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Feb 21, 2000 |
INDIA TODAY | DAILY NEWS | ASTROLOGY | HOME |
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 The Rap Chap Gangsta'
at 13, activist at 25, TV personality at 42. But the word that best
describes rap poet Benjamin Zephaniah comes from Africa: griot. "It
means a poet, musician, activist, playwright, actor, newscaster,
journalist, anyone who plays around with words," he says. Calcutta
hasn't seen anything like him before. But there he was, part of a British
Council event in the city last week, delivering one punchy verse after
another, about everything from vegetarianism to Indo-Pak ties. For a man
who couldn't read or write till he was 21, Zephaniah does a remarkable
job. Sample this: "A
sadhu like a lotus sits on India/waiting for the truth to take him
home/He's a pure and dedicated meditator/he's just meditating with his
mobile phone." Where does he find his "riddim"? He says
it's everywhere, in Shelley, even in the BBC's weather forecast. This
riddim's gonna get you. -Labonita Ghosh |
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