Dub Poet Clifton Joseph Adapts to Changing Times

By Neil Armstrong

Photo contributed      Dub poet Clifton Joseph at the Tania International Poetry Festival in  Egypt

 

Dub poet Clifton Joseph can easily adapt to new situations as evidenced in his recent tour of Egypt, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

 

While performing at the 8^th annual Tanta International Poetry Festival in Tanta, Egypt, he quickly shifted from his scheduled routine to include poems showcasing the range and mastery of his voice.

 

This adaptability also meant that during the pandemic he seized the opportunity to record his new album, Shots On Eglinton, featuring 11 compelling spoken word selections ranging in subjects from gun violence to corporate greed to paying tributes to jazz legends Billie Holiday and Thelonius Monk.  The pieces are complemented by myriad music forms, including jazz, bebop, hip-hop, calypso, drumming, funk, and blues. 

 

Having officially launched it on October 22 at the Melody Bar inside the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto and done a few performances in Canada, Joseph soon set off for his international tour in November.

 

Starting in Egypt where he spent two weeks, he performed at the international poetry event in Tanta where poets headlined at Tanta University, a library, and their performances were complemented by a giant screen in the background transcribing their work from English, Spanish, and other languages, to Arabic.  

 

“I got mobbed at the Tanta University; I had a handler, 22-year-old dude, and down there they called me Mr. Clifton,” says Joseph enthusiastically about his experience at the festival. 

 

Although he could not understand the Arabic poets — whose works were not transcribed in English, French or other languages — the veteran wordsmith relied on the saying “poetry is the universal language.” Joseph decided to concentrate on their expressiveness, in terms of intonation, diction, veracity in their voice, gesticulation, and their pacing. “I couldn’t tell you exactly what they said but I was surprised I was actually able to get the essence of what they were saying in their poems.”

 

He also performed at Al Kotob Khan, an independent publishing house and bookshop in Cairo. Before leaving the capital of Egypt, Joseph visited the Great Sphinx of Giza and the Great Pyramid of Giza and was in absolute awe of them.

 

His stay in Paris, France, for a week included his performance at the SpokenWord Paris, which has been happening for 16 years, — “the most prestigious reading series in the country,” says Joseph. From there, he performed in Hackney, London, and Hay-on-Wye in Wales, a town world renowned for books and bookshops.

Photo contributed        Clifton Joseph at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt

 

While back at his base in north Brixton, he travelled to Southampton for a performance, and also met up with Jamaica-born, Britain-based dub poet and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson.  

 

Johnson is putting together an anthology of his own articles and essays, and also working with the George Padmore Institute collecting British works and international poetry in the spirit of Pan Africanism and George Padmore. 

 

The George Padmore Institute (GPI) was set up in 1991. It grew out of a community of people connected with New Beacon Books, Britain's first black publisher and bookshop, and its founder John La Rose. The Institute is an archive, educational research and information centre housing materials and documents relating mainly to black communities of Caribbean, African and Asian descent in post-war Britain and continental Europe.  

 

During his downtime in London, he met up with a friend who he used to perform poems with in high school and university, reconnected with a Syrian poet he met in Tanta who lived in London, and also visited Brixton Market and Electric Avenue, which Eddy Grant’s 1983 song “Electric Avenue” highlights in response to riots in London.

 

Soon Joseph was off to Berlin, Germany, where they were launching the celebrations of the 50^th anniversary of the book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, by Dr. Walter Rodney. Joseph performed at the launch and held a two-and-a-half-hour workshop. 

 

His 18-hour journey involved flying from the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, and then to Doha, Qatar, and from there to Cairo, Egypt. The return trip was from Berlin, Germany to Reykjavik, Iceland to Boston, to Toronto.

Photo contributed     Clifton Joseph and veteran British dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson

Photo contributed        Clifton Joseph performing at the Whiskey Blue Lounge in Southampton, London

 

Now back in Toronto, the Antigua-born "dubzz/poet/at/large" is focused on selling his album and working on twoupcoming books: one will be Shots On Eglinton with the lyrics from the album, the other will be Dubzz, a coffee table publication with selected poems, photographs and visuals.

 

“During the pandemic, all artists were scrambling with how do we redo ourselves so most of us jumped to the internet. If you didn’t have a website, you need to get a website together, and you’ve got to put your stuff out on Spotify and iTunes and SoundCloud and all of that.”

 

With distribution channels down, and venues down, Joseph decided to revisit some poems from his collection of recordings and include some newer poems he had done before the pandemic hit. 

 

Realizing that he had put 11 poems together, he was planning to name the album "Dubzz," similar to his moniker, but then with all the gentrification and Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction activities happening on Eglinton Avenue West — and his poem "Shots on Eglinton" which he had done years ago when there was a spate of shootings on the block, — he decided to make the title one that ruminates on the popular neighbourhood where he lives. 

 

Joseph originally wanted to write a poem as a tribute to the community talking about “the jerk guys on the other side of the road and on the weekends they come out with big sound system, and all of the tropical foods and the women and men dressed up in their finery and the colours, and the Black tourists come in and fearful of the area but loved it too much and might have lived there for sometime or had somebody or some relative and come for their patty or oxtail, curry goat and jerk chicken and eat in the cars and just watch the people come by — we call them the Black tourists — from Peel, Keele, Durham, wherever.”

 

Taking all that into consideration, Joseph says his poem "Shots On Eglinton" and the album cover image by photographer Michael Chambers of him in the middle of traffic on Eglinton Avenue — an image similar to the iconic photo of James Dean in New York City in the rain with the cigarette and the trench coat — made him settle on the album’s name after seeing the convergence of his poem and a photographic shot taken along the urban strip.

 

Some of the selections on the new album were done over 15 years ago. Regarding the tributes to Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk, Joseph says dub poetry is generally associated with reggae music and reggae drums. 

