Transcript Levi Tafari

Levi Tafari
DUB POET
Bob Marley
 Robert Nesta Marley (Jamaica, 1945 – USA,
1981) Reggae musician and member of
Rastafarian movement.
 Africa Unite (Survival 1979) reflects Marley's
support for the struggles of Africans.
 Redemption Song (Uprising 1980)
 “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds…”
 Get up, Stand up: radical song, which would
appeal to people in third world, black people.
 Exodus : song about return to Zion
Other
famous
Bob
Marley
songs
I Shot the Sheriff
No woman, No Cry
Could you be loved
Stir It Up
Jammin’
One Love
Three Little Birds
Buffalo Soldier
Iron Lion Zion…
The Rastafarian movement
 Haile Selassi (1892-1975): last emperor of Ethiopia =
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Jah, their incarnation of God
They reject western society, called Babylon
("confusion").
Zion = promised land (Africa)
Dreadlocks – related to lions, the animal on the flag
Can you write down some other beliefs from the
video?
Some Rastafarian Festivals
 February 6 - Bob Marley’s birthday.
 May 11 - The day that Bob Marley died.
 July 23 - The birthday of Emperor Haile Selassie
 August 17 - The birthday of Marcus Garvey
 September 11 - Ethiopian New Year
What is dub poetry?
 Oral poetry for public performance, in the Jamaican (and
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black British) dialect
Started in Jamaica and England - early 1970s
Jamaican disc‐jockeys (‘toasters’) sang or recited their
own words over the dub versions of reggae records
(instrumental re‐mixed versions on the B‐sides)
Dub poetry includes celebration of music, protest against
racism, and Rastafarian religious themes.
Some famous dub poets: Linton Kwesi Johnson ,
Benjamin Zephaniah, Michael Smith, Jean Binta Breeze
Who is Levi Tafari?
 Let’s visit his website
 Eight hundred lives project
 An interview with Levi
Visit to a school
 youtube clip
His name: ‘Creator of Unity’
I’m a creator of unity
My identity
is a mystery
because my story
is not history
My geneology
is of an African ancestry
which has left a legacy
for the whole of humanity
I am crucial, rhythmic, poetic consciousness raiser
An Urban Griot overflowing with culture
Born in Liverpool to parents from Jamaica
Yes I'm Levi Tafari a unity creator
Benjamin Zephaniah
Poems
Touch
Genetics
The British youtube
The British text
The Brazilians – students’
poems based on The
British
Task: compare The British and Celebr8
The British
Types of people
mentioned
Structure of poem
Tone of poem
Celebrate
Comparison: The British and Celebr8
The British
Types of people
mentioned
Historic peoples who invaded Britain
(Picts, Celts, Silures, Romans,
Norman French,Angles, Saxons,
Jutes and Vikings)
Recent immigrants (Jamaicans, and
from other Caribbean islanders,
Africans, Chinese etc)
Structure of poem
A recipe, a list of different people
who came to Britain
Doesn’t rhyme (free verse)
Tone of poem
Humourous but with serious point at
the end
(An unequal spread of justice will
damage the people and cause pain.
Give justice and equality to all.)
Celebrate
Black white / different races
Different religious groups
Men / women
Older people (the elderly)
Disabled people
Refugees
Like song lyrics, with a
chorus
Rhymes
Serious
Write your own poem!
 Write a poem called either ‘The Spanish’ or
‘The Catalans’ in the style of a recipe.
 Historic
inhabitants / invaders
 Recent immigrants
 Traditions / characteristics of the Spanish or
Catalans
Recipe vocabulary
 add
 serve
 bake
 set
 blend (=mix smoothly)
 sieve / strain (to remove ) -
 blend in
 boil
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 combine
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 cook
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 leave to cool
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 let …cool / heat up
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 melt (derritir)
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 mix
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 pour
 remove
colar
simmer – cook slowly (xuf xuf!)
spread
sprinkle
steam – cocinar al vapor
stir – (‘remenar’)
take …(a blend of…
whisk – what you do with a
‘mini-pimer’
Further Information: Roots
West Indian immigration to Britain in the 1950s