LKJ Records Ltd, PO Box 623, Herne Hill, London SE24 0LS, UK, tel./fax.+44 (0) 20 7738 7647

LKJ RECORDS NEWSLETTER 2003

Welcome to our annual Newsletter where we give you a round up of the activities of LKJ Records’ artists from last year and let you know what is scheduled for 2003. 

Our main news is the launch of our new improved website at www.lkjrecords.com Not only does the whole site look better, but there is now much more information up, such as full biographies of all the artists and links to other related websites. We will be updating the site regularly. Thanks to Hardip Mothada at www.mothada.com for his hard work!

Email or Post? Let Us Know

In the future, if you would like to receive this Newsletter by EMAIL ONLY please send your email address to us at lkj.records@virgin.net along with your postal address and we will change our database details accordingly. Alternatively, you can log onto the website and send us your details from there. Help us to make the Newsletter more convenient for you!

Jean Binta Breeze

Jean had a busy and varied 2002. She began the year as a judge for the National Poetry Competition. She then undertook an extensive touring programme of the UK, including readings at Festivals in Whitby, Bath, Dumfries and Galloway, Falmouth and Castlereagh. Jean also performed at the Polyphonix Festival in Paris and at the Berlin Poetry Festival. 

In the spring of 2002, Jean was the lead artist in the pioneering cross-community Creative Partnership project in Manningham, Bradford. In the autumn she was commissioned by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to write a poem for Black History Month, which was read at the public launch in City Hall. Other key events included a performance for the Anti-Slavery Campaign, London and at the Commonwealth Writers Evening in Liverpool.
Among her media projects in 2002, Jean recorded work for 57 Productions’ new poetry jukebox project and the Poetry in Performance CD series, The Poetry Archive, Optic Nerve and Coleman Getty/WCRS. She also did a lot of radio work, in particular for the BBC programmes The Poetry Proms and Fine Lines. 

In the autumn of 2002 Jean was presented with a special award for her contribution to literature from the European Federation of Black Women Business Owners.

For 2003 Jean has a number of poetry readings lined up, as well as giving workshops and tutoring at various locations. She is also working on her first play for BBC Radio 4, entitled Carmella’s Island. Check out the 2003 Schedule below to find out more, or see www.57productions.com

Jean Binta Breeze on LKJ Records:
* Tracks (LKJ CD 007 – CD/ LKJ LP 007 – vinyl album)

Dennis Bovell

When not on tour with LKJ and the Dub Band (see below), Dennis usually takes on a lot of other projects, but 2002 was fairly quiet for him. In the earlier part of the year he went to Sweden to play at a reggae festival in Stockholm with his old friends, The Reggaetarians. In August he returned to Stockholm to play a dub reggae night at Stacy’s club, which is owned and run by the African reggae artist Dr Alban. Dennis also went over to Japan where he mixed a single for the group Dub Sense Mania, who are a sort of Augustus Pablo cult band. He then played with them at an event to celebrate the life of Bob Marley at Club Yellow in Tokyo.

This year Dennis will be returning to Tokyo to do a solo show, where he will play some of the records he has produced over the years. Dennis also hopes to spend some time working on his own recordings in 2003. He wants to do some new productions, but also hopes to reissue the five dub albums that he put out on the Rama label between 1975 and 1980. These were recorded at the Eve Studio in Brockley, London, with the aim to dispel the myth that reggae couldn’t be produced outside Jamaica, and were very successful at the time. Fans of Dennis’ innovative dub style will welcome their reissue. 

Dennis Bovell on LKJ Records:
* Dub of Ages (LKJ CD 015 – CD)
* Oh Mama Oh Papa (LKJ T3 – 12” single/ LKJS 001 – CD single)

Fizzè

2002 saw Fizzè setting up his new studio and upgrading everything to digital. He also began working on his new project, writing and recording children’s songs, which he is continuing in 2003. This year Fizzè is also finishing his new CD with the band Gumbo, which should be released in the spring. For further information about Fizzè, log on to www.mensch3000.ch

Fizzè on LKJ Records:
* The Peeni Waali Phenomenon (LKJ CD 019 – CD)

Winston Francis

As ever, Winston Francis was much in demand in 2002. Following the release of the hugely popular Heroes of Kingston album by Jamdown Records in 2002, Winston and some of the other artists on the record did a number of shows, among them events at Subterranea and The Forum in London. The shows received rave reviews. 

Throughout 2002 Winston was recording a new live album with A J Franklin from the group The Chosen Few. Produced by Terry Divine-King, the album (as yet untitled) should be released in March 2003 on the Prestige label. Winston also performed at some seven shows in 2002 with The Chosen Few. This year he is planning to do more shows and to record with them. 