 

“But I’m a small island guy from Antigua come out of the steel band and calypso culture and when I got to Toronto I got into funk and jazz so the reason I call myself a dubzz/poet/at/large was to identify the ‘zz’ on dubzz, to add the jazz intonations and the Bluenote and jazz and improvisations onto it. Jazz has been a major part of my poetic aesthetic, which has led me to more sonic explorations of just the power of the voice as orchestra, which is what I try to do at the best of times. I am my own musical accompaniment.” 

 

In "Recollections: A Seventees Black RAP" written by Joseph in Althea Prince’s collection of essays, Being Black, he charts the path of his arrival in Canada in 1973, his education, growth of political and social justice consciousness, and the power of music — disco, funk, soul, calypso, reggae, jazz, blues, gospel — and the anti-imperialist fervour that he shared with other Black youth in Toronto during that time.

 

When Joseph says he is his own musical accompaniment, his statement underscores Klive Walker’s description of the poet in Dubwise: Reasoning from the Reggae Underground. “As a performer, recorded or live, Joseph’s voice suggests a saxophone that honks, squeals, squawks, or rigs out orthodox melodic sentiments in a fusion of reggae-tinged “funkaiso” accents. As a rebel-word artist, his verse boogies to the syncopated beat of rich metaphors and a sharp wit.” Walker also shares some of the musical influences and influencers of calypso, funk, jazz poetry and roots reggae that impacted Joseph’s works.

 

Joseph says the Shots On Eglinton album is a retrospective of what he had not released with any fanfare and he has put them all together to show the range of his approach to dub poetry.

 

Taking on the name 'dubzz/poet/at/large" happened when he was working with Devon Haughton’s 'Bangarang Productions' in public relations and Oliver Samuels was a staple of it.

 

When Samuels came out with his series, Oliver You Large, Joseph loved the name so much that he decided to add “at large” to his name making it "dubzz/poet/at/large."

 

Joseph says the approach to poetry is “incendiary and it also means that the poetry has to get out there and that poets have responsibility to make their works get out to a crowd.”

 

This is the reason many will find him performing in various venues throughout the country. In January and February 2023, Joseph will perform in Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver, and there are plans to perform in the Caribbean too.

 

Joseph has a new single, "Subterranean Dub," a 45 RP and vinyl single that he will be pushing.

 

“The thing about the travel too is that it made me able to put those poems to bed as such and reinvigorate the creativities so that new works can come so its really sparked not just the poetry, in terms of bringing on new work, but also sparked ways of me realizing the internationalization of the work,” he says while reminiscing on his tour.

 

This signalled the importance for him to get out of town, out of what Joseph calls the “strictures of this city and the province and the country” and to find other ways of distribution and sales.

 

Joseph has a website, cliftonjoseph.com, where he sells his new album and he has come up with the idea that, “if you can’t come out to the show, the show will come to you.”

 

This involves hiring him in your houses, apartments, or if you rent a place and gather friends and family and request a reading of his first book published in 1983, Metropolitan Blues, or perform his first CD from 1989, Oral/Trans/Missions, or perform his new CD, Shots On Eglinton, or to do a combination of all three, questions and answers, a workshop on dub poetry and his own journey, or more — he will make it happen. Oral / Trans / Missions was released digitally to all streaming platforms for the first time via CDBaby on August 31.

 

“I’ve literally taken the poetry on the road and to people’s houses,” says Joseph who is a co-founder alongside Lillian Allen and Devon Haughton of De Dub Poets, the group that started Canada’s dub poetry movement. 

 

 

 

REVIEW OF SHOTS ON EGLINTON ALBUM

 

Opening with the titular "Shots on Eglinton," which is repeated later on, Joseph shines a light on gun violence claiming the lives of young Black men and the resulting anguish in the community while the violence continues. "Slo Mo" maintains the focus on gun violence undergirded by jazz while "Where Are The Politicians" infuses elements of the keteh drum to provide a critical eye on politics and whether people’s concerns are really addressed. "Not Poem" interrogates the systems dumbing down matters of importance to people and presents an analysis of the media publishing celebrity news, among other things.

 

"(That) Night in Tunisia" showcases Joseph’s dexterity with words when he references “when metaphors like meteors showered and soared like incandescent light.” In "Intense Paranoia (& -High Anxiety)," the persona/poet declares that nobody can understand him.

 

"Poem for Billie Holiday (What A Li’l Moonlight Will Do)" recorded live at the Imperial Pub in downtown Toronto is Joseph’s take of Holiday’s 1935 "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" celebrating her mission to ‘sing’ and ‘swing’ the realness of Black life in her songs. 

 

"Chant for Monk (Bounce)" infuses elements of bebop, calypso, hip-hop and scratching to reveal the wide palette of music forms and musical instruments from which the poet draws inspiration. Joseph is clearly a fan of the American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk and his improvisational style. 

 

Shots On Eglinton is a clarion call to people to not be afraid to ask the hard questions of those in authority about the essentials of life and their humanity. 

 

New Book of Poetry by Lorna Goodison Celebrates Two Influential Women in Jamaican Music

By Neil Armstrong

Poets Lorna Goodison and Canisia Lubrin at the 43rd Toronto International Festival of Authors at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto

Poet Lorna Goodison says one of the women she writes about in her new book of poetry, Mother Muse, “tek a set on me” to tell her story and so with that intense persuasion she had to accede.

 

This was what she shared in an interview with fellow poet Canisia Lubrin in October at the 43^rd Toronto International Festival of Authors at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto.

 

In her first poetry collection to be published in Canada in over nine years, Goodison celebrates a wide cross-section of women — from Mahalia Jackson to Sandra Bland but focuses on “two under-regarded “mothers” in Jamaican music: Sister Mary Ignatius, who nurtured many of Jamaica’s most gifted musicians, and celebrated dancer Anita “Margarita” Mahfood.”

 

“These important figures lead a collection that seamlessly blends the personal and the political,” notes a synopsis of the book.

 

Goodison reimagines the lives of Sister Ignatius, Anita Mahfood and Don Drummond and in so doing creates a history lesson of their connection to Jamaican music and the important roles they played in it — and how the paths of Sister Iggy and Margarita may have crossed. She brings them to the fore early in the collection in the poem, ‘New Year’s Morning 1965,’ which references the killing of Mahfood, Drummond’s role in it, and Sister Ignatius’s work at Alpha Boys School:

 

Sister Iggy, as deejay, played the speeches of Malcolm X

for young Black men she helped master musical instruments.

