Dwayne Morgan – The People's Poet

Dwayne Morgan – The People’s Poet

4 November 2010 One Comment

By Atkilt Geleta

Dwayne Morgan

As a teenager a young Dwayne Morgan, who wasn’t really into poetry, performed a piece for his school assembly and unwittingly aligned his stars. A few ladies from the community were drawn to that composition, and he was soon commissioned as a volunteer at various events where he would perform that single poem, In Search of the True Brother, over and over. Encouraged by the reception and growing tired of repeating that piece, he started writing. 17 years later, he’s produced three books, three albums, two chapbooks, countless performances, hundreds of events and collected a cluster of awards. Included among the former will be his annual When Brothers Speak poetry concert taking place this Saturday at Toronto Centre for the Arts.

When Brothers Speak is the largest spoken word poetry concert in North America, and as he proudly affirmed “is born in Toronto, and happens here in Toronto.” That may not entirely be true anymore, since it’s expanded to Ottawa this year with still more plans to expand south of the border in the very near future. Reminiscing on the show’s beginnings, Dwayne recalls being surprised at seeing 400 people attend the inaugural concert 12 years ago, “when you had no idea if people would be interested in the first place.” Now with patrons attending from as far as California, Brothers Speak boasts some of the top artists in the field.

Conscious of some misconceptions of spoken word, he offered “It’s not a poetry show in the sense that people come there and they just sit on their hands and they just listen to stuff. It’s very interactive, very call and response, very energetic. That’s why I always describe it as a spoken word concert.” In the lead up to the event, Sway spoke with the people’s poet laureate to discuss his origins, black male stereotypes, traveling, and his uber-talented high-school alma mater.

I read that you started Up From the Roots [your promotions company] because you couldn’t find enough places to perform, so you started hosting events. How old were you then, and how has the scene changed since?

At the time I was 18 years old. The scene has changed now that there’s a lot more infrastructure, a lot more opportunities for artists to get on stage and do their thing. There’s a lot more notice being taken of Canadian artists. So definitely over that amount of time things have progressed towards a positive way in all aspects of the arts really.

Ok so what’s your take on the following statement – there’s a rigid and limited representation of black males in media and society at large, and a tremendous pressure, conscious or unconscious, to conform to those stereotypes.

I think that is true and that’s one of the reasons I keep When Brothers Speak going because it is necessary to show a more holistic approach to the image of black men – to show that there are articulate, intelligent, empathetic black men who exist as opposed to the materialistic, misogynistic image that’s taken over popular culture. It’s necessary to have that balance where you know that that other aspect exists. The aspect that you see on stage at When Brothers Speak is often hidden. We like to put that to the forefront and show people we actually think about things beyond money, girls and cars, and can actually articulate those issues.

Right. Did you find growing up that that’s something you had to tackle? Did you feel boxed in or a pressure to conform, and maybe that’s where your art comes from?

I’ve just never been that person in any kind of way. I can’t really say I felt that pressure. I mean I know the pressure’s there, and I know people who fall to the pressure and have to get all the latest name brand things to kind of feel like they fit in or whatever. I was just never that person. I think I’ve always just kind of gone against the grain and that’s kind of the same today with the stuff that I do. How many people out there make a living off of poetry? So I’m just constantly going against the grain.

I have another statement that hopefully you can finish off – spoken word or dub poetry is a tool to…

A tool to engage, to enlighten, to express, to entertain, to critique; it’s very diverse and versatile in the things that it can do. I think that also plays into the success of a show like When Brothers Speak, because you might not feel the first poet but the second poet might speak directly to you because his style is a little different, or his perspective is a little different. So, it is vast and varied enough that everybody can participate in it and gain something from it.

I know that you travel a lot with your work, you’ve been all over Europe – Germany, Holland, Scotland etc. What’s the reception like there? Do the expressions and culturally specific idioms translate to those audiences, or is there a gap?

Definitely the first time I went over there, there was a huge gap. That was my first time over there and I didn’t know what to expect. It really opened up my eyes and I realized the importance of travel, and being able to see and experience different things. So that changes my work in such a way that I began not writing local stories but starting to write human stories. Anywhere I went to, they would resonate because it’s human beings going through the exact same thing no matter where we are. So instead of writing the Scarborough story, now I could write a global story and it just makes it easier to travel across borders because the story is applicable everywhere.

I went to the [So Much Things to Say] speaker series at Manifesto and I heard Weyni Mengesha speak. She mentioned you guys went to the same high-school. So was there anything about that school or that particular time that promoted and cultivated the arts?

It’s really weird because we had such a small black population and even smaller non-white population, and there are so many success stories that have come out of that school. Myself, there’s another gentlemen Kevin Weekes who was a goaltender in the NHL for over ten years, we have Weyni, we have Joel Gordon who’s won a number of awards for some of the documentaries and some acting stuff that he’s done, Jay Manuel who’s on America’s Next Top Model – all of us were in that high-school all at the same time. I have no clue what it was, but it’s something I guess [laughs]. It’s just great to see that we had that kind of energy amongst us, and that we’re all still doing stuff.

You yourself have gone on to accomplish quite a lot. You’ve won a whole host of awards. To list a few you have the African Canadian Achievement Award, the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence, [you’ve won] an Urban Music Award several times, etc. What’s next, what more do you want to achieve with this? What’s driving you at this point?

Well I’m a competitor by nature, and I’m constantly competing with myself for things that I want to do. So as soon as one thing is finished I try to figure out what’s the next thing that I could do. So I’m still trying to build When Brothers Speak. Tomorrow night we’re going to do the show in Ottawa, and in Toronto on Saturday. Next year hopefully we’re going to add Buffalo to that, maybe every year add a city to it so it actually becomes its own little circuit. From there really just looking to continue to get back on the road internationally and build my reputation internationally as well. [I’m going to] work on some music stuff, I have a new album that’s written, just have to go in the studio with the band and record. So you know, constantly keeping motivated and keeping on top of things and trying to be relevant.