For as long as he can remember, Chet Singh has had something to say, but it was some 40 years ago that passionate activism found its voice — a voice that has since resounded with many.
Dub poetry has been Singh’s outlet since then and remains very much so, with the upcoming Public Energy-fuelled release of Age of Rage, his sixth album, providing full evidence of that.
Joined by two-time Juno Award recipient Lillian Allen — the widely heralded godmother of rap, hip-hop, and spoken word poetry and Toronto’s current poet laureate — and his longtime collaborators Caylie and Gerhard Gepard, Singh will perform from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday (November 17) at The Pig’s Ear at 144 Brock Street in downtown Peterborough.
“My first job in Peterborough, in 1982, was serving beer at The Pig’s Ear,” laughs the Jamaican-born Singh, calling the clientele “working-class Peterborough.”
“You couldn’t write the orders down,” he adds. “You had to memorize them because those guys drank beer like shots.”
A Trent student at the time, Singh wasn’t all beer tray and no say.
Quite the opposite, as he became increasingly involved in the anti-apartheid movement and, with others, formed the genesis of what became the Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough, which remains active to this day.
“There were a lot of attacks against Nigerian and Venezuelan students at the time, and a lot of assaults against women on the street … that’s when Take Back The Night started,” recalls Singh, who at the time co-founded One Mind — Peterborough’s first reggae band — and brought dub poetry to his activism.
“One Mind was a complete accident,” recalls Singh, a Lakefield resident who teaches humanities at Centennial College in Toronto, where he also developed a course on social justice and the environment that is mandatory for all students.
“There was an event at Trent called Cultural Outreach that I found a bit problematic. It was like ‘Okay, here is Jamaican dance. Here is food from Thailand.’ Rather than trying to understand the diversity of humanity, it was more stereotypical. Culture is dynamic and always changing. It’s full of tension and possibility. I decided ‘I’m going to disrupt this narrative.’ It was just a one-off. I decided to read political poetry to punk music.”
When he returned to Peterborough in 1993 to work at Fleming College where he developed and implemented equity, diversity and policies, Singh continued his activism. He co-founded, with Andrea Fatona, the Peterborough Anti-Racist Anti-Oppression Coalition as a means of challenging local institutions to address discriminatory policies and practices.
Dub poetry remained the constant during his second Peterborough coming. He performed and recorded with Peterborough reggae band Dub Trinity and, in 2007, recorded and released his debut solo album, Darkness of Daylight.
“Dub poetry comes out of the reggae music tradition,” explains Singh.
“When you look at the origins of reggae, it was an anti-racist decolonization movement in some ways. A lot of the poets came to Canada, and of course the UK and so on. But what’s significant is dub poetry in Canada was very broad in its reach. It wasn’t just primarily talking about racism or colonialism, imperialism and wars. Lillian (Allen) was among those that broadened it to look at gender issues and feminism, and the way government is structured and doesn’t serve the people.”
“Dub poetry is very niche but Lillian had people who were involved in the feminist and LGBTQ movements, et cetera. Dub poetry, in the Canadian context, has always been a commentary on what’s happening in Canada, particularly the stuff I do. I’m grounded very much in my own reality.”
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In a world that is becoming increasingly polarized and divisive, a global landscape where war, ethnic cleansing, predatory capitalism, ecological disasters, and backlash against equity and diversity initiatives dominate headlines, there’s no shortage of issues for Singh to wax dub poetic on. That said, he sees the art form evolving.
“Dub poetry has influenced other art forms,” he says, noting when Jamaicans flocked to New York City, the resulting hybridization also brought forth the rap and hip-hop movement.
“My stuff is somewhat Canadian in the sense that I’m not using a lot of reggae anymore. I work with local musicians. A lot of people want to do the reggae thing. I love reggae, that’s my heartbeat, but I want to explore my environment, my local soundscape, what’s happening in my community.”
While reflective of that desire, Age of Rage, says Singh, is also “an album for now.”
“What’s going on in the world today has influenced all of the pieces. It’s about our current condition. When I started working with (album co-producer) Gerhard (Gephard), the first few pieces didn’t really go anywhere, but all of it is influenced by what’s going on now.”
“Whether it’s my best work, I don’t know. There are a couple of pieces I didn’t want to put on this album, but Gerhard insisted I put them on. They are two of my more personal pieces. When I wrote Canadian Studies 101, it was a stream-of-consciousness thing. Gerhard asked ‘Did this actually happen? Did a guy kick over a table at one of your workshops?’ When I listened to it I just didn’t like it, but he said ‘Look man, you’ve got to leave it because it speaks to me as a white liberal’.”
“The other is titled Father. I didn’t want people to think it’s personal. It is partly, but really it’s more universal. Gerhard said a lot of people that listened to it said that’s their father. It connected with people, so I left it in.”
What will be clear at his album release — in his eyes, in his voice, and in his body language — is Singh’s continued passion for the expressive art form that has given voice to his activism for four decades plus.
“For everyone involved in putting their creative stuff out there, they hope to expose more people to their art form,” says Singh.
“But to be honest, when I did that first event (in response to Cultural Outreach), it was an activist act of resistance to a particular narrative. I think all of my dub poetry is that. What I’m really doing is looking at the dominant narratives — the common-sense assumptions we make about politics, the economy, and each other — and I’m challenging people to look at things in different ways.”
Buoyed by the response to his performance in August at the Peterborough Folk Festival, Singh is looking forward to the album release.
“I’m excited that Lillian is with us — that’s quite an honour,” he says. “I’ve been performing with Caylie, which has been very good. It’s very different than performing with Gerhard, which is of a jazz thing. Anything would happen. It was never the same. With Caylie, there’s more of a stability. When Gerhard joins us, there more of that jazz thing, so it’ll be interesting.”
Asked if he feels blessed to be able to still do what he does so well and that there remains an audience for his work, Singh says he “never really thought of it that way.” Rather, he says, it’s an extension of his mission to be who he wants to be.
“My humanity lies in making myself a better person in whatever way I can, working toward making society a better place,” Singh says.
“I’m not a religious person but I look at people that are Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, or whatever, and all their prophets are telling us to be better people and build better societies. Then there’s this conflict. I don’t get it. I guess that’s what compels me to do this kind of stuff.”
Admission to Singh’s November 17th album release party at The Pig’s Ear is free, although donations and purchases of Age of Rage are welcomed.
For more information on Chet Singh, and to listen to and order Age of Rage online, visit www.chetsingh.com.
