Jamaica Gleaner
Published: Friday | October 9, 2009
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'Kiss Mi Neck' another album - Yasus Afari launches poetry collection in UK

Jamaican dub poet Yasus Afari launched his latest album, Kiss Mi Neck, at The Karibu Education Centre in Brixton, London, on Sunday as part of his worldwide promotion.

"The atmosphere was electric even before the event commenced and the venue was pregnant with good uplifting vibes and expectation as early as an hour before the announced commencement," said Yasus Afari.

At the launch, there were presentations from Paul Lawrence, a Jamaican-born motivational speaker and entrepreneur; Garfield Robinson of The Voice; Comedian Tony 'Paleface' Hendricks and poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

After the presentations, Yasus Afari performed some of his poems.

Word performances

While in the United Kingdom, Yasus Afari is slated to do spoken word performances, workshops and sessions for schools, health services and community groups.

After wrapping up his seven-week tour of the UK, he heads to the Parliament of the World's Religions in November in Melbourne, Australia, where he has been appointed an ambassador.

He will make a presentation on 'Rastafari - The Livity of Spirituality'.

Yasus Afari explained: "I and I see this role as promoting Rastafarian views on peace, love and harmony for all humanity. This has important potential for teaching and upliftment and I use my poetry and music, as well as sharing the information encapsulated in my book Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica's Gift to the World. Relating to the sights and sounds of the mental landscape that constitutes Rastafarian livity is an honour and also a tremendous responsibility."

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