THE BOOT BOX
March 2005

DUB TRINITY & CHET SINGH:
DUB TRINITY & CHET SINGH. 2004

What do we have here, a North American LKJ? Unton Kwesi Johnson without the sonorous voice but with the highly charged lyrics, highly developed social conscience, and rootical reggae band behind? It's an obvious comparison. Dub poet-deejay-singer-chanter Chet Singh is from Jamaica, but *Dub Trinity' is actually a dub duality from the Toronto area: Beau Dixon and Gregory Roy. Together they do their own updating of a grand Afro-Cartbbean musical tradition, ultimately the same tradition that brought us the talking blues, and it shows.

It shows in the lyrics: angry, sardonic, sarcastic, satiric, biting, pointed, irreverent, derisive, even reflective—everything our old English teachers should have taught us poetry could be. As well as literate, of course. We need the critical, outspoken observers of society who can put their observations into music, the Bruce Cockbums, Billy Braggs, LKJs and Chet Singhs. With their strategically targeted enemies they can inflict a lot more verbal damage than any number of reggae/ragga firebrands who generally want to bum down Babylon.

"My name is Joe Duplicity," Singh proclaims over quick drumming and steady rhythm guitar, "I livein New York City; I watch the TV and I get confused...' Another track, 'Angels of Mercy," starts with a drum roll and the kind of easy flowing organ riff you'd hear in an old rocksteady instrumental, but the good feeling is interrupted: "a special newsflash: ten Palestinians dead today, five Israelis dead today;" a simple sing-song chorus repeats the death count. The juxtapositions of musical elements, as well as the lyrics themselves, deliver a strong statement. Like LKJ, Singh often uses very specific circumstances and factual events to make his points; the specific becomes universal. "Counter Attack* is an example: Its lyrics cover Canadian politics both federal and provincial in which names are named—but those lyrics also explore broader themes of Interest to all earth dwellers: air and water pollution, the disparity of rich versus poor, the policies of the world bank. The reggae is likewise strong. Arrangements and rhythms differ from track to track, and dub elements abound—two of the nine tracks are pure dub, in fact.

The relaxed tempo and reflective mood of the last track stay with me: "Twas another lazy Sunday/And I was sitting on the grass now/Watching the sun come and wondering/Why, why, why, in the abundance of water, plenty cups are empty..." Sometimes I wonder too. It seems a very natural thing that such musings should be set to a deep and potent reggae beat.

Reviews bv Ted "The Boot" Boothroyd