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THIS CULTURAL LIFE - 54. LINTON KWESI JOHNSON (320kbs-m4a/98mb/43mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 15th April 2023
Reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson reveals the influences and experiences that inspired his own creativity. Born in Jamaica, he moved to south London in 1963 at the age of eleven. He made his name as a performance poet, reciting politically motivated verse to a dub-reggae backbeat, and becoming a powerful voice of resistance and protest in response to racism on the streets of Britain in the 1970s. He became the first black poet to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series, was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize in 2020, and recently published a collection of prose under the title Time Come. On stage and on record, he is renowned for angry and uncompromising works such as Five Nights Of Bleeding, Sonny's Lettah, and Iglan Is a Bitch.
For This Cultural Life, Linton Kwesi Johnson recalls growing up in poverty in rural Jamaica, where his grandmother told him ghost stories and read The Bible. Appalled at the racism he experienced, he joined the Black Panthers whilst still at school and became a political activist. He began to write and perform poetry, set to music and delivered in Jamaican patois, after being inspired by reggae artists such as Prince Buster and U-Roy, and the American group The Last Poets. Johnson also talks about the tragic fire that killed 13 young partygoers in New Cross, south London in 1981, an event that he commemorated in one of his best known works, New Craas Massahkah.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
THE KESKIDEE (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 29th July 2022
Oral Historian Alan Dein pieces together the remarkable and pioneering story of the Keskidee, Britain's first arts centre for the black community.
Founded in the early 1970's and tucked away in a church hall in the backstreets of Islington, London, it forged new ground for a generation of black British poets, actors, artists and directors.
Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson was the educational officer at the Keskidee and Bob Marley shot the music video for 'Is This Love?' there. It had its own drama company, artists in residence and was a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, as well as a creative nursery for home-grown talent. It also catered for the needs of local youth and gave a generation of black teenagers a space of their own.
But this massively influential cultural centre also has a fascinating earlier history, when it served as a progressive mission hall with a musical pastor and a legendary silver band. Today the building has reverted to being a religious base, housing an African church and a devout and joyous congregation.
Dein joins up the hidden history of Gifford Hall which has played host to three different communities, but which, curiously, have much in common.
Producer: Neil McCarthy
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS: LINTON KWESI JOHNSON (128kbs-m4a/42mb/45mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 13th December 2002
Sue Lawley's castaway is dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. Linton Kwesi Johnson was born in 1950s rural Jamaica. He lived in a farming community and looked after the animals, helping with the sugar harvest and fetching firewood. He lived with his grandmother after his parents separated, loving being the man of the house. She would entertain the young Linton, who she called "me husband", with folk songs, stories and ghost stories.
In 1963, when he was eleven years old, Linton came to live in England. It was a huge contrast: "I had this childhood idea that literally the streets of London would be paved with gold and everybody living affluent lifestyles. So it was a bit of an eye-opener for me when I came and saw all these grey buildings with chimneys and smoke coming out of them and to see a white person sweeping the street!" He experienced racism at school, from peers and teachers alike, and became interested in the black movement. He joined the British Black Panthers in his teens, discovered black literature and began to write poetry of his own. He gained a sociology degree in the mid-1970s and had poems, inspired by politics and the Black movement, published in the journal Race Today. He soon became known for his poetry written in dialect and would often use reggae music to accompany it. He still tours with his band and can command stadium-size stages. Linton Kwesi Johnson became one of only two living poets to be published in a Penguin Modern Classic in 2002. He says "I've made a small contribution to bring poetry back to the people."
During the interview, Linton Kwesi reads extracts from the following poems: 'Sonny's Lettah' taken from Inglan is a Bitch, 'Five Nights of Bleeding (for Leroy Harris)' from Things an Times and 'New Craas Massahkah (to the memory of the fourteen dead)'.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Embraceable You by Charlie Parker
Book: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Luxury: A bass guitar
Roy Richards - Contact [Trojan]
Don Drummond - Eastern Standard Time [Island]
John Lennon - Imagine [Now]
Charlie Parker - Embraceable You [Spotlite]
Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring [CBS]
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song [Tuff Gong]
Otis Redding - My Lover's Prayer [Atlantic]
Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumpin' [Soul Jazz]