Draft:Rauf Adu

Rauf Adu (1943 - 2022) was a Ghanaian-born poet, musician, playwright, and critic. He was of Asante heritage and was born in the  Asante region of Ghana. Adu's work dealt with the African and Afro-Caribbean experience in Britain; it has been cited as part of Pan-African literature and the 1970s and 1980s dub poetry movement. His subversive work engaged and experimented with genre and form. Adu was a politically active artist and resident of Brixton.

Music
He wrote, produced and released his first solo track, Echoes From Telentia, in 1981 under Arro Muzik Ltd. His second single, Burkino Faso was released on Copasetic Records in 1982. Rauf Adu produced for Arthur Brown, Aliki Ashman, and Dan-I. He released his debut album Human 2 Human in 1985 on Modtone Records. He toured the album with his band, Adu, and was broadcast on ITV's Rock on the Dock and German television. His musical style was described as "a slice of classy reggae based modern soul/pop music which delves into Adu's African, American and Caribbean influences".

Poetry, Plays and Writing
Rauf Adu's first poetry anthology, The Rise and Rise of General Gun was published by Karnak House in 1981 and has been cited as a part of Pan-African literature. Rauf Adu's poetry is also noted as a part of the rap and dub poetry that represented social and racial tensions of 1970s and 80s Britain; he is cited alongside poets such as Benjamin Zepaniah, John Agard, and Linton Kwesi Johnson His second collection The Nim Tree Chants was published by Ram Books in 1990.

Rauf Adu's first play, Musa, Rhumatu and The Seven-Eyed God premiered and ran at the Keskidee Centre in 1983. It has been cited as a pioneering part of Black and Asian theatre within Britain. His play The Day in the Life of an Onion was based on transcultural adoption and ran at The Southwark Playhouse in 1999.

He was a fixture at the Africa Centre in London. He engaged in cultural events with contemporaries such as Kwesi Owusu and Ngugi Wa' Thiongo. Rauf Adu was also a literary and art critic for The Voice, Root, West Africa Magazine, City Limits and Time Out.