Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, ‘Cutting a Lime’ recording – PoetCasting report

To mark International Women’s Day, Leicester was host to a reading from the first female dub poet, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze. The reading was held in The Y Theatre, the venue for Leicester’s monthly short fiction and poetry nights. What made this event more notable was that it was being recorded by Breeze’s publishers, Bloodaxe. The recording which includes Dr. Jane Dowson interviewing Breeze about her life and work along with readings of new and older poetry will be included as a DVD in Breeze’s 2011 collection provisionally titled Cutting a Lime.

Breeze is a warm and inviting performer of her work; no surprise then to learn in the interview that she was trained in dramatic arts. The readings really showcased her thematic tendency to combine what Dowson called ‘the comic and the tragic’ – an urgent and contemporary political rallying call with the intimacy of the voices of her female Jamaican lineage. Breeze’s capacity for the sheer power of longer work was demonstrated in the first half when she read and sang a 10 minute piece about the influence of reggae on the world, hollering with the gusto of passion ‘they say you come from Bob Marley country’. Highlights of the new material included ‘Anthem for Black Britain’ (which you can hear on PoetCasting) and ‘Interview’.

Bloodaxe editor, Neil Astley – who attended the event, has made a very wise decision to invest in DVD production of Breeze’s work. The performance will invite readers of her work into the heady patois sound world her rhythms inhabit. Bloodaxe are becoming known as the press with the DVD-books, such as In Person: 30 Poets which includes films of poets from around the world reading their work.

Such content can be used in two ways; not only does it enhance the marketing of the books by allowing short extracts to be viewed online, but it further adds value to the book itself in a book selling climate that proves slim volumes alone often do not encourage readers to buy. Breeze’s performance last night would certainly prompt me to buy Cutting A Lime when it is published.