Oku Onuora

Oku Onuora & AK - Pressure Drop - Zola Zola

Dub poetry made a big impact on the international reggae market back in 79/80. Oku made his debut around ‘84 on the Heartbeat label. That album sounded the same as those early dub poetry set made back in the late seventies. This album is later still, but still sounds the same. So can dub poetry change? It is meant to change? Reggae music as dramatically, at least three times since the late seventies. Singers and DJ’s have adapted well to these changes, Poets though seem stuck in some late 70’s time warp, that makes it very difficult for them to be taken seriously.

Oku Onuora & AK - Bus Out - Zola Zola

A slight improvement on the ‘Pressure Drop’ set. That perhaps finally means that someone is actually thinking about what they are in doing in the general context of the music, rather than making another dub poetry album. It is possible to work outside of the current styles of reggae music. Burning Spear for example as has his own sound for the best part of 15 years. Spear’s sound though came from the roots, Dub Poetry or Dub Poets always seems to be looking for a larger market. Which always puts them odds with contemporary reggae music. When the likes of producers like Fatis, Bobby Digital etc, start producing dub poets, then it might sound right.