Big Youth, Matthew Herbert, Tim Hutton, KRS1, Blackalicous, Peter Tosh, The Last Poets, David Bowie, Prince, Burning Spear.
AND THEN THERE IS
Phoolan Devi, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky,
Angela Davis, Paul Bogle, Bodhidharma, Rastafari, Ng Mui, Yim Wing Chun, Maya Angelo, Harriet Tubman.
Sounds Like
The Dread One
Check out the new ZEPHANIAH ONLINE SHOP for Zephaniah CDs, Zephaniah DVDs and Zephaniah books, all at reduced prices.
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH THE DVD IS NOW ON SALE - From The Beta Brothers - avaliable on myspace by clicking HERE or off their website by clicking HERE
Benjamin Zephaniah DOES NOT DEAL WITH GIG INQUIRES OR INTERVIEW REQUESTS HERE. For that you should seek out the relevant agent. He has five of them !!
HE IS ALSO NOT KEEN ON FAN SITES AND TRIBUTE PAGES.
Keep it real
Acclaimed poet, successful author and writer, politicised commentator, reggae DJ, broadcaster, a peoples laureate, curator of exhibitions for arts galleries, a contributor to newspapers worldwide, actor and musician. All of the above have been used in relation to Dr Benjamin Zephaniah; he himself prefers the simpler description of wordsmith. As one of this country’s most treasured public figures Benjamin entertains countless listeners and readers around the world with the shining inspirational vitality and imagination embedded in his work. He is continually touring but now spends most of his private time in China, Japan, and England, and still makes time to visit Jamaica at least once a year.
He was born and raised in Birmingham, England. He cannot remember a time when he was not creating poetry but this had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to him, in fact he had finished full time education at the age of 13. His poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls 'street politics'. His first real public performance was in church when he was 10 years old, by the time he was 15 he had developed a strong following in his home town of Handsworth where he had gained a reputation as a young poet who was capable of speaking on local and international issues
He loved Handsworth, he called it the Jamaican capital of Europe but although his work had become popular within the African-Caribbean and Asian community he thought the town was too small, he was not satisfied preaching about the sufferings of Black people to Black people, so he sought a wider mainstream audience. At the age of 22 he headed south to London where his first book Pen Rhythm was published by Page One Books. This was a small, East London based publishing co-operative that were keen on publishing poets who were rooted in their communities. They published Zephaniah when others failed to tune into the new poetry that was about to emerge. The book sold well going into 3 editions but it was in performance that the Dub (Reggae) Poet would cause a revolution, a revolution that injected new life into the British poetry scene and attracted the interest of many mainstream publishers, many of whom had sent refusal letters to him only 12 months earlier
In the early Eighties when Punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about SUS Laws, high unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Zephaniah's poetry could be heard on the demonstrations, at youth gatherings, outside police stations, and on the dance floor. It was once said of him that he was Britain's most filmed, photographed, and identifiable poet, this was because of his ability to perform on stage, but most of all on television, bringing Dub Poetry straight into British living rooms. The mission was to take poetry everywhere, he hated the dead image that academia and the establishment had given poetry and proclaimed that he was out to popularise poetry by reaching people who did not read books, those that were keen on books could now witness a book coming to life on the stage. This poetry was political, musical, radical, relevant and on TV.
In the nineties his book publications, record releases and television appearances increased in Britain, although he has concentrated on performing outside Europe. He feels at home anywhere the oral tradition is still strong and lists South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan and Colombia as some of his most memorable tours. In fact life has been one long tour but this is the only way the oral tradition can live. Over a 22-day period in 1991 he performed on every continent on this planet.
Periodically The Benjamin Zephaniah Band takes to the road, the nature of the modern music business means recordings reach places around the globe a lot quicker than the poet does, and this means that many people around the world are more familiar with the poet’s music than his performances, plays or books. His only official fan club developed in Malawi in Central Africa and his only Number One Hit Record was in the former Yugoslavia where the Rasta LP was released on the Helidon label. He was the first person to record with the Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela. Free South Africa by Benjamin Zephaniah and the Wailers was recorded at Marley's Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston, Jamaica. Mandela heard the tribute whilst in prison on Robben Island and soon after his release he requested an introductory meeting with Zephaniah, they have now built a relationship which has led to Zephaniah working with children in South African townships and hosting the President's Two Nation's Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in July 1996.
Most of his own musical recordings fall into the Reggae or Dub Poetry category, but his latest album ‘Naked’ defies categorisation. It is produced by the legendary drummer Trevor Morais and features artists as diverse as Howard Jones, Aref Durvesh, Rupert Heaven, Mike Cahen, Jamie West-Oram, Jean Alain Rousell, and Dennis Bovell. It is a mixture of Jazz, Reggae, Hip Hop, Rock and house music. In order to compliment the music the graffiti artist Banksy gave exclusive permission for his artwork to feature in the 36 page booklet that comes with the CD. The album was critically acclaimed and received substantial radio airplay worldwide. On hearing the album Rodney P, Britain’s’ foremost Hip Hop artist and BBC radio DJ decided that was content with just playing the album, so he asked for permission to re-mixed four of the tracks, this put the album firmly on the dance floor. Other musical collaborations include ‘Illegal’ with Swayzak, ‘Theatricks’ With Kinobe and the classic ‘Empire’ with Sinead O'Connor.
