WORD SOUND opens PUSH '19 with POWAH
WORD SOUND HAVE POWAH!
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| The audience applauds dubpoet d'bi young anitafrika (left) opens PuSH Fest 2019 at the Beaumont with rhythmic invocation accompanied on flute and congas by multi-talented musician Carlos Joe Costa (right) |
The event starts audibly as d'bi young, in familiar protocol, approaches the audience from behind with ancestral invocations, her usual delivery of poetic protocol from back to front -- instantly capturing the attention of her audience. The powah in her presence is a spoken ink provoking thought and ideas in Jamaican dialect of patois, her tattooes elicit rebellious rhythms a she begins with a piece from her youthful schooldays back a yard.
The audience actively listens and the dubpoet d'bi young brings music into her movement towards stage, this percussive performance is accented with the talented ear and improvisational genius of Carlos Joe Costa, adeptly moving to flute as the two balance lyricism with musicianship - dub poetry and conga drumming.
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I was aware that d'bi young anitafrika, dubpoet extraordinaire, was in Vancouver for work despite attending Goldsmith's in London to further her studies in drama. However, it was not until I received an email from her asking for introductions to percussionists and musicians in Vancouver that I realized she would be back in town for Push International Performing Arts Festival 2019 as an opening act to set the tone for the month long celebration of new forms.
d'bi came back to Vancouver prepared to rock the house at the Beaumont Studio with:
"dancehall reggae, as well as Afrobeat,
punk and performance art . . . Intersectionality is the keyword, musically
and otherwise—the discourse is political, and it’s powerful enough to
move your heart and change your mind."
(https://pushfestival.ca/shows/festival-2019/word-sound-powah/)
(https://pushfestival.ca/shows/festival-2019/word-sound-powah/)
I often describe d'bi as the best there is at what she does; this tagline, borrowed from Marvel X-Men's Wolverine, is appropriate in terms of WORD, SOUND and POWAH. On the page, d'bi's work is archetypal dubpoetry -- infused with spirit, politics and afro futurisms. On the stage, however, her sound is diverse enough to be performed musically and dramatic enough to stage 'biomyth monodrama', d'bi's take on the 'one oomban play'. The POWAH comes from the experience --witnessing the poet enter the room behind the audience, articulating her "poem-songs" clearly although performed in the Jamaican creole dialect known as Patois. The educational "poem-songs" mentioned by Vincent Tinguely are a defining feature of 'dub poetry', which is a hybrid art form in the dubbing traditions of reggae. 'The music is the message' in reggae, and d'bi's powers are voiced with strong messages throughout her set list.
Known to be fearless lyrically and innovative performatively, d'bi, daughter of pioneering Jamaican dub poet Anita Stewart, delivered a combination of dubpoems from her musical recordings as well as songs woven into her biomyth monodramatic work as a theatre artist. She delivered courageously and was acknowledged as such by her faithful.A packed crowd enjoyed her poems ranging from intersectional topics as well as challenging Jamaican poetry canons. Her lyrics deal with youth empoweremnt, sexual violence, geopolitics, pan afrikansim, and the sacred divine feminine. The set was seamless in both structured rehearsed rhythms, as well as improvisational riffs between her and Carlos Joe Costa, the multi-instrumentalist. The natural ebb and flow of poet and musician worked well as the audience appreciated the inherent abilities on both sides of the WORD and the SOUND.
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Having studied with d'bi young in her sorplusi method workshop and attended her poetic and theatre performances, I was honoured to have been asked by the Jamaican-Canadian director of Watah Theatre, currently studying at Goldsmiths in London, if I knew a musician she could collaborate with. I was enthused to see a set of congas on stage at the show. Before d'bi revealed her voice to the crowd, Carlos entered the space and began playing his conga drums before d'bi used those rhythmic energies throughout her set. Equally adept on flute, Carlos Joe Costa never allowed his smile to leave his face as he followed the dubpoets lyrical lead powahfully.
It was an appropriate opening party because almost immediately after the priestess of dub poetry hounoured the space with her music and magic, the pop-up performances provided by
Vancouver favourites Kimmortal & Immigrant Lessons featuring Marisa Gold stole the show with exhilarating hip-hop lyrics and with dancers choreographed into live action music video. Creativity and collaboration were on display and it was a powahful night of rhythms and poems.
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