scholarship to the Jamaica School of Drama, although he dropped out after a year. In 1978, he and fellow dub poet Mikey Smith performed at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba, where he came to the attention of Lillian Allen; the performance inspired her to start the dub poetry scene back in Canada. Onuora married Adugo (née Phyllis Ranglin) in 1978, for which he had a name change, the name being chosen by his bride-to-be (who did not want to be identified as Mrs. Wong) with the help of an Afrikan Professor Umona. Their names were chosen from the Igbo language from the southeastern region of Nigeria. "Oku" means Fire / Light which burns oppression, while "Onuora" means voice of the people. His full name, Oku Nagba Ozala Onuora, translates as everlasting fire or light which burns oppression. Together with Adugo, Onuora founded the "Prugresiv Aartis Muvmant". The "Reflections in Red" single was his first musical release, and the first Jamaican dub poetry record, recorded with the backing of Wailers rhythm section Aston and Carlton Barrett at Tuff Gong studios and released in 1979 on Bob Marley's "56 Hope Road" label. The poem expressed his scepticism over the peace truce between Kingston's rival gangs, although he went on to perform at the One Love Peace Concert that celebrated the truce. ECHO, Onuora's first poetry collection, has been reprinted several times with some five editions, some translated into French/patois and one edition in German. Onuora toured Europe extensively, forming a friendship with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and released his first album, Pressure Drop, which featured several poems from ECHO, in France on the Blue Moon Music label and in the US on Heartbeat Records in 1986. He toured the United States and France with his AK7 (Armageddon Knights Column 7) band performing at the prestigious Angoulême Jazz Festival in France. Onuora concentrated on writing plays and directing drama for the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, but subsequently returned to poetry and music and recorded several instrumental dub albums, working with musician Courtney Panton. Onuora ceased to be involved in music in the 1990s due to what he called "negative elements" taking over. In 2010, Onuora announced a new album, entitled A Movement, and his intention to return to live performance. The album was released in May 2013, featuring pianist Monty Alexander and Sly and Robbie,