Jonathan Teuma’s latest book, Yaniku Universal, (Ybernia) will be formally launched at El Kasbah this coming Saturday 16th November. Jonathan Teuma will be performing with Chuck McCelland on the tenor sax and William Menez on bass guitar to form Poetrip and provide an evening of music and verse inspired in the poetic ramblings of Tom Waits, the jazz sessions of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation and the psychedelic flare of Morphine.  

A statement follows below:

Already available at the Heritage Trust Bookshop as well as at BookGem, Jonathan Teuma’s latest poetic adventure, Yaniku Universal, (Ybernia) will be formally launched at El Kasbah this coming Saturday 16th November. The Madrid based poet will join forces with Chuck McCelland on the tenor sax and William Menez on bass guitar to form Poetrip and provide an evening of music and verse inspired in the poetic ramblings of Tom Waits, the jazz sessions of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation and the psychedelic flare of Morphine.  

Yaniku Universal is a linguistic exploration of Llanito via the poetic form. Teuma takes an established form of poetry, in this case the haiku, in order to assert both the value and sheer existence of his mother tongue. The collection intermingles the liberty of an uncodified language with an established poetic structure in order to call attention to the beauty and relevance of Llanito. This tradition began centuries ago as poets from all over Europe began to use the Italian sonnet to lend weight and aesthetic beauty to their budding languages.

A few haikus in the collection hinge on the traditional ethos of the haiku form, dictating that they should simply present an observation on the environment surrounding the poet. Yaniku 14, for instance marks the terrible fire suffered in Algeciras in September, 2023;

Algeciras en
llamas; cenizas caen
sobre Gibraltar.

Gibraltar’s geographical connection is also noted in Yaniku 55;

La farola ve
y saluda a África
con su great bright light.                

However, many more steer away from this traditional use of the haiku and focus, not without some of the author’s characteristic humor, on describing and defining typical Llanito words and phrases, such as in Yanikus 2;

Al likindoil boy!
Es estar al loro illo.
No te lo pierdas.

Or 19;

Cashonfinga es
un meneo que le damoh
al cashondeo.

As efforts are made to preserve the use of Llanito, the author hopes that this project can provide another source of transmission of the language from parents to children. To this end the book has been intentionally designed to be appropriate for all ages, hence its title, Yaniku Universal, like the old movie rating, U: universal, appropriate for all.  Given their brevity, the poems can easily be learnt by parents or grandparents and then repeated to their children. There’s even space in the book for readers to write their own replies to each haiku, which they can then post online under the hashtag #YanikuUniversal. 

While not included in the official program the event can be framed within the general theme of this year’s Literary Festival, where Teuma will be delivering a Lightning Talk about his three collections of poetry on Thursday 14th, 18:00 at the Charles Hunt Room, Mackintosh Hall, as well as participating in the Llanito panel discussion on Saturday at 11am, also at the John Mackintosh Hall.

Chuck McClelland is a music arranger and tenor saxophonist based in Gibraltar. His time at Humber College in Toronto, Canada earned him the prestigious Duke Ellington Award in 2002. When he's not thinking about or working on music, he spends his time cooking, learning Llanito and going to the theatre. He currently finds time for quality local music work.

Winner of the 2018 Drama Festival, Best Youth Actor Award William Menez, is now a regular name within the local live music scene, having played with Nikolai Celecia and collaborated with many other Gibraltar acts. 

Jonathan Teuma is a university lecturer and poet. Yaniku Universal (Ybernia, 2024), is his third collection of poems, following ¡A-SLAM-BABA-LUBA…A-SLAM-BAM-BU! (self-published, 2022) and Mar y Montaña: Palabra y Papel (URJC publishing services, 2024). MyM:PyP, which also aims to stretch the bounadries of Llanito use within the realm of poetry, can be downloaded for free by scanning this QR code.