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Poetry As Performing Art in the English-Speaking Caribbean

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Poetry As Performing Art in the English-Speaking Caribbean POETRY AS A PERFORMING ART IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING CARIBBEAN by JULIE PEARN UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, OCTOBER 1985 Thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the examination requirements for the degree of PhD. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply conscious of the fact that this thesis is a product of many minds, and wish to express my heartfelt appreciation of all those who shared ideas with me and so generously allowed re access to their personal collections of sound and printed materials. Others have been great facilitators, making the task of familiarizing myself with the field much easier than it might otherwise have been. I am grateful for the constructive criticism I have received, and the support and friendship which reinforced my belief in what I was doing. I express my appreciation to the Department of Education and Science and the University of Sheffield for the bursaries which made my study trip to the Caribbean possible. I would also like to thank those who took care of me in so many different ways during my stay . In particular, my thanks to: Christopher Heywood (my supervisor), Eddie Kamau Brathwaite, Mervyn Morris, Christiane Keane, Gordon Rohlehr, Maureen Warner Lewis, Velma Pollard, Evelyn O'Callaghan, Anson Gonzalez, Pearl Eintou Springer, James Lee Wah, Garth White and all the staff at the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, Billie Goldstraw, Marjorie Thorpe, the staff of the Radio Unit, Mona, Anne Walmsley, John La Rose, Andrew Salkey, Miss Lou, Oku Onuora, the late Michael Smith, Mutabaruka, Brian and Icelyn Meeks, Joe Ruglass, Abdul Malik, Claudette Richardson, Chris De Riggs, Jacob Ross, Merle Collins, Marc Matthews, Honor Forde- Smith, Bruce St. John, Paul Keens-Douglas, Brother Jerry, Lorna Goodison, Louis James, Anthony Nazombe, Stewart Brown, Rawle Boland, Emilio Jorge Rodriguez, Dick Hart, Chris Searle, Gwen Brathwaite, Alan Griffiths, Jonathan Vickers and Valerie Marks. Special thanks to my family - my parents, Valerie and Ted, and my brother, Stephen - who have given such tangible support - and to Araya. The thesis, is dedicated to Mikey Smith and all the creative strugglers of the Caribbean. SUMMARY This thesis seeks to demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between the emergence of poetry as a performing art in the English- speaking Caribbean and phases of nationalist agitation from the uprisings against unemployment, low pay and colonial neglect during 1937-8 to the present. Though the poetry has many variations in scope, ranging from light-hearted entertainment, its principal momentum has been one of protest, nationalism and revolutionary sentiment. The thesis seeks to relate tone, style and content both to specific periods and cultural contexts, and to the degree of engagement of the individual artist in the political struggle against oppression. Frequently theatrical, the poetry has commanded a stage and a popular audience. Though urban in style, it is rooted in older, rural traditions. Creole, the vernacular of the masses, is a vital common denominator. The poetry is aurally stimulating, and often highly rhythmic. The popular music of the day has played an integral part, and formative role in terms of composition. The fundamental historical dynamic of the English-speaking Caribbean has been one of violent imperialist imposition on the one hand, and resistance by the black masses on the other. Creole language, with its strong residuum of African grammatical constructs, concepts and vocabulary, has been a central vehicle of resistance. It is a low-status language in relation to the officially-endorsed Standard English. The thesis argues that artists' assertion of Creole, and total identification with it through their own voice, is a significant act of defiance and patriotism. Periods of heightened agitation in the recent past have each led to the emergence of a distinctive form of performance poetry. Chapter two examines the role of Louise Bennett as a mouthpiece of black pride and nationalist sentiment largely in the period preceding independence. Her principal aim is the affirmation of the black Jamaican's fundamental humanity. She uses laughter both as a curative emotional release and as an expression of mental freedom. She lays the foundations of a comic tradition which does not fundamentally challenge the contradictions of the post-independence period. Chapter three relates the emergence of the Dub Poets of Jamaica to the development of Rastafarianism into a mass post-independence nationalist revival, and to the contribution of intellectuals, most symbolically Walter Rodney, to the process of decolonization. Reggae music, the principal creative response to the dynamics of the period both in terms of lyrics and rhythmic tension, infuses the work of Michael Smith, Cku Onuora, Mutabaruka and Erian Meeks examined in this study. Chapter four illustrates the development of performed poetry in the context of periods of insurrection and revolution in the East Caribbean. It examines the Black Rower movement as a stimulus