Verbal Riddim cover art

Verbal Riddim

Dub Poetry

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Verbal Riddim

By: Various, Oku Onuora, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, James Berry, Benjamin Zephaniah
Narrated by: Seroca Davis, Gavin Dunn
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

This is dub poetry: bold and musical, funny and furious.

This collection brings together the work of nine inventive and brilliant poets who defined and drove the dub poetry genre. From the Caribbean, Canada and the UK, the poetry in this collection spans forty years, as dub became a powerful cultural and creative force.

With roots in the reggae culture of 1970s Kingston, dub poetry uses the vivid expressions of everyday spoken language to describe and challenge the experience of life on the margins. Early dub poetry took on police violence, slums and poverty. Later, as Caribbean migrants arrived in countries like Britain and Canada, dub poets faced new issues: racism, discrimination and hostility. Over four difficult decades, dub gave marginalised people a voice for their anger, defiance and creativity. It was the soundtrack to post-Windrush culture.

Serious and humorous, alive and urgent, here is the very best of dub poetry.

The poets included in this collection are: Oku Onuora, Mikey Smith, Mutabaruka, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, James Berry, Benjamin Zephaniah, Ahdri Zhina Mandiela, Lillian Allen and Afua Cooper.

©2023 Various (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 African American Caribbean Creators Collections & Anthologies European Poetry World Literature Witty Funny Caribbean

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Critic reviews

[Jean 'Binta' Breeze] made poems feel like conversations. Radically intimate, and yet simultaneously expansive... I am a poet because of Jean 'Binta' Breeze' (Rachel Long)
[Benjamin] Zephaniah confirms that art can serve as an instrument for change. The people's poet has written himself out of the life that was mapped for him
All stars
Most relevant
Really enjoyable,with a thought provoking narrative on the social issues faced by Afro Caribbeans

Excellent

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