 

Hail Iggy’s students taking our own home-grown music

all over the known world! She loved Don like her own.

 

In ‘The Poet and Margarita,’ the poet is in a state of uncertainly regarding whether she should write about Margarita.

 

No disrespect my sistren

I do not want to write 

about you.

I’m done with your tragic

woman story.

 

But the poet is compelled to write, especially after hearing from Margarita that: 

It’s because you are

so easy to cry

I want you

to tell them

for me.

 

Goodison explores police brutality, colonialism, emancipation, the current reckoning with issues of race and racism, matters affecting the Windrush Generation in Britain, and shares nostalgia too for times/occasions/places such as Christmas Market, Good Friday, and her now defunct primary school, All Saints, and a childhood friend. 

 

Mother Muse is published by Signal Editions , the poetry imprint at Véhicule Press. It was nominated for the Derek Walcott Prize in 2021.

 

In March 2023, Véhicule Press will publish another book by Goodison —Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures.

“In her first-ever collection of essays, poet and novelist Lorna Goodison interweaves the personal and political to explore themes that have occupied her working life: her love of poetry and the arts, colonialism and its legacy, racism and social justice, authenticity, and the enduring power of friendship. Taking its title from one of Kingston's oldest markets, Redemption Ground introduces us to a vivid cast of characters and remembers moments of epiphany—in a cinema in Jamaica, at New York's Bottom Line club, and as she searched for a Black hairdresser in Paris and drank tea in London's Marylebone High Street. Enlightening and entertaining, these essays explore not only daily challenges but also the compassion that enables us to rise above them. They confirm her as a major figure in world literature,” notes a synopsis of the book by the publisher.

Goodison was Jamaica's Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2020 and was the recipient of The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2019. 

 

She is the author of numerous books of poetry and short fiction. Her acclaimed memoir, From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People was a finalist for the Charles Taylor Prize and the Trillium Award, and won the B.C. Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. 

 

Her Collected Poems appeared in 2017. She lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. 

 

Minister Wants the Black Community to Know About Affordable Housing Initiatives

 By Neil Armstrong

Ahmed Hussen, Canada's minister of housing, diversity and inclusion, speaking at Blackhurst Cultural Centre - The People's Residence in Toronto

 

Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s minister of housing, diversity and inclusion, says since he made an announcement at the site of the Mirvish Village in 2019 there have been subsequent increases in the budget for affordable housing which includes bringing a Black Canadian lens to what is done through the National Housing Strategy.

 

He was speaking at a press conference at Blackhurst Cultural Centre – The People’s Residence in Toronto where the Centre, in partnership with WoodGreen Community Housing, the housing agency of WoodGreen Community Services, Westbank Corp. and the City of Toronto, announced an initiative that enables affordable housing for Black cultural creators in the new Mirvish Village.

 

“I hope this is a signal that our government is making sure that the National Housing Strategy works for everyone and that means making sure there are affordable housing options and opportunities to leverage federal dollars to work with organizations like WoodGreen, the City of Toronto, Westbank and our community members. And that those opportunities are not only considered but also prioritised.”

 

The minister mentioned programs that came about because of COVID, such as the Rapid Housing Initiative, to which they have applied a Black Canadian lens to make sure that they reflect both in the proponents and in the people moving into those units that they represent the diversity of Canada “but particularly addressing the disproportionately higher core housing need present in Indigenous and Black Canadian folk throughout our country.” 

 

In February this year, on the first day of Black History Month, Hussen announced $50 M to help create housing for Black Canadian communities. The funding is available from 2022 to 2028.

 

He says that money is available to the community and he keeps repeating that because “we need to use it. In addition to that, there are many other programs that can encourage and enhance the ability of communities to really do what they do best.”

 

Hussen also mentioned the game-changing Canadian Housing Benefit which provides direct rental supplements to people who need it. He noted that it is now live in all ten provinces and three territories. 

 

“Unfortunately, not everyone knows about it so again we’re doing amazing things in response to the calls to action by the community. But when those things actually happen it doesn’t come back to the community so I use these opportunities and others, in media interviews to really spread the awareness about programs like the Canada Housing Benefit, and the Rapid Housing Initiative.”

 

 The project stream of the Rapid Housing Initiative is $1B to 100% fund housing through a federal grant that is opening up on December 12.

 

Interested parties will have 90 days to apply.  Minister Hussen said there are only two conditions to that funding and it is the only program in the National Housing Strategy where the federal government will fund the entire project as a grant, not as a loan. 

 

The two conditions to access that fund for a non-profit are: “you have to either renovate or build in 12 months which means buying up a hotel or putting modular housing or building from scratch if you can finish in 12 months. And we mean 12 months for people to actually move in. And the second condition is you have to target one or more vulnerable populations and, of course, Black Canadians are listed as part of those priority groups.”

 

The online portal will open on December 12, 2022 and it will close on March 12, 2023.

 

The minister referenced the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, which was used to build the project in Mirvish Village, and the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund that encourages ideas and prototypes. 

 

“The government has funded apps, prototypes of different forms of building affordable housing and any ideas that lead to more access to affordable housing for any population is theoretically possible and can receive funding,” he said, noting that the budget for the National Housing Strategy is now over $86B.

A group photo of those who attended the press conference at Blackhurst Cultural Centre on November 22 about affordable housing for Black cultural creators in Mirvish Village

 

Tyson Parker, vice president, experiential development at Westbank, said the company made the commitment seven years ago to continue the amazing heritage that the Mirvish family had created — a place of inclusion, a place of tolerance — at the street corner of Bathurst and Bloor.

 

“Mirvish will hopefully open very, very, soon; I’m going to say maybe the second quarter of 2023.”

 

Itah Sadu, managing director of BCC, said as an organization when they looked at community building and capacity building it was important that as they move forward they bring others along with them because that is the whole point of human existence. 

