The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae - The complete story of Reggae told through its greatest songs, famous and forgotten - Michael Garnice
Great dub poetry
The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae - The complete story of Reggae told through its greatest songs, famous and forgotten - Michael Garnice
Michael Garnice [+]
Freelance writer
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Description
We have already discussed how the advent of DJ reggae would pave the way for yet another new style. Dub poetry, a more serious offshoot of DJ, would begin to be recorded at the end of the 1970s. Its rhythmic chant-speak delivery owes much to that of the DJ. But the dub poets’ songs are more formally composed and more serious in tone. The DJ’s improvisations, topic jumping, catchphrases and sound effects have no place in the work of a dub poet. Riddims were newly created for the dub poetry, unlike the DJ’s heavy use of versions. That is, when musical backing was employed. Dub poetry was sometimes performed solo, with no backing at all, something unique in reggae. As we will see, dub poetry has another distinction. It’s the first style of reggae that was born outside of Jamaica.