Heritage Inside
Sep 8, 2018 · 2 min read
Everaldo Creary on the drums & Sheldon Shepherd on the mic at Vantra, Chinatown (Sept 2018), image taken by author.

A few days a go, I had a truly spontaneous introduction to Dub poetry - ‘a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, evolving out of dub music consisting of spoken word over reggae rhythms in Jamaica in the 1970s’

So, as a friend and I had dinner at Vantra in Chinatown and we saw a guy (who we would later know was Sheldon Shepherd) setting up some drums and arranging books near the stage. We were about to go and head to Poetic Unity (a weekly spoken word event)at the Black Cultural Archives, but we decided to ask the event manager (I think) what was going on here.

As he was explaining that Shepherd would be reading from his new book (In the Morning Yah) and was persuading us to stay, I noticed Everaldo Creary (who played Jerry Dread in Yardie) breezed in and greeted Shepherd. The event manager confirmed this and as they stood together I realised Shepherd was also in Yardie as King Fox.

At this point I was really torn because spoken word is my jam and I didn’t know what to expect from Dub poetry. But the event manager called Creary over to speak to us as we were deciding what to do. Creary’s energy was so warm and welcoming and we found out he’s in a band with Shepherd called No-Maddz.


Fast-forward to the actual event now and Shepherd was on stage and explained what Dub poetry was for those who didn’t know. Creary was on the drums and the beat felt at one with Shepherd’s reading. Shepherd often dropped into song or another accent as he read, which I came to learn was a theme of Dub poetry.

One of most poignant parts of the evening was Shepherd’s address to a noisy crowd of people in the back. Shepherd’s approach was one completely grounded in respect - no rudeness, no shouting — just reaching them on a level where they understood at that moment, they were being out of line.


My takeaway from this evening was that feeling of being connected home, by being able to resonate with the thoughts and words of Shepherd even though I have not experienced all that he has, alongside the varied rhythm of the drums. Also, the way Shepherd reached the noisy crowd on a frequency of total respect is somewhere I want to get to…

Sources used:

Origins of Dub Poetry (2018) Available at: https://jamaicansmusic.com/learn/origins/dub_poetry (Accessed 15 September 2018).

Links/pages to check out:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40654004?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Instagram:
@iampukupoo
@thenomaddz
@thedonshepherd

Noting the beautiful creations the world has to offer & challenging the notion that history, art, culture & heritage is irrelevant | IG: @heritage_insideout

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