 

“When the new block is open, you will hear accents across the block that will reflect the experience of people of African descent, people of the Black experience, people of the Caribbean ancestry right across the block,” said Sadu who is excited about the Centre moving to 756 Bathurst Street in the new development. 

 

She said one day Ian Gillespie, the head of Westbank, came to visit the cultural centre and as he was reimaging the block, “it entered into our conversation that we could even be bolder in our efforts as we move people forward. Oftentimes, we have heard so many conversations about the lack of space, the lack of affordable space, the lack of space for artists to create, people are moving to Hamilton just to get space to create, but we say, hey, you can create here, even in the city of Toronto.” They thought about opportunity and started a conversation with Westbank. 

 

Sadu said they reached out to WoodGreen because they had the expertise and the capacity to elevate the Centre’s idea and vision.

 

Mwarigha, vice president, homelessness services, enterprise asset sustainability and development, at Woodgreen says 12 units is a beginning but the vision is at least 50 because that is the kind of scale that begins to make a lot of sense. 

 

Over the past year, the cultural centre, Woodgreen Community Housing and Westbank have been working on the plan that will provide 12 units — one-bed, two-bedroom, and studio — at 80 per cent average market rate dedicated for Black cultural creators.

 

 "As we move forward to our permanent home in the new Mirvish Village, we have sought ways to bring others along with us on this journey as we build community and capacity. This is a proud moment for Blackhurst Cultural Centre and we thank WoodGreen Community Housing and its team for their due diligence and expertise. Westbank can also be commended for embracing the vision,” said Judith Brooks Chair of the BCC.

 

The mission of the cultural centre is to create a world-class model for preserving and building on the historic cultural identity of evolving neighbourhoods and to provide opportunities for Canadians and visitors to Canada to celebrate and engage in the rich cultural legacy and history of Canadians of African and Caribbean ancestry. 

 

Kevin Ormsby, founder and artistic director of KasheDance, is excited by the news and thinks it is timely and should have happened before because Black people have contributed to that Bathurst community for a very long time.  

 

“And so it’s really important to also provide visibility of Black people in that particular space again as The Annex neighbourhood also has been priced out of Black bodies and Black populations economically. 

 

Regarding artists, the Arts strategist thinks it is important that the initiative is providing access to affordable housing for Black creatives because they have been at the bottom of the remuneration scale for creatives in the city and across the province and country.

 

“So to provide some focus to that is actually really important and it’s good to see that there are more efforts being placed on Black people and the precarity in which Black people live, not just financially but now also artistically. The 12 units is a space where hopefully we can begin to provide some sustainability for Black people and, in particular, Black creatives.”

Zanana Akande, a former minister of community and social services of Ontario,  speaking at the press conference about affordable housing for Black cultural creators in Mirvish Village

 

WoodGreen Community Housing (WCH), as the housing agency of WoodGreen Community Services, has over 50 years of social housing ownership and management experience.  In 2010, it was awarded the City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Champion Award for its integrated, transitional and supportive housing, as well as affordable rental housing for low-income people. The organization has a long commitment to anti-Black racism and inclusion in its overall service delivery mandate and practice. 

 

 

Philanthropist Lauded for his Contribution to the Jamaican Diaspora in Canada

 By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Eddie J. Grant     Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport of Jamaica, presents Jamaica's national honours to B. Denham Jolly at a reception in recognition of recipients in Toronto for the years 2020-2022

Businessman, former publisher, and human rights activist B. Denham Jolly was lionized at the Jamaican Canadian Association recently for his contribution to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada and philanthropy.

 

He was one of seven Jamaicans recognized by the Government of Jamaica with national honours and awards from 2020 to 2022. A reception was held at the JCA Centre in Toronto where Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, presented Jolly, who was unable to attend the ceremony in Jamaica, with the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer.

 

Jolly and Olive Parkins-Smith, who received a Badge of Honour for meritorious service for outstanding contribution to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada program, were the recipients for 2022. 

 

“His life has been at the intersection of business and community which is very, very, rare in an individual,” said Adaoma Patterson, immediate past president of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), who noted that Jolly was the keynote speaker at the JCA gala in 2019 and donated the single largest donation that it had ever received — $315,000 — which paid off the mortgage. 

 

Hall 1 of the Centre has since been renamed the Denham Jolly Hall, his photo is on the wall above the donor board, and one of the JCA’s annual scholarships has been named the Denham Jolly Scholarship.

 

In her tribute, Patterson described Jolly, 87, as someone who speaks truth to power and a “rare individual who can negotiate with CEOs and support community organizations like the Black Action Defence Committee and JCA.” He is a mentor and supported Black Lives Matter and members of the JCA.

 

She said they were in the process of trying to get regulatory approval for a Pan-African Credit Union and she asked him to come and speak to members of the steering committee, which he did.

 

“Dr. Jolly has said you can’t give up; you have to have the mentality of a long distance runner and I think that exemplifies his life. Dr. Jolly, Denham, thank you for all that you do for the community, for never forgetting the community as you climbed that corporate ladder, as you achieved so much you have never left us behind, and for that we are eternally grateful.”

 

The credit union is an initiative of the Jamaican Canadian Association and the Lions Circle African Canadian Men’s Association aiming to establish an alternate banking option steeped in co-operative economics to better serve Black Ontarians within the Greater Toronto Region and beyond.

 

According to the National Credit Union Association of the United States, “minority-owned and managed credit unions play a critical role in providing financial services to communities that have been traditionally underserved or unbanked.”

 

In addition to providing financial services to individuals and businesses within the Black communities in Ontario, the creation of the Pan-African Credit Union (PACU) will provide financial education on topics, such as, budgeting, credit usage, credit management, financial investment and wealth-building, notes its website.

 

“PACU is committed to serving individuals and families from the Black Community, as well as, Black-owned businesses, with the overarching objective of inspiring tangible economic growth and inter-generational wealth within the Black Community.”

 

The organization has submitted its credit union application to the governing body for approval.

