BY KAVELLE ANGLIN-CHRISTIE, Staff Reporter
Pum Pum poets, Chandis, (right) and mother Sajoya Alcott. - FABIAN LEGISTER
Nuh wreck yu pum pum
Yu fi check yu pum pum
Know seh yu precious
Yu fi pet yu pum pum
Nuh figet yu pum pum
Is the passage of life
For a girlfriend or wife
Babymadda, matey, lover
Or a mistress undercover
- 'Pum Pum Respec', Sajoya Alcott and Chandis.
THE TERM 'PUM pum' is widely used to refer to the vagina, yet it is usually met with disdain or treated like a 'bad word'. However, Pum Pum poets, Sajoya Alcott and daughter, Chandis are slowly trying to change the perception of the pum pum.
"It came to us in terms of a mission - to speak out about our sexuality. Not only about black women and Rastafarians, because we don't want to box ourselves in, but how pum pum is perceived and how dancehall portrays it, which is in a derogatory way. The term was carved by men and so we are using our own voice to speak for ourselves," said Chandis.
Alcott spoke of how pum pum poetry began: "The embryo for Pum Pum poetry was planted in 1999 when I composed a song, No Pum Pum No Music Deal as part of a play I wrote entitled Feel Di Riddim. The song (and play) was influenced by the attitude of male producers towards female artists in the Jamaican music industry."
Pum Pum poetry is performed with music and addresses a range of issues, including male and female relationships, sexual abuse and violence and it doesn't take much to figure that this is the opposite of what many would expect to hear at a performance.
Alcott says the unexpected topics sometimes cause a problem. Alcott shared an experience they had: "We went through different stages. When we first came out, people didn't know what to expect ... A particular nightclub called and we were billed to do a show and I believe that perhaps the audience was expecting something else. There was another time, when some people wanted us for adult parties and the person who called us was asking us to come and set them up with women or strippers."
PUM PUM POETRY
Chandis says: "When someone hears pum pum poetry, they get a smirk, but when we tell them what it's all about, the smirk disappears. As far as sexual abuse goes, some people will ask 'Why are you beating it with a stick?' but so many people you meet are people who were abused as a child, and so many stories keep coming up."
Still, the two have come a long way and recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of pum pum poetry being trademarked.
Another obvious issue that the two deal with, without knowing it, is the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship. Not many mothers and daughters would feel comfortable delving into sexuality, the way Sajoya and Chandis do, but they say it seemed natural to work together.
"For me, it's a lot of fun. I don't feel any problem because my mother has always been so free and in a conscious way allows me to make my mistakes without judgement," says Chandis.
OVERCOME FEAR
Sajoya, also an entertainment lawyer and host of the radio talk show, Frank and Upfront says she wasn't always comfortable talking about sexuality. "Especially in the early days, it was really difficult for me to listen to certain kinds of poetry that Chandis did, but when I came to the stage that I was able to read some of my poetry for my own mother, it wasn't so bad."
Another way that Alcott overcame her fear was through one of her characters, Empress Erotica. "Sometimes when I perform, I will come out with the whip, fish-net stockings and the men will get so turned on. Then when I start, I crack the whip and say 'Whip a child molester!' They were really shocked," she laughed.
The two work with Jamaica Aids Support, (JAS), and say they are also looking forward to going into schools to inform children about the do's and don'ts surrounding sexuality.
"We want to talk to them about being aware and not being touched, how to protect themselves and to beware if someone has been inappropriate with them. I have seen the court system and how difficult it is to prove sexual offences, especially when the victim is a child," said Chandis.
That aside, the two have been working on their album. "We have been recording and so far we have done Rain Dance, Cream of the Crop, Good Wife and some others. We were hoping that we would have come out with it already, but because the music that we use is original, we want to make it as perfect a product as possible."
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