstanding literary merit who, in the words of Pinter’s Nobel speech ['Art, Truth and Politics'], casts an 'unflinching, unswerving' gaze upon the world and shows 'a fierce, intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies'." The Prize is shared with an "International Writer of Courage," defined as "someone who has been persecuted for speaking out about [his or her] beliefs," selected by English PEN's Writers at Risk Committee in consultation with the annual Prize winner, and announced during an award ceremony held at the British Library, on or around 10 October, the anniversary of Pinter's birth.

<i>A Cappella Live</i> 1996 live album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

A Cappella Live is an album by Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson released in 1996 on the LKJ Records label. LKJ performs all the tracks, recorded at various venues in 1993 and 1994, without any accompaniment.

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, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Leila Hassan and Jean Ambrose. The magazine was a leading organ of Black politics in 1970s Britain; publication ended in 1988.

The Keskidee Centre, or Keskidee Arts Centre, was Britain's first arts centre for the black community, founded in 1971. Located at Gifford Street in Islington, near King's Cross in London, it was a project initiated by Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams (1937–1996) to provide under one roof self-help and cultural activities for the local West Indian community. Its purpose-built facilities included a library, gallery, studios, theatre and restaurant. The Keskidee became a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, and for years was the only place in London that produced black theatre, developing its own vibrant drama company and attracting both a black and white audience.

The George Padmore Institute (GPI), founded in 1991 in Stroud Green Road, North London, by John La Rose (1927–2006) and a group of political and cultural activists connected to New Beacon Books, is an archive, library, educational resource and research centre that houses "materials relating to the black community of Caribbean, African and Asian descent in Britain and continental Europe". The institute also hosts talks and readings, as well as other educational and cultural activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Antrobus</span> British poet

Raymond Antrobus is a British poet, educator and writer, who has been performing poetry since 2007. In March 2019, he won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry. In May 2019, Antrobus became the first poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize for his collection The Perseverance, praised by chair of the judges as "an immensely moving book of poetry which uses his deaf experience, bereavement and Jamaican-British heritage to consider the ways we all communicate with each other." Antrobus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.

<i>Tings an Times</i> 1991 studio album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

Tings an' Times is an album by the Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1991. It was Johnson's first album in six years. Tings an' Times also served as the title of a book of Johnson's poetry.

Amanuel Asrat is an Eritrean poet and former editor-in-chief of Addis Zemen.

<i>More Time</i> (Linton Kwesi Johnson album) 1998 studio album by Linton Kwesi Johnson

More Time is an album by the Jamaican-British musician Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was released in 1998 through Johnson's LKJ Records. "Liesense fi Kill", about police brutality, was released as a single. Johnson supported the album with an international tour. The lyrics to many songs were reproduced in Johnson's book of poetry Mi Revalueshanary Fren.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jaggi, Maya (4 May 2002). "Poet on the front line". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  2. ↑ "(Media & Editorial Projects Ltd)". MEP Publishers. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Forbes; Peter (2002). "comtemporarywriters.com". Linton Kwesi Johnson. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Larkin, Colin (1998), The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN   0-7535-0242-9, pp. 147–148.
  5. ↑ Aitkenhead, Decca (27 April 2018). "InterviewLinton Kwesi Johnson: 'It was a myth that immigrants didn't want to fit into British society. We weren't allowed'". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ Paul Harper, "Islington’s Black History Month celebrates Keskidee Centre", Islington Gazette, 1 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Archive Showcase: June", George Padmore Institute, 13 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Keskidee Centre (produced for" Islington as a Place of Refuge" online tour), Friends of Islington Museum.
  9. 1 2 Sharmilla Beezmohun, "Linton Kwesi Johnson", Enciclopedia de Estudios Afroeuropeos.
  10. 1 2 Wroe, Nicholas (8 March 2008). "I did my own thing". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  11. ↑ [The time has finally come for LKJ in prose https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2023-08-01-the-time-has-finally-come-for-lkj-in-prose/], Richard Pithouse, Mail & Guardian, 1 August 2023
  12. ↑ Grant, Colin (9 April 2023). "Review | Time Come by Linton Kwesi Johnson review – 50 years of rhyme and rage". The Observer .
  13. ↑ Owolade, Tomiwa (2 April 2023). "Time Come by Linton Kwesi Johnson review — Is Inglan still a bitch?". The Sunday Times.
  14. ↑ "Linton Kwesi Johnson", The Poetry Archive.
  15. 1 2 ""Linton Kwesi Johnson", Blue Flower Arts". Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  16. ↑ Alison Flood (3 December 2012). "Linton Kwesi Johnson wins Golden PEN award". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Golden Pen Award, official website". English PEN . Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  18. ↑ Sarah Morrison, "Linton Kwesi Johnson: 'Class-ridden? Yes, but this is still home'", The Independent, 2 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Linton Kwesi Johnson", George Padmore Institute.
  20. ↑ Jaggi, Maya (26 April 1999). "Why Linton is blowing his top". The Guardian.
  21. ↑ Campbell, Howard (2014) "Marcia Griffiths to receive Order of Distinction", Jamaica Observer , 7 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  22. ↑ [The time has finally come for LKJ in prose https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2023-08-01-the-time-has-finally-come-for-lkj-in-prose/], Mail & Guardian, 1 August 2023
  23. ↑ Cowdrey, Katherine (7 July 2020). "'Living legend' Linton Kwesi Johnson wins PEN Pinter Prize 2020". The Bookseller . Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  24. ↑ "Linton Kwesi Johnson awarded PEN Pinter Prize 2020". English PEN. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  25. ↑ Flood, Alison (7 July 2020). "'Living legend' Linton Kwesi Johnson wins PEN Pinter prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  26. ↑ "Top literature prize for Linton Kwesi Johnson". Brixton Blog. 10 July 2020.
  27. ↑ Cowdrey, Katherine (5 October 2020). "Eritrean poet Asrat named 2020's International Writer of Courage"". The Bookseller. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  28. ↑ Flood, Alison (13 October 2020). "Eritrean poet Amanuel Asrat named International Writer of Courage". The Guardian.
  29. ↑ Peterson, Angeline (27 October 2020). "Imprisoned Eritrean Poet Amanuel Asrat Honored as Co-Winner of the 2020 PEN Pinter Prize". Brittle Paper . Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  30. ↑ Onapa, Emmanuel (25 July 2022). "Linton Kwesi Johnson: 'My Generation Changed Britain'". AnOther. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
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