Late in 2002 Winston took part in the The British Invasion event, which was the last of four shows in the Heineken Star Time gigs in Kingston, Jamaica. Held at the Maas Camp Village, performers included John Holt, Errol Dunkley, Horace Andy, Owen Grey, Alton Ellis and Jimmy James from The Vagabonds. The show was reviewed as being the best of the four events in the series. See what the papers said at www.startime.com.jm 

This year Winston will be opening the next series of Star Time shows, performing with The Chosen Few and Dave Barker in Jamaica in March. He also hopes to catch up with Dennis Bovell later in the year to do some recording with him. Finally, do look out for the new DVD just released by UB40, which includes their version of Winston’s classic song, Mr Fix It.

Winston Francis on LKJ Records:
* Sweet Rock Steady (LKJ CD 017 – CD)
* Come On Little Girl (LKJ CDS 003 – CD single)

Steve Gregory

Last year saw Steve continuing to teach regularly. He played at the New Wine Christian festival in Somerset in the summer and did some session work, most notably playing on the new album by gospel artist Graham Kendrick. Steve also played dinner jazz at various events. This year promises much the same for Steve.

Steve Gregory on LKJ Records:
* Bushfire (LKJ CD 011 – CD)

Linton Kwesi Johnson

LKJ’s 2002 was hectic to say the least. His new collection, Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems was published in the Penguin Modern Classics series on 2 May 2002. Consequently Linton was in great demand from the media. He did interviews with The Bookseller, The Guardian (Saturday Review section), Newsweek, BBC Radio London, Reuters, One Word Radio, Poets & Writers Magazine (USA), BBC Radio 4’s The World Today, Air Jamaica’s in-flight magazine Skywritings, BBC Radio 3’s The Verb, CaribBeat in-flight magazine and regional press and radio in the UK and the USA among others. BBC 4 Television made a half-hour programme about LKJ and his work for their Profile series, which was shown in May and then repeated in August 2002. In December Linton was the guest on Desert Island Discs presented by Sue Lawley on BBC Radio 4. We received a great number of positive comments about the programme.

As well as touring with the Band (see below), Linton undertook a large number of solo poetry readings in 2002. He toured the UK, visiting Belfast (twice!), Exeter, Leicester, Norwich, Winchester, Edinburgh (twice!), Solihull, Liverpool, Hebden Bridge, Manchester, Darlington, Hay-On-Wye, Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Chester and Lancaster. He also read at the Ritzy cinema, Brixton as part of the annual International Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

In January 2002 LKJ was invited to do a poetry reading and to present a paper at the second Conference on Caribbean Culture at the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. He was delighted to perform at this conference, which was honouring one of his icons, Kamau Brathwaite, the acclaimed poet, writer, historian and lecturer. Linton’s paper, Remembering Mikey Smith: Mikey, Dub and Me, was well received and reported on in the Jamaica Observer and Gleaner newspapers.

In addition to this, Linton flew over to the US early last year to make a guest appearance on the TV show, Def Poetry Jam, televised on the HBO Channel. He also read poetry at the Guadeloupe Book Fair and at the Heidelberg Festival in Germany. Judging by the book sales, the German audience were pleased to see Linton’s poems published in translation in the new book Die Neue Wortordnung (New Word Hawdah) by Agentur Machtwort. 

As usual, LKJ undertook a number of community events in 2002. He read at the George Padmore Institute with its founder, John La Rose, in March and later chaired events at the Institute with Kamau Brathwaite and Choice FM founder Neil Kenlock. He also was MC for Kamau’s reading at the Africa Centre, London. LKJ read for sixth formers at London’s City and Islington College and at the Centre for Caribbean Medicine, St Thomas’ Hospital for their annual fundraising event. He also performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London for Talawa Theatre Company, which is trying to raise money to build/buy Britain’s first black theatre.  In the summer Linton was delighted to perform the ceremony to reopen Brixton Library, which had been closed for renovation work. He told assembled guests how important a resource the library had been for him when he was studying.

In 2002, Linton felt privileged to be honoured by his alma mater, Goldsmiths College, University of London, with an Honorary Fellowship. He will receive the award at their degree ceremonies this September.

As well as running LKJ Records and LKJ Music Publishers Ltd, Linton continues to be a Trustee of the George Padmore Institute and to support the Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign - see www.rsjc.org.uk. As 2002 was so incredibly hectic for Linton, this year he is looking forward to taking some time off, although he is planning to put out a new live CD and DVD.

Linton Kwesi Johnson on LKJ Records:
* LKJ in Dub Volume 2 (LKJ CD 002 – CD)
* LKJ Live in Concert With the Dub Band (LKJ CD 003 – CD)
* Tings An Times (LKJ CD 013 – CD)
* LKJ A Cappella Live (LKJ CD 016 – CD )
* More Time (LKJ CD 018 – CD/ LKJ LP 018 – vinyl album)
* LKJ in Dub Volume 3 (LKJ CD 021 – CD/ LKJ LP 021 – vinyl album)
* Liesense Fi Kill (LKJ T4 – 12” single)
Linton Kwesi Johnson on LKJ Music:
* Inglan Is A Bitch (book)
* Voices of the Living and the Dead (book)
* Tings An Times (book)

John Kpiaye

In 2002 John did some session work when he wasn’t playing with the Dennis Bovell Dub Band. He played on the album Realities in Darkness by the Kenyan artist Tshakaz Black Roots, which was released in Kenya and has done well over there. He also taught music and guitar and played on the local jazz scene with other musicians in the Cambridge area in 2002. John has no major plans for 2003. He continues to teach and play jazz locally, and says that he is ‘very optimistic’ about this year!