 

“You’ve all excelled in your chosen field and have made an indelible mark in the Jamaican Canadian community,” said Grange who was conferred with the Order of Jamaica on August 6. 

 

Lincoln Downer, Jamaica’s consul general at Toronto, noted that she is the longest serving female member of parliament in Jamaica. 

 

“Denham Jolly is a man of the people, a business mogul, civil rights activist and I remember those days when I was running around with a big afro here in Toronto and Denny Jolly was there contributing tremendously to the growth of the community here,” says Grange describing him as a “renaissance man who transformed the Canadian landscape through his work.”

 

She said he had a love and commitment for community organizations such as the Jamaican Canadian Association. 

 

In his response, Jolly, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto this year, said he was deeply honoured, grateful and humbled. “It was beyond my greatest dream when as a youngster in Green Island, Jamaica, riding horses and tying out the goats and shooting birds in the fields that a day like this would ever come.”

 

He remembered when the late Bromley Armstrong and Roy Williams, 93, started the JCA, and he was the treasurer at its first building on Dawes Road. He got a call one night that the place burnt down and they pooled their money together and bought a building on Dupont Street.

 

“It is always a special honour to be recognized for your contributions by your peers, but it’s even a bigger honour to recognized by the land of your birth,” says Jolly who was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2021.

Photo contributed     Left to right, back row: Lincoln Downer, consul general of Jamaica at Toronto; Bishop Dr. Lennox Walker; Letna Allen-Rowe; Dr. Upton Allen; Marsha Brown; Olive Parkins-Smith. Seated, left to right: Cynthia Reyes, who was a recipient of a national honour in 2016 but could not attend the ceremony, Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport of Jamaica, and B. Denham Jolly

 

In 2021, Dr. Upton Allen received the Order of Distinction in the rank of commander for contribution to the field of child health and care of children with infectious diseases in the Jamaican diaspora in Canada.

 

The professor of paediatrics at the University of Toronto and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is the lead investigator of a study assessing COVID-19 prevalence and risk factors among Black Canadian communities in Ontario.

 

“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done but we’re really extremely pleased with how things have gone and how much support we’ve gotten from the Black community. And so a lot of the work that we’re doing is led by Black folks for Black folks and so we are excited about that.” 

 

That same year, Marsha Brown received a Badge of Honour for meritorious service for dedicated service to the field of philanthropy to Jamaicans both locally and in Jamaica. Carol Phillips was presented with a Badge of Honour for meritorious service for outstanding service to the Jamaican consulate in Toronto and the diaspora.

 

The 2020 recipients Bishop Dr. Lennox Walker and Letna Allen-Rowe were honoured with the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer for their outstanding service to the Jamaican diaspora in Canada. Walker was also recognized for his contribution to religion.

 

In a special tribute to his sister, Hamlin Grange said when he thinks of his sister — Olivia Grange — he thinks of someone who has constantly been at the centre of things Jamaican in Canada as well. 

 

He said many years ago his sister made the decision to leave Toronto and return to Jamaica to follow her passion and she continues to live that passion today. He does not know where she gets her energy.

 

“Olivia, alongside Al Hamilton and others founded Contrast newspaper. She was also an assistant to an investigator at the Ontario Human Rights Commission; she was a model as well.

 

“Olive put reggae music on the map of this country.” He remembers spending some late nights in a van going to concerts and shows at some of the universities, colleges with Ernie Smith, groups such as Messenjah, Truths and Rights, and Carlene Davis.

 

In his roll call of others who have contributed, Hamlin included Bromley Armstrong, Dr. Wilson Head, Mel Thompson, and Al Mercury. “When the history of this community is written Olivia’s name will be there, should be there,” he said.

Audrey Campbell, compere of the national honours and awards reception at the Jamaican Canadian Centre,  and Adaoma Patterson, immediate past president of the Jamaican Canadian Association, in conversation

The programme included remarks or presentations by Kashane Denton, chairperson, Global Jamaica Diaspora Youth Council; Bishop James Robinson, Faith Open Door Ministries; David Betty, president, Jamaican Canadian Association; and Paulette Sterling, senior manager, JN Group. Audrey Campbell, a past president of the JCA, was the compere. 

 

Leonie Forbes: Doyenne of Theatre, Film, Radio and Television Fondly Remembered

‘It’s been great, it’s been wonderful; bans o’ [a lot of] sacrifice though, you know.’

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Marcia Brown      Leonie Forbes arriving at the Toronto  Pearson International Airport to perform in the Aston Cooke's play, Country Duppy, presented by Marcia Brown

 

Leonie Forbes, the doyenne of theatre, film, radio and television — known as ‘Jamaica’s First Lady of Theatre and Film’ — died on October 25 in Jamaica. She was 85. Since the news of her passing, there has been an outpouring of tributes. She has been described as the queen of Jamaican theatre, Jamaica’s star, an icon, a theatre giant of a woman, a phenomenal actress, a special woman, a brilliant woman, and a grand lady. Lionized by many, Forbes was a titan of the arts.

 

I will share some reflections of her and have also invited a few thespians who shared the stage with her in pantomimes, plays, or were directed by her in plays to add their tributes. In one case, the head of a Jamaican arts and culture organization in Toronto that hosted her and Easton Lee 21 years ago remember the praise Forbes received at the event.

 

I met Leonie Forbes and Alma Mock Yen at the Radio Education Unit at The University of the West Indies in my early years at Radio Jamaica Ltd. (RJR) when my colleagues and I did the training for broadcasters. Both co-authored Radio: Re-entry into Sound, a series of workbooks on audio production and presentation for English-speaking students in the Caribbean. We had mutual friends at the Caribbean Institute of Mass Communication (CARIMAC) when I studied.

 

It would be years later that we would meet again — this time in the studio of CHRY Radio at York University where I did an extensive interview with her about her life in broadcasting, theatre, film, radio and television. We did this in November 2000 when Forbes was in Toronto to perform the lead in Marcia Brown’s presentation of Aston Cooke’s play, Country Duppy.