to cultural nationalism and revolutionary sentiment, and its transcendence to internationalism and socialism in the context of the Grenada Revolution. Abdul Malik straddles and exemplifies the creative dynamic which exists between urban, industrial Trinidad and its tiny, rural and poor neighbour, Grenada. The highly sophisticated work of Edward Kamau Brathwaite is compared and contrasted with the other performance poets in chapter five. His theoretical contributions on the role of language and sound in Caribbean cultural expression, and the ways in which he puts theory into practice in his own work, are assessed. A persistent concern throughout the study is the nature of orality — the experience of language as sound tied to a particular context and point in time — as opposed to literacy — the perception of words as objects which can be seen. The comparative media approaches of McLuhan and Ong have been seminal in this respect. Reflecting the language situation of the region, performance poetry occupies an intermediate role between oral and scribal modes. The critical approaches of Brathwaite and Rohlehr, who highlight the literary significance of popular and oral traditions in the context of history have been inspirational. Studies of popular culture helped to locate symbols and styles. In the absence of a given set of appropriate critical tools, a synthesis of approaches from oral studies — folkloric, ethnological and linguistic — has been attempted, combined wherever useful with more orthodox (text—oriented) analysis. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACLALS Association for Comparative Language and Literature Studies CAM Caribbean Artists' Movement CIA Central Intelligence Agency DT Dread Talk EDR East Dry River GBSS Grenada Boys' Secondary School GUT Grenada Union of Teachers IMF International Monetary Fund JC Jamaican Creole JLP Jamaica Labour Party NJAC National Joint Action Committee NJM New Jewel Movement OWTU Oilfield Workers' Trade Union PNP Peoples National Party T&TEC Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Company UWI University of the West Indies WPJ Workers' Party of Jamaica TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO: THE CATHARTIC FUNCTION OF LAUGHTER 51 CHAPTER THREE: GARVEY, GROUNDATION AND THE POETS OF THE GHETTO....121 CHAPTER FOUR: REVO! POETRY AND STRUGGLE IN THE EAST CARIBBEAN....211 CHAPTER FIVE: EDWARD KAMAU BRATHWAITE: PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE...286 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 341 BIBLIOGRAPHY 349 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION i) Performance Poetry: the parameters Travelling through the Caribbean, if one asked the question, 'Do you like poetry?', a common response would be, 'Poetry for them intellectuals up at UWI I . Teachers, even of English, often seemed to regard poetry as a chore, something that was difficult and had little to do with them. And yet if one asked, 'Do you enjoy a "dialect", or dub poetry?', the question was often greeted with pleased amusement, relaxed acknowledgement. Almost every West Indian enjoys "a dialect". Pleasure is taken in hearing or seeing natural speech idioms portrayed. A performance of this kind of poetry is associated with recreation, with laughter and entertainment. Alternatively, delivered in a sterner form, dub and other kinds of vernacular poetry provide a focus of identification, an expression of militant nationalism, or a channel of protest for the poor and alienated youth. Despite first appearances, therefore, poetry exists as a vibrant part of the popular culture of the region. Performance poetry, as we shall call it, properly has its beginnings in 1938, when Louise Bennett emerged into the public arena with stage performances of her 'dialect poetry'. It is fundamentally an urban development and thrives in a context of modern technology; amplification, lights, media, etc. Creole, or 'dialect' is almost invariably the language medium. The language identifies the poet with a mass audience and helps make the poetry accessible to them. It also imposes certain qualities and contraints on delivery. Poems tend to be highly rhythmic and immediate in their impact. Performance poetry can be seen in a very wide range of venues and is -2 - highly varied in its range of presentation. At one end of the scale is the little-known dub poet., performing at a local meeting, or humble open- air free concert. There will probably be some kind of staging, and the only prop will be a microphone. The poet will need arresting phrases, a good voice and powerful message in order to command the audience's attention. Somewhat more elaborate will be presentations (often a single performance) put on by cultural and political groups, usually to mark a special day, or to honour someone. These will take place in a hall or community centre. The cultural programme will consist of a number of Items including music, especially drumming, and probably dance. Being in an enclosed space, the focus on artists will be more intense. The poet may have musical accompaniment. The politically oriented performance poet may provide a welcome relief from/complement to speeches at a rally. Established dub poets have often performed at major open air reggae music festivals in front of thousands of people.
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