Tontonto, Canada – Insomniac Press has published
Dubwise (ISBN 1-894663-96-9), a book by Toronto-based music writer Klive Walker. On
Dubwise Walker takes a fresh look at reggae music and how it has
influenced international popular culture. He analyzes
Bob
Marley‘s global
effect, but he also discusses the vital contributions to reggae culture of such
innovators as poet Louise Bennett, hand drummer Oswald “Count Ossie” Williams,
jazz saxophonist Joe Harriott, ska trombonist Don Drummond and singer Dennis
Brown.In a groundbreaking essay, Walker sheds new light on the history of women in
reggae, ignored for far too long. Figures such as singer-songwriters Marcia
Griffiths and Judy Mowatt made crucial contributions to reggae culture with solo
careers that had more of an impact than the time they spent as backing singers
for Bob Marley and the Wallers.
Walker treats-die reggae crafted by American, British and Canadian artists of
Caribbean heritage with the importance it deserves, looking for the first time
at the history of reggae in Canada, including the work of dub poet Lillian Alien
and the band Truths and Rights. Elsewhere, he considers the work of U.K. roots
reggae bands such as Aswad and Steel Pulse, and the contribution of
Jamaican-American deejay/rappers Sister Carol and Shinehead.
Finally Walker examines reggae’s relationship to hip-hop, weaving together
histories of dancehall dee jays and hip-hop MCs in the rise of raggamuffin rap,
a Caribbean diasporic phenomenon.
Klive Walker’s articles on reggae have been published in Toronto’s Word magazine
and the U.K.’s Untold. This is his first book.
Purchase the book:
Other reggae books:
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