 

She was impressed with the depth of my research, but more important was the level of comfort we developed in the studio during the interview. I have it saved on an audio cassette in my archives of taped interviews. When I asked what led her to the career paths she chose, this was her answer:

 

“If I answer you, I probably won’t speak the truth because I honestly don’t know (laughing). A number of things happened. For instance, as a child Sunday School was very important, and the kind of mother I had you had to learn the text. And if there was a little concert, you had to be a part of it. She wasn’t having any no thing about that. And then in school as well, I didn’t really see a true performance until I saw Miss Lou. I think just a little before I was about nine and then after that it was just getting involved in those things. And then she thought I ought to be a civil servant or a nurse or a teacher and, for some reason, I didn’t want any of those things, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. So I did in fact learn shorthand and typing and that sort of thing — still not certain what I wanted to do. But then it was my good fortune that my first job was at the university with Sir Philip Sherlock and you had people around like Errol Hill and Noel Vaz and George Lamming and Lloyd Reckord and his brother, Barry, so I got interested in this thing. Next thing I know I was in one of Barry’s plays, then I was auditioning for the pantomime and I thought I like this. 

 

“Well, mother didn’t really approve, you know, cause she thought nobody sensible could talk about acting as something serious to do so she volunteered to get me a cart and stock it with ground provisions cause she figured that that is all that was going to happen. But I must say now that it has all fallen into place, so to speak. She’s a very big supporter, very critical, at least up until the time before she lost sight in one eye, glaucoma, sort of thing, but up until that point I couldn’t get away on stage. If I thought I had and she was in the audience, as soon as I got home she would point it out.  But she followed everything and so on.

 

“Then from that secretarial stroke, amateur theatre work, I got into radio theatre and there was a gentleman who was sent out by the BBC to set up radio theatre for the new JBC. This was like 1959; I know it’s going to date me but not to worry. And he thought that I ought to get some training, but I was kind of smiling on the other side of my face. I say yes, they tell us all that, you know, and so on. And then he said, no, we’re going to do an audition so it was taped. I even remember the operator who taped it, Cecil Watt. Robin Michelin was his name and we had a photographer… who did some photographs. Robin left Jamaica, went back to England, sent it in to the Royal Academy and a couple or three months down the line, I got a letter from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art saying we’re very pleased to offer you a scholarship. I was beside myself. Of course, I didn’t know how I was going to live because at the time there was just one relative that I knew of over there and I thought, oh boy. Another friend of mine, Vera Hyatt, Charlie’s wife, she said no, no, no, you can’t not take up that opportunity. Let us speak with the British Council and they said, oh yes, yes, yes, the Royal Academy, but of course. I got a bursary and that was how it all began.

 

“Outside of broadcasting which I was doing then, I trained, worked with people like Adrian Robinson and Dennis Hall, and I loved it; I really did. And I kept in touch with that, even in England, because sometimes you’ll earn extra working with the BBC Overseas Service and in their repertory theatre. So it helped a lot. And then when that was finished and I graduated; I went back home because really I didn’t go to stay any place else. I went back home and by then we had television so apart from the radio work I was now into TV and still hanging onto the stage. In fact, you could call it a three-way marriage you know (laughter) and it worked. Right now, I’m not so much into the broadcasting except in terms of training young broadcasters at the institute at UWI and through the Radio Education Unit. It’s mainly stage and TV. Of course, every now and then there’s a nice film or something because a few years ago, I was up here doing Soul Survivor with Stephen and Peter [Williams, both brothers]. They’re from Jamaica and that was marvellous. And before that there was Milk and Honey. I still do things for the BBC for Channel 4 with Madge Sinclair who did The Orchid House, which was a four-part series, and we did that in Dominica in 1990 and then it came out after that. 

 

“It’s been great; it’s been wonderful. Bans o’ [a lot of] sacrifice though, you know, like missing my daughter’s graduation and she still hasn’t forgiven me quite. I tek all mi pay at that to buy har a beautiful ring and every now and then she reminds me ‘no my dear, she wasn’t at my graduation at all.’ So I know I have to come up with something exceptionally nice, although they understood because they used to come to rehearsals. I got four — they used to come to rehearsals with me and, in fact, if my sons did not approve of the script I wouldn’t do it. The second boy — very quiet soul — very much into the technical side of things and he would sort of flip through it and say no, yuh not doing that, it too rude. And that would be that.”

 

I asked Forbes if it became a family affair and she said in a sense it was because that was the only time she could get with them. 

 

“Maybe I think is quality time but it was something else for them, but at least it kept us together. And we’d rehearse at home and sometimes I’d have to play the fool, the same moonshine darling out on the grass. And all of that to keep us together so that they would be aware of what I am outside, of what’s happening outside, because I didn’t want any of the glitter — and there’s not much of it — or any of that side of it to touch them too much. I managed, they haven’t, but they’re very supportive of whatever I do and they’re always at opening night and things like that.”

All images contributed by Marcia Brown: Country Duppy poster, cast members:  playwright Aston Cooke, Marcia Brown, Michael Nicholson, Leonie Forbes, Kevin Sinclair and Naggo Morris; and Leonie Forbes in character

 

I would see her several times after that interview performing in plays, or in films produced by award-winning filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon of CaribbeanTales Inc. here in Toronto. Forbes was one of Solomon’s closest friends.

 

When Louise Bennett-Coverley, known by many as Miss Lou, passed away on July 26, 2006 here in Toronto, Forbes attended the Service of Thanksgiving at Revivaltime Tabernacle on August 3 and shared a tribute. She gave me a copy of it to use in a 20-page special feature in celebration of Miss Lou that I edited for the Gleaner Company’s Canada office.

 

In that tribute to Miss Lou, Forbes mentions the 1957 pantomime, Busha Bluebeard, written by Louise Bennett, directed by Lloyd Reckord, and starring Miss Lou, Ranny Williams, Charles Hyatt, Maud Fuller and other cast members. Among those in supporting roles were Forbes, Trevor Rhone, Louis Marriott, Karl Binger, Ewart Walters, Joy Baylis, Pat Miller and others. She shared a glimpse behind the curtain of the “warm, open-hearted woman” that Miss Lou was — noting that she was seen as “a true mother figure, physically and emotionally.”

