D’bi Young is coming to India

We chat with dub poetess D’bi.young Anitafrika, who was in the India to perform and to discover her roots.
She may be a a theatre artist by profession, but D’bi.young Anitafrika’s ambition is to be known as a dub poetess. “Dubpoetry is a political and musically charged form of poetry that emerged out of Jamaica in the late 1970s."
It is poetry of and for the people,” says Anitafrika, who says that her connection with the art form goes back to her childhood when “I watched my mother and her colleagues create this form of music when I was a child.”
Living in two different countries — Jamaica as a child, and Canada as an adult — has given D’bi an incredibly wide lens in her view of the world, and her experiences in both nations has heavily influenced her work.It looks like her two sons, whom she frequently takes on tour, will grow up to have the same outlook on life. D’bi started working on music when she was a teenager. “In fact, I started writing and singing when I was 13 and since then, I’ve had my hands full with different art forms. As a storyteller, I write poetry, songs, plays, music and then I go on to perform all of them,” she says. D’bi, who has been in the music and theatre industry for a decade, has produced four extended plays (EPs) and eight plays. She also has a few awards to her credit, like the Canadian poet of honour award.
Coming to India was part of a long-cherished dream for D’bi. “My grandfather is Indian, so being here is all about trying to reconnect with my family roots,” she explains. who is her favourite Indian musician and she replies, “Ravi Shankar.”