English musician and poet Benjamin Zephaniah publicly refuses British Queen's honor!

English musician and poet Benjamin Zephaniah, not widely known by the Brazilian public, publicly rejected an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II of England. Zephaniah announced his refusal of the invitation in an article published in the newspaper "The Guardian", stating that the honor reminded him of thousands of years of brutality against his ancestors and is a legacy of English colonialism.

Benjamin broke with the convention that all those nominated to receive such an honor could only reject it privately. The Black poet, who has released several albums such as "Too Black, Too Strong", "Pen Rhytm", "Back to Roots", "Rasta", among others in the "Dub Poet" style, had been nominated to receive the Medal of the Order of the British Empire. Criticizing Minister Tony Blair and the Monarchy, Zephaniah made harsh statements about the British Colonial past and the war in Iraq, sending a direct message to Blair and the Queen: "Pay attention, Mr. Blair and Madam Queen, stop behaving like an empire".

The award, given twice a year, is presented to people who have achieved exceptional accomplishments or rendered great services to the British community. For those who do not know Benjamin Zephaniah's sound and enjoy the Dub Poet style, it is worth checking out his work, which is quite hard to find in the country, considering they are all imports.

The style followed by Zephaniah is the same as Mutabaruka, Linton Kwesi Johnson, among other great exponents of Reggae. "Dub Poet" consists mainly of literally recited poetry, generally with Reggae Roots instrumentals in the background. It is the style of Reggae whose lyrics (poems) are most marked by Social Criticism of Racial Segregation and Oppression of Black people, among other themes. True manifestations of dissatisfaction with the System can be heard in the voice of Zephaniah and other famous Poets, who found in music the perfect combination to express their ideas.