Then there is Benjamin Zephaniah the children’s poet. His first book of poetry for children called Talking Turkeys had to go into an emergency reprint after just 6 weeks, no one could foresee how popular the book would be, it went to the top of the children's book list and stayed there for months. At first he was not keen on publishing a book for children believing that there was just poetry, not children's poetry or adult's poetry, but he was soon convinced that young people did appreciate the fact that he was not afraid to write about the real world where there are bullies, guns, racism and war. Being a passionate vegan he writes a lot about animals but these animals are not all smiley, happy creatures, some may just be waiting for slaughter or losing their habitat, and of course some may be having fun. Then seemingly from nowhere, in 1999 he wrote a groundbreaking novel for teenagers. ‘Face’ the first of four novels to date, proved that teenage boys would read if they have access to books that they can relate to. Zephaniah writes gritty, realistic novels about the lives of teenagers, these novels are directed to adults as much as they are to teenagers. He believes that for the most part teenagers know what they are going through, but adults need reminding, they have short memories
Young writers have said that the accessibility of his work has inspired them to take up writing, many record sleeves bare witness to the fact that he has inspired many of the new generation of rappers, and of all the performance poets that emerged in the late seventies/early eighties he is one of the few that is still going strong. He has thirteen honorary doctorates in recognition of his work and a wing in a west London hospital has been named after him. Zephaniah believes that working with human rights groups, animal rights groups and other political organisations means that he will never lack subject matter. He now spends much of his time in China, but he continues working throughout Asia, South America and Africa, and is as passionate about politics and poetry now as he has ever been.
The Naked album, and the Naked and Mixed Up EP are out now. Both releases will come via One Little Indian who are for over two decade have stood out as one of the UK’s most innovative, diverse and most successful independent labels
VIDEOS FROM THE NAKED ALBUM CAN BE VEIWED ON www.benjaminzephaniah.com
AND THE ALL NEW "BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH DVD" will be available very very soon on www.myspace.com/thebetabrothers
LIST OF WORK
BOOK PUBLICATIONS
Poetry
Pen Rhythm. London, Page One, 1980.
The Dread Affair. London, Arena, 1985.
Inna Liverpool. Liverpool, Africa Arts Collective, 1988.
City Psalms. Newcastle, Bloodaxe, 1992.
Talking Turkeys. London, Puffin/Penguin, 1994. (children’s)
Out of the Night. Gloucester, New Clarion Press, 1994
(Co-editor - Writings from Death Row).
Funky Chickens. London, Puffin/Penguin, 1996. (children’s)
Propa Propaganda. Newcastle, Bloodaxe, 1996.
School’s Out. Edinburgh, AK Press, 1997. (big children!)
The Bloomsbury Book of Love Poems. London, Bloomsbury, 1999. (Editor)
Wicked World. London, Puffin/Penguin, 2000. (children’s)
The Little Book of Vegan Poems. Edinburgh, AK Press, 2001.
Too Black Too Strong. Newcastle, Bloodaxe, 2001
Prose
Rasta Time in Palestine. Liverpool, Shakti, 1990
Novels
Face. London, Bloomsbury, 1999. (teenagers)
Refugee Boy. London, Bloomsbury, 2001. (teenagers)
Gangsta Rap. London, Bloomsbury, 2004. (teenagers)
Teacher’s Dead. London, Bloomsbury, to be released October 2007. (teenagers)
Musical Recordings
Dub Ranting. (EP) Radical Wallpaper, 1982.
Rasta. (LP) Upright Records, 1983.
Big Boys Don’t Make Girls Cry. (Single) Upright Records, 1984.
Free South Africa. (Single, with The Wailers) Upright Records, 1986.
Us an Dem. (LP) Mango/Island, 1990.
Crisis. (Single) Workers Playtime, 1992.
Back to Roots. (LP) Acid Jazz, 1995.
Belly of de Beast. (LP) Ariwa, 1996.
Dancing Tribes (with Back to Base). (Single) MP Records, 1999.
Illegal (with Swayzak). (Single) Medicine Label, 2000.
What is in-Between (With Mieko Shimizu & David Lowe) Oval Music 2006
Naked. (LP CD) One Little Indian Records, 2006
Spoken Word Cassettes
Radical Rapping. Benjamin Zephaniah Associates, 1989.
Overstanding. Benjamin Zephaniah Associates, 1992.
Adult Fun for Kids. Benjamin Zephaniah Associates, 1994. (big children!)
Reggae Head. 57 Productions, 1997.
Funky Turkeys. Audio Book and Music Company, 1997. (children’s)
Wicked World. Penguin, 2000. (children’s)
Thanks for being friends with the Wilefiya Inc page. There will be a new riddim released pretty quick "Rockaz Riddim' featuring many awesome Jamacian artists. Also Bobby Tenna will be dropping his new album in Feb, 2010 "Words and Melody". Keep an eye out on this page for more info on those exciting releases!! Peace and 1love!! Blondy
EASY Benjamin Zephaniah ... JUST LETTING YOU KNOW THAT MY DEBUT ALBUM '93' IS NOW AVAILABLE TO BUY OFF MY PAGE. IT HAS RECEIVED VERY POSITIVE FEEDBACK SO FAR. COME GET IT NOW AND SPREAD THE WORD!
'...'93' is without a doubt one of the most innovative and different hip hop albums to emerge this decade.'
THE YOUTUBE VIDEO ON MY PAGE HAS SNIPPETS OF A LOT OF THE TRACKS COME HAVE A LISTEN..
A little prayer for strength for the coming week...............
Please untie the knots thjat are in my mind, my heart and my life. Remonve the nots and the cannot and do nots that i have in my heart. Release me from the could nots and should nots that obstruct my life. and most of all God, I ask you to remove from my heart and life all of the am nots that i have allowed to hold me back especially the thoughts that i am not good enough.
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