Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/560195
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 AUGUST 2015 40 This Week A look into Jamaica's violent past Marlon James – A Brief History of Seven Killings ROBERT PISANI IN 1976, two days before he was going to headline the Smile Jamai- ca concert, singer Bob Marley and his wife Rita were the victims of a botched assassination attempt by a group of Jamaican Labour Party affiliates. At the time, the supporters of the two major political par- ties, the leftist People's National Party (PNP) and the conserva- tive Jamaican Labour Party, were involved in violent gang warfare. Although the Smile Jamaica con- cert was supposed to have no political affiliations, it eventually received funding from the rul- ing party, PNP. Despite having a bullet lodged in his arm, Marley went ahead with concert and af- terwards emigrated to the U.K for two years. This atmosphere of political un- rest and violence is the backdrop to Marlon James' 'A Brief History of Seven Killings'. James' novel is a complex piece of work. He chronicles the events leading to the shooting, the after- math and Jamaican social struc- ture through different viewpoints. The cast in A Brief History totals to over 75 characters and James creates different literary voices for all of them - dons, rock jour- nalists, politicians, gang members and CIA agents all give their point of view of the shooting in Jamai- can patois, colloquial English and American slang. This novel is a whole mash up of language, cul- tures and attitudes. Midway through the novel (or after the shooting), the main gang dons leave the violence of the Ja- maican ghetto and move to the U.S. in order to deal crack co- caine. Ultimately, they delve into another jungle with just as many bullets and fatalities. Clearly gang warfare never ends and James pounds this point deep into the ground. Due to its intricate nature, A Brief History of Seven Killings is not an easy read. A strong sug- gestion before tackling the book would be to conduct some back- ground research on Jamaican politics during the late seventies and early eighties. It also helps to consult an online dictionary of Ja- maican patois. Despite the amount of protago- nists, James manages in making each individual distinctive, how- ever the character who stands out the most is Nina Burgess, whose personality shifts and morphs throughout the novel. Her obser- vations of Jamaican and U.S. so- ciety make her James' mouthpiece for Caucasian attitudes towards Jamaicans, either on home turf or abroad. At times A Brief History can be a chore to read. While I enjoy actu- ally reading a book, in this case I was glad I managed to finish the novel as I saw it as a challenge. It is definitely not a novel to read once as I am sure that with fur- ther readings more of its 'charm' will be revealed. I will say that the accolades for ambitious novels in this vein ('dazzling' and 'original' among others) are deserved. It is defi- nitely not unreadable and after a time, the use of patois sounds like poetry and it helped me see some reggae lyrics (cf Dillingers' 'Cocaine in my Brain' or Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves') in a different light. If you are up to the test or have excellent knowledge of the subject mat- ter then go for it. You will be rewarded nicely. On my copy of the book there is a glowing quote by author Ir- vine Welsh on the cover. I can see why such a book would ap- peal to him. Welsh's first novel Trainspotting, like A Brief His- tory, contains a mixture of dia- lects, drugs and music. There's also use of different viewpoints to describe the same scene. The main difference is that Welsh's main character Rent- on manages to overcome his heroin addiction and escape, while no one escapes the vio- lence of ghetto life that James describes. You are born into it and you cannot choose to leave it. You can shoot or be shot and eventually, you will be shot. novel as I saw it as a challenge. It is definitely not a novel to read once as I am sure that with fur- ther readings more of its 'charm' I will say that the accolades for ambitious novels in this vein ('dazzling' and 'original' among others) are deserved. It is defi- nitely not unreadable and after a time, the use of patois sounds like poetry and it helped me see some reggae lyrics (cf Dillingers' 'Cocaine in my Brain' or Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves') Fusing words and dance in poesíaFlamenca POETRY and dance will come to- gether at St James Cavalier through poesíaFlamenca, a fusion of Maltese poetry and Spanish dance. Directed by Bettina von Brockdorff, four pro- fessional dancers, one musician and two poets explore different areas of Spanish dance through a storyline il- lustrated through poetry. The project is the most recent fla- menco production by local dance company Inspiración Flamenca, which will be premiered for the purpose of this project. Both 'puro' flamenco and 'Danza Estilizada' as well as contemporary flamenco will feature in this production. Maltese poetry will be read by the poets and will complement the dancing. There are three themes embedded in this production and each theme will be introduced by the poets and will consist of various dances and poems. Although flamenco stems from Spanish culture, today it has become a globalized art and fusing it with other arts, in this case, Maltese literature, has provided a novel step in flamenco's evolution. The group is directed by Bettina von Brockdorff. The flamenco com- pany includes von Brockdorff, Rob- ert Scicluna, Caroline Caruana. Ca- jón instrument played by Caroline Mattocks. Marisha Bonnici, Bettina von Brockdorff and Robert Scicluna will perform the Danza Estilizada and poets Norbert Bugeja and Walid Nabhan will read their work. The time of performance is 8pm Dates 18-19th Sept Tickets: www.sjcav.org or 21223200 L to R: Caroline Caruana, Robert Scicluna, Bettina von Brockdorff (Photo by G. Abdilla)