 

“My fondest recollection of her, however, is when we acted together in the 1973 revival of the Pantomime named “Queenie’s Daughter.” She played the mother and I the daughter, and we sang a duet I shall remember till I die. It was called “Lion Heart,” a title that describes Miss Lou herself,” writes Forbes about Louise Bennett-Coverley. 

 

She recited the words of the song (and sang some verses) noting that the duet seems the most fitting tribute she could pay Miss Lou.

 

Fe me love got lion heart, fe me love got lion heart

Strong and everlasting, only fe you.

Fe me love will never done, fe me love will never done

Shining like the sunshine, only fe you.

 

The veteran actor is featured with Miss Lou in Literature Alive, a series of films produced by CaribbeanTales and Leda Serene Films. The 30-minute documentary, Miss Lou: Then and Now, is one of 13 point-of-view documentaries on Caribbean Canadian authors featured in the Literature Alive film series. 

Leonie Forbes and Carolyn Goulbourne, then JIS information attache, hanging out with me at the Jamaican Canadian Association

 

In the February 1993 issue of Jamaica Journal, an article written by Rex Nettleford — “Fifty Years of The Jamaican Pantomime 1941-1991” — references creative dance in pantomime and mentions Forbes:

 

“From this point, dance started to help advance the plot rather than being used only in set pieces fitted into the performance. The idea of the triple-threat performer (actor-singer-dancer rolled into one) gained currency. Alma Mock Yen (especially as Mantaripa in Carib Gold), Leonie Forbes and, later, Dorothy Cunningham (in numerous pantos) are up to now the best examples of this new persona on the panto stage.”

 

Forbes was born on June 14, 1937 and grew up in Kingston where she attended St. George’s Preparatory, Merrywood Elementary School, Mico Practising School, Kingston Senior School, Excelsior College and Durham College. 

 

 Arts & Culture Jamaica Inc. based in Toronto presented An Evening of Dramatic Readings and Poetry with Leonie Forbes and Easton Lee on May 5, 2001 at The Toronto Centre for the Arts. The printed programme for that evening notes the following:

 

“Upon her return to Jamaica, Leonie joined the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) for a two-year period before leaving for Australia where she performed on stage, did radio and television as well as work in films. 

 

“Her sense of adventure and spirit of “joie de vivre”, kept her on the move. She returned to her native Jamaica in 1970 where she took over the running of the FM Radio division of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation and resumed her acting career, soon becoming the leading actress in Jamaica.” 

 

Forbes received many awards for her achievement on the stage, in film, and on radio and television. In 1974, she was awarded the Institute of Jamaica’s Centenary medal and a Bronze Musgrave medal; the Order of Distinction in 1980 and the Silver Musgrave medal in 1987 for outstanding work in theatre and broadcasting.

 

Alongside writing a number of plays for radio and television, she wrote a collection of poetry, Moments by Myself. In 2013, Leonie: Her Autobiography: The Journey of a Jamaican Woman as told to Mervyn Morris was published by LMH Publishing.

 

Forbes had a leading role in several films here in Toronto including: Lord Have Mercy, a Canadian TV sitcom produced by Leda Serene Films, first shown on Vision TV in 2003; A Winter Tale, a 2007 Canadian drama film written, directed and produced by Frances-Anne Solomon featuring Peter Williams, Leonie Forbes and Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall; Soul Survivor, a 1995 Canadian drama directed by Stephen Williams; Milk and Honey, the 1988 Canadian drama co-written by Trevor Rhone; among others.

 

In 2007, the ReelWorld Film Festival honoured Forbes with an Award of Excellence in Toronto for her more than 50 years in the business.

 

I watched her perform in Easton Lee’s play The Rope and The Cross in April 2021 in a virtual presentation that was done in honour of Lee who passed away in January that year. 

 

Walk good, Leonie.

 

 

Tributes to Leonie Forbes

 

From Paula de Ronde, founder and former president of Arts & Culture Jamaica Inc., about the evening of dramatic readings and poety with Leonie Forbes & Easton Lee on May 5, 2001:

 

She was wonderful to work with.  A consummate actor who so generously offered her expertise, including the selection to be presented.

 

Her voice gave another dimension to the poetry whether in Jamaican Patois or standard English.

 

It was a while ago but I can remember the satisfaction and many kudos for her.

 

She will be missed.

 

May she rest in Peace.

Photo contributed by Canute Lawrence      Leonie Forbes, Canute Lawrence and Suzanne Beadle, senior lecturer at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and artistic director of Soul Art

Photo contributed by Canute Lawrence         Canute Lawrence visits Leonie Forbes at her home  and  shows off a mango from the bag of East Indian mangoes she gave him

 

From actor, author and educator Canute Lawrence: 

 

Throughout my acting career, I got the golden opportunity to work with Leonie Forbes during the 1990s in a West Indian play at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. (I can't remember the title of it right now). Oh, I believe it was Derek Walcott's "Dream on Monkey Mountain"! I was quite intimidated yet very excited to work with Miss Lee because for me, she was Jamaica's equivalent of Elizabeth Taylor! She was always elegant, graceful, heard on radio, seen on TV and film all the time, and most importantly, she was a phenomenal actress.

 

As soon as rehearsals started, I was trying my best to deliver the high calibre acting that Miss Lee was known for. After a few deliveries, Miss Lee came over to me, took me aside, whispered gently in my ears and asked me a question about the character I was playing. I was stunned, but not embarrassed. She was so gentle, warm, and caring. I responded to her, and she gave me a few pointers, then ended by telling me I was a talented young man. I never got that treatment from a Jamaican Star and Icon. I felt so special and inspired that I dug deep and unearthed the character I was desperately trying to find. Miss Lee made me feel so important and special from that moment on. When we got a break, she gave me the thumbs up. I always remembered that mentoring moment from a theatre giant of a woman.