John Kpiaye on LKJ Records:
* Red, Gold and Blues (LKJ CD 012 – CD/ LKJ LP 012 – vinyl album)

LKJ & the Dennis Bovell Dub Band

2002 saw LKJ and the Dennis Bovell Dub Band playing gigs from March to November. The Band started off by visiting Stockholm and Malmo in Sweden and then went over to the Caribbean to play in Guadeloupe and Martinique. As usual, they played a number of gigs in France, and in 2002 they also did a short tour of Italy, visiting Naples, Rome, Pisa and Turin. The band also performed in Switzerland.

In the autumn of 2002 LKJ and the Dennis Bovell Dub Band took on a major US tour. They performed all over America, visiting Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Washington DC and New York, as well as a quick hop across the border to do a show in Vancouver, Canada. The shows were well received by enthusiastic audiences everywhere and it was good to see this enthusiasm stretch to the website, where the orders for CDs and books have literally been flowing in since September. We hope that the new website continues to be as popular!

For 2003, apart from a new live album and DVD, there aren’t many plans for touring, enabling band members to pursue their own projects.

Daniel Spahni, our Swiss drummer, is always busy when he isn’t been playing with the Dub Band. In 2002 a band that he also performs with, L’Ensemble Rayé, released their fourth album, Les Contrepoints Cardinaux, distributed by Kein & Aber. Spahni also played some gigs with the group The Mad Lighters, a Swiss reggae band, to promote their third CD, Freedom Call. For 2003, Spahni will play some concerts with Larsen Rupin across Europe, to coincide with the release of their new album Contredanses. In the summer Spahni’s looking forward to the release of his second CD with Spahni’s Dub Dancers, entitled Sunny Spot. For more info about Spahni, log on to www.spahni.org

Fabio Marchiori, one of the Dub Band’s keyboard players, regularly plays keyboards and percussion for an association called Todomodo in his native Italy. The assembly of some 60 musicians, singers, dancers and choir put on a show last year entitled Music-All, performing songs from various musicals. Fabio also plays with Bobo from the band Ottavo Padiglione, in a show which includes music and comedy. Last year Fabio played on Spahni’s Dub Dancers album, and he also finds time to arrange and write songs for various artists, as well as film scores, in his own studio. In 2003 Fabio is hoping to form his own reggae band.

Do also check out the website of the Dub Band’s other keyboard player Nick Straker, at www.nickstraker.com 

Various Artists on LKJ Records:
* Real Keen: Reggae Into Jazz by Shake Keane (LKJ CD 001 – CD/ LKJ C1 – cassette)
 * LKJ Presents by various artists (LKJ CD 014 – CD)

Forthcoming Events for 2003

7 February - Gig at La Case-à-Chocs, Neuchâtel, Switzerland by Larsen Rupin, with Daniel Spahni on drums
Info: www.spahni.org
Email: spahni@spahni.org

8 February - Workshops with Jean Binta Breeze for Lancaster Spotlight, UK
Info: www.57productions.com

28 February - Performance by Jean Binta Breeze at Uppingham College, UK
Info: www.57productions.com

3 March - Performance by Jean Binta Breeze at Pure Poetry/ Soho Theatre, London
Info: www.57productions.com

14 March - Performance by Jean Binta Breeze at Portsmouth Arts Centre
Info: www.57productions.com

14-19 April - Course tutored by Jean Binta Breeze at the Arvon Foundation
Info: www.57productions.com

25 April - Gig at La Coupole, Bienne, Switzerland (Humanitarian benefit concert) by The Mad Lighters with Daniel Spahni on drums. Other performers include Rico Rodriguez and The Imperials.
Info: www.spahni.org
Email: spahni@spahni.org

25 April - Poetry reading with Linton Kwesi Johnson. This is part of Frontières, a three-day Franco-British Writers’ Festival about the theme of Identity, organised by the British Council/La Maroquinerie. Reading at 2130 (9.30pm) at La Maroquinerie, 23 rue Boyer, 75020 Paris, France
Info: www.frontieres.fr  or tel.+33 (0)1 49 55 73 93

26 April - Gig at La Case-à-Chocs, Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Humanitarian benefit concert) by the Mad Lighters with Daniel Spahni on drums. Other performers include Rico Rodriguez and The Imperials.
Info: www.spahni.org
Email: spahni@spahni.org

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