What to know
- The Jamaican dub poet, reggae artist, and farmer sold his self-published poetry book on the street and performed at local festivals, including Rastafest and London Reggae Fest.
- He discussed the vibrant dub poetry scene in Toronto and his connections to reggae’s early pioneers.
- Ras Takura shared tips for indoor sprouting and promotes the Heirloom Seeds Exchange to preserve organic seeds.
- He aims to expand his book’s reach, release a second music album, and continue performing at festivals and events internationally.
One afternoon, after quickly stopping in Kensington Market to buy some pineapple and mango hot sauce from Caribbean Corner, a Rastafarian gentleman approached me at my car to buy his new poetry book. “How much?” I asked. “$20.” “I’ll give you ten.”
Turned out I didn’t have cash on me and during the few minutes it took to add his email to my bank app in order to do the e-transfer, I discovered he’s also a musician. I told him I was a music journalist. He gave me his CD, Food War. So old-school.
His name is Ras Takura, a Jamaican farmer, dub poet and reggae artist. He printed his book, The Man, The Seed & The Land, in Toronto and had two launch parties, one at A Different Booklist, the other in Brampton at Knowledge Bookstore. The 86-page, self-published book of poetry — which is as the title suggests — is available there, as well as Sonic Boom, House of Moses, and on Amazon. Ras Takura came to Toronto in August to perform at Rastafest on Eglinton Avenue, and ended up staying a few months. While here, he also performed at London Reggae Fest in late September, and Hope for Jamaica: A Community Hurricane Melissa Relief Concert, at the Jamaican Canadian Centre on Nov. 6.
Back home, he has been running Dub Poems & Agro Festival, for 14 years, slated this year for April 26. He is also part of the heirloom seed movement.
He talked to Now Toronto about the city’s dub poetry scene, how to grow sprouts in the city, and his plans for 2026.
What’s the scene like in Toronto for dub poetry? Do we have a good one?
Yes, it is a good scene. Dub poetry is a genre in Jamaica, which is the baby of reggae in a certain way because dub poetry formed in the same time when the earlier voices in reggae music were established by Bob Marley [and] Dennis Brown, at the same time as Oku Onuora Mutabaruka [and] Linton Kwesi Johnson. So, one of the closest things to reggae, apart from dancehall. So, in essence, wherever reggae music is played are a space for Jamaica music; there is a space for dub poetry.
It’s been a long time since someone’s come up to me in the street to sell me a book or CD. It’s very old school. I was kind of charmed by it. How well did that do, just going up to people in the street asking if they would buy your book?
I would say it was very successful because, put it this way, it was the 18th of September I printed the first batch of over 700 books and I sold them all. I leave there the 8th of December. So, I think it went well.
You sent me a photo with Olivia Chow. How did you meet the mayor?
I performed at the Jamaica Concert at the Jamaica Canadian Centre and she was there. She was expressing that she liked my style of music and presentation.
Did you give her your book?
I don’t think so. I gave one to the Jamaican Consulate. Just the fact that you mentioned the mayor [of Toronto,] I should say that the day after I did my launch in Brampton, I get a call from the mayor’s office and I receive a citation [certificate of recognition] from the Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown.
That’s cool. Let’s talk about your poetry book. You have tips in the back, but for a city dweller, how can we do indoor farming?
Depending on what you want to grow, there’s different tips. I like to tell people that you can grow sprouts in your house, vegetable sprouts, like different beans. You have mung bean sprouts; you can do adzuki beans; you can do lentils. There’s a lot of different beans and peas that you can actually sprout.
Sprout is an entire industry by itself. When a seed is sprouted, it’s at the peak of the nutrient content. That’s when it starts to shoot out the roots and it starts to shoot the part that go up in the air. This is something that I like to say to people that a plant is the only living organism that grows in two directions at the same time. It grows up and it grows down. That means the root is growing while the leaves are growing.
So, when a seed sprouts, it’s the highest content of nutrient that the plant will ever get. So, it’s the best time to consume it. And when you sprout a pound of seed, you get double the amount of seeds that you had.
Do you need a heat source indoors?
No, you wouldn’t. You would need normal room temperature. You soak the seeds for at least a day and if the seeds are broken, in most cases they won’t grow. So, if the seeds are broken, you separate them because if you leave them in there, they will have diseases and contaminate the other plants. So, the best thing to do is to remove all broken seeds. And then, once you have them soaked, you place them in a dark jar because seeds grow under the earth, which is a dark condition and you want to duplicate that condition for the seeds. So, you put them in a coloured container, and then you place them inside a cupboard.
How patient do you have to be?
Lentils will sprout within two days. When you put them in a cupboard, you want to rinse them every eight hours, probably twice a day. You can sprout most seeds that way, alfalfa, mung bean, adzuki. There’s a lot of vegetarian beans that you can do, even soya beans. And outside of the sprouting, other things you can grow, even cannabis. You could have a ganja tree in your house.
A lot of people are doing that.
Exactly, a lot of people are doing that so you could be growing it in your house.
What’s Heirloom Seeds Exchange Movement and the Seed Fi Seeds Exchange (there’s a logo on the back of his book)?
In Jamaica, where we have this annual Festival of Poetry and performances all day and we invite farmers to bring their seeds and trade seeds with each other so we can keep the organic heirloom seeds in circulation.
How long have you been doing your poetry festival for?
The next one we’ll be doing will be the 14th staging. It’s currently scheduled for the last Sunday in April.
Would you ever take your poetry festival on the road?
Yeah, I would definitely do that. I took the festival on the road, in certain ways before. I took it to Omaha, Nebraska. I also taught at the Malcolm X Foundation a couple times. So, I’ve done it before and I will do it again. I’m open to take it to Toronto.
When you were in Toronto for so many months, did you make connections to come back?
Definitely, I went to London Reggae Festival at the Covent Garden Market and the promoter’s looking forward to bringing me back. Also, [Consulate General] Raymond Smith from the Jamaica Consulate, we were in communication about doing something for the consulate, but it never happened but I’m sure the next time I’m back in Canada, I’ll definitely go and do some things for the youth.
You gave me your album, Food War, on CD. It was released in 2015, so over 10 years ago. Time for a follow up.
I’m currently working on the second album right now.
What are your other plans for 2026?
My plan is to put some more promotion in this book and get it more in the hands of people and I want to do some more performances. I’m open for performing and festivals, reggae festivals, poetry festivals, wherever. I’m open to travel.