 

A few years ago, another theatre personality and friend and I went to visit Miss Lee, and I reminded her of the time we played together in "Dream on Monkey Mountain" and her life-changing impact on me. We chatted, laughed, hugged, and she gave me a bag of East Indian mangoes.

 

I miss you, Miss Lee. Walk good! Acting tun up inna Heaven with Maas' Ran, Miss Lou, and all the others. What a grand production with the ancestors!

Photo contributed by Marcia Brown     Leonie Forbes and Marcia Brown in Aston Cooke's play, Country Duppy, in Toronto, Canada

 

 

From producer, writer, director, actor, founder and artistic director of Marcia Brown Productions — Marcia Brown:

 

I met Leonie Forbes in 1982 at my first pantomime — my first professional stage production.

 

Seeing her reading the news on JBC and knowing who she was and knowing that I’m going to be on the same stage, even though I’m going to be in the chorus, it was such an intimidating thing. It’s like I was in awe. I remember the first time walking into the Little Theatre for the rehearsal and she came in. And I’m like Jesus, Leonie Forbes, what do I say to her. But she was such a warm person — all of that just went away. When she got introduced to the cast and just the way she welcomed all of us, all of the newcomers, and shared how much we have to learn and how focused we have to be if we take this thing seriously. 

 

From day one, she really instilled that she was a no-nonsense person when it comes to the craft. We can joke around as much as we want, but when it comes to hitting the stage, knowing our lines and all of that she takes that thing so…and if you want to be on her bad side, fool around and take this thing like you’re just there for a joy ride or you just doing it because yuh nuh have nutten else fi do. If that’s your aim for being there, you’re in the wrong place.

 

I warmed up to her because I saw something in her that I wanted to draw from. I would literally watch this woman and her preparation. The things that other actors would take for granted — even senior actors and so on — she wouldn’t. And I would say, wow, this lady is something else.

 

When we were running in for rehearsals close to the scheduled time, Leonie was there one hour before. Seeing her do that as a professional meant we had to try to shape up to do the same. 

 

Sometimes Leonie would be at the theatre two hours before call time because she had to go through her ritual of stripping herself away from everything else and just come into the character and it took her that long.

 

So she would come in and she closed her door and she had her own special dressing room, and you dare not go knock pon the dressing room door while she’s going through her prep time. And it’s not that she was being rude, but that’s the standard she set and everybody understood it. Miss Lee inna har room and whatever.

 

When you got invited into Leonie Forbes’ dressing room you feel special because a nuh every and everybody she…if she find out yuh being disrespectful or rude or whatever, she nuh tek kindly to those things. So once she get to grasp who you are, what you represent, then she works… And when she invites you into that room, it’s like you open up a whole lot of stories because she brings all her pictures from going to drama school and everything that she has done. And she adorns the wall with them. It was like I was walking into a little cove of culture because the dressing room is her, and all her personal effects and whatever she puts them on the wall. And when you get invited in there and you might look at this picture…she would tell the story associated with each one.

Anyone who was lucky to be invited into the dressing room felt special and wanted somebody to see them coming out of the room.

 

My first pantomime with Forbes was Tantaloo in 1982/1983.  Leonie played the evil witch, Old Hige. 

 

When she put on the mask and she put on the nose and she put on all of those things, once you hear she come and stand by the side of the stage she doesn’t speak to anyone. That’s her position and everybody respected it and everybody knew that she was now Old Hige. Don’t come and give her a joke, don’t come and talk to her frivolously because she is now in her character. And a dat me learn from, that’s what I learn from.

 

She was a no-nonsense person. She tells you who she is, she gives respect and she expects everybody to be respectful. She expects everybody to be on time and when she starts to talk and she starts to twiddle her fingers you know that something is wrong; she’s not happy. She was not a confrontational person so she would walk away.  There were two pantomimes where she walked away. 

 

Leonie lived in Barbican and Deon Silvera lives just a little distance below her so we would call Leonie’s house “up a Tantaloo.” She was a warm person.

 

Brown came to Canada in 1989 and was trying to make a life for herself here. Aston Cooke did the play, Country Duppy, with Forbes in Jamaica and Brown decided to remount it in Canada and wanted Forbes as lead. Cooke broke the ice for her and Forbes agreed to play the part in Toronto. Brown gave her a royal welcome at the airport and throughout her stay in Toronto.

 

“You can miss a line but never miss a moment. You can miss a line but your moments are special and that’s what every actor works for — their moments.”

 

They did Country Duppy and went on the road with the play, including New York.

 

“And then when I was doing Feminine Justice again, it was her pleasure to come here and work with me. A special woman, brilliant woman; she give you the King’s/Queen’s English perfectly in one second and the next minute she dung pon your level.”

 

Country Duppy was staged in 1999 and continued over into 2000, then Brown did Basil Dawkins’ play, Feminine Justice, twice and they took it to Vancouver.

 

The last time she saw Forbes was in 2019 when she flew to Jamaica for Ann-Marie Fuller’s wedding. Forbes would sometimes phone Brown just to see how she was doing and called her a special person. Whenever Forbes was in a play Brown directed, she gave her the space she needed and Forbes appreciated that and even offered advice in directing sometimes. 

 

Earlier in this year, Fuller and Brown were discussing organizing an evening to celebrate Forbes without her knowing their plans. They were intent on decorating a venue, renting a limousine to pick her up, and bringing her in to have a grand time. 

 

“That’s why when yuh seh yuh gwine do something for somebody, you must do it right away and don’t procrastinate. She is really a grand lady and we want to treat her that way. 

 

“Her legacy is just hearing the outpouring of what she has done for the art form in Jamaica. I don’t think she got treated well by Jamaica because Jamaica is into the youth thing and once you get to a certain age they don’t think… I think for me the legacy is that she was just a great, great, person. I think she has left enough…even for us, what she has instilled in us is the importance of taking the craft seriously, and if we can even pass it on to a few other persons then it will continue because it’s important.”

Photo contributed by Marcia Brown      Leonie Forbes and Marcia Brown at the airport in Toronto