BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-CANADIAN " LILLIAN ALLEN " IS A CANADIAN DUB POET, REGGAE MUSICIAN, WRITER AND JUNO AWARD WINNER : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

          BLACK    SOCIAL   HISTORY                                                                                                                            

Lillian Allen

Lillian Allen is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno award winner.^[1]

Biography

Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the City University of New York.^[2] She lived for a time inKitchener, Ontario, before settling in Toronto, where she continued her education at York University, gaining a B.A.^[3] After meeting Oku Onuora in Cuba in 1978, she began working in dub poetry.^[2] She released her first recording, Dub Poet: The Poetry of Lillian Allen, in 1983.

Allen won the Juno Award for Best Reggae/Calypso Album for Revolutionary Tea Party in 1986 and Conditions Critical in 1988.^[3] Both albums were produced by Billy Bryans, the percussionist for Canadian dance-pop band Parachute Club.

In 1991 she collaborated on the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause", a plea for greater inclusion of hip hop music in the Canadian music scene, with Dance Appeal, asupergroup of Toronto-area musicians that included Devon, Maestro Fresh Wes, Dream Warriors, B-Kool, Michie Mee, Eria Fachin, HDV, Dionne, Thando Hyman, Carla Marshall, Messenjah, Jillian Mendez, Lorraine Scott, Lorraine Segato, Self Defense, Leroy Sibbles, Zama and Thyron Lee White.^[4]

In 2006 Allen and her work were the subject of an episode of the television series Heart of a Poet, produced by Canadian filmmaker Maureen Judge. She is a Faculty of Liberal Studies Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, where she teaches creative writing. She recently held the distinction of being the first Canada CouncilWriter-in-Residence for Queen's University's Department of English. Allen also co-produced and co-directed Blak Wi Blakk, a documentary about the Jamaican dub poetMutabaruka.^[3][5]

• 1999 Psychic Unrest

Discography

• Dub Poet: The Poetry of Lillian Allen (1983)
• De dub poets (1985)
• Curfew Inna B.C. (1985)
• Revolutionary Tea Party (1986)
• Let the Heart See (1987)
• Conditions Critical (1988)
• Nothing But a Hero (1992)
• Freedom & Dance (1999)
• Anxiety (European release) (2012)