Sheila Nopper

Passion For Revolushun Inspires Dub Poets by Sheila Nopper

Passion For Revolushun Inspires Dub Poets

nah-ee-lah and d’bi young are creating sparks with their word sounds. These second- generation dub poets—who are also noteworthy playwrights and actors—rhythmically fan those sparks into flames of resistance against injustice as they burn new pathways toward social liberation. The roots of this poetic uprising were planted back in the 70s by nah-ee-lah and young’s foremothers, who include Lillian Allen, Afua Cooper and ahdri zhina mandiela.

The Dearth of a Nation by Sheila Nopper

The Dearth of a Nation

Afua Cooper blows the whistle on Canada's history of slavery and gives a voice to unsung heroes of the past. Afua Cooper is a poet and writer whose work includes Memories Have Tongue, Utterances and Incantations: Women, Poetry and Dub, and (with co-editors Peggy Bristow and Dionne Brand) We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women's History.

Na Afriki

CDImage:

Artist:

Dobet Ghahoré

Label:

Cumbancha

Review by:

Sheila Nopper

When she was only 12, Dobet Gnahoré assertively informed her father that she no longer wanted to attend school. Rather, she wanted to learn to sing, dance and perform by immersing herself in the vibrant pan-African community of musicians, artists, actors and dancers who frequented the renowned artist co-operative, Ki-Yi M’Bock, that her father co-founded in 1985 on the outskirts of Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Impressed by her independent stance and clear vision, her father, master percussionist Boni Gnahoré, obliged.

Ma’at Mama

CDImage:

Artist:

Ursula Rucker

Label:

!K7

Review by:

Sheila Nopper

Ever since Ursula Rucker emerged as a poet and performance artist in 1994 at an open-mic event in Philadelphia, she’s been arousing audiences at home and abroad with her rhythmically diverse and compelling rapid-fire word bullets.