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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/linton-kwesi-johnson-buzz-demo-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-5673" /><figcaption>A man of legendary status: Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson (Photo: John Sargant, Flikr)</figcaption></figure>
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<p><strong>BUZZ</strong> joins Jamaica in
celebrating the 67th birthday of prolific dub poet Linton Kwasi Johnson (LKJ).</p>
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<p>Johnson was born on
Sunday, August 24, 1952 in Chapleton, Clarendon and as been an active dub poet
since 1978.</p>
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<p>After migrating to
the United Kingdom in 1963, Johnson lived with his mother in Brixton, where he
quickly joined the British Black Panther Movement.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/lkj-dub-poet-music.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-5674" /><figcaption>Johnson is also heavily involved in music, having launched his own record label, LKJ Records in 1981. This album, More Time, was released in 1999 (Photo: Amazon.com)</figcaption></figure>
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<p>It was here, while at school, that LKJ realised his passion for poetry – after developing a workshop within the movement, with the help of Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers.</p>
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<p>In 2002 he became
the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin
Modern Classics series.</p>
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<p>Called <strong>Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems</strong>,
Penguin Modern Classics republished Johnson’s poetry in 2006.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/lkj-published-work-by-penguin-classics-demo-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-5676" /><figcaption>Photo: Pinterest</figcaption></figure>
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<p>Most of LKJ's
poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an Afro-Caribbean
in Britain. </p>
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<p>"Writing was a
political act and poetry was a cultural weapon..." he told The Guardian in
2008. </p>
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<p>Johnson has, however, also written about other issues, such as British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. </p>
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<p>His most celebrated poems were written during the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.</p>
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9OpJYck7Y
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<p>LKJ’s performance poetry involves the narration of his own verses in Jamaican Patois over dub-Reggae, something very unheard of at the time since the accent was considered ‘foreign and exotic’ to British ears.</p>
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<p>Johnson’s work is
not without accolades, as in 2005, he was awarded a silver Musgrave Medal from
the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry.</p>
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<p>In 2012, he was
awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's
Distinguished Service to Literature".</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/linton-kwesi-johnson-buzz-demo-2-1024x576.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-5675" /><figcaption>Linton Kwesi Johnson reading 'Tings' at the Windrush celebrations in the UK in 2018. (Photo: Penguin Books UK, YouTube)</figcaption></figure>
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<p>Johnson was awarded Jamaica’s sixth highest honour, the Order of Distinction, in 2014.</p>
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<p>Happy birthday, LKJ!</p>
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