Funeral Videography — The Private Natural Burial of Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet and Activist
As a funeral videographer, I consider it an extraordinary privilege to film the private farewells of people who have left a mark on the world. That privilege became profoundly real when I was entrusted to film the natural burial of Benjamin Zephaniah — British-Jamaican poet, activist, writer, dub artist, vegan, martial artist, and one of the most distinctive and uncompromising voices in British cultural life.
Benjamin died on 7 December 2023, aged 65, following a brain tumour diagnosis. He was buried in a quiet, rural natural burial ground, in a funeral that reflected everything he stood for — no pomp, no formality, no cut flowers. People were asked to plant a tree or flowers in his memory instead.
I filmed the day on behalf of his family. It was one of the muddiest, most memorable, and most moving days of my career.
Artwork by Mukhtar Dar
Who Was Benjamin Zephaniah?
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born in Birmingham on 15 April 1958. His mother was a Jamaican nurse — part of the Windrush generation — and his father a Barbadian postman. He grew up in Handsworth, Birmingham, an area he later described as the Jamaican capital of Europe, steeped in the rhythms and politics of Caribbean street culture.
He left school at 13 without being able to read or write. By his mid-teens he was performing dub poetry — a form rooted in Jamaican spoken word and reggae rhythm — in churches, community centres and on street corners in Handsworth. He was jailed for burglary as a teenager. In 1979 he moved to London, met other artists and writers, and published his first poetry collection, Pen Rhythm, in 1980.
What followed was four decades of relentless creative and political work. His poetry and his activism were inseparable. He wrote about racism, police brutality, the legacy of colonialism, the rights of animals, and the lives of people who were rarely seen in mainstream literary culture. His style was direct, rhythmic, funny, and unafraid — rooted in the oral tradition of Caribbean dub poetry but reaching audiences everywhere.
He refused the OBE in 2003, writing publicly that the word "empire" reminded him of the brutality inflicted on his ancestors. He refused nomination as Poet Laureate for the same reasons. He was a committed vegan for decades. He practised Kung Fu. He was never anything other than completely himself.
He was also, by all accounts and from everything I witnessed on that day, deeply loved.
A Natural Burial That Matched How He Lived
The choice of a natural burial was entirely in keeping with who Benjamin was. No headstone, no formal plot, no cut flowers — the landscape left as close to wild as possible, the person returned to the earth with as little ceremony and as much meaning as could be placed in a single, honest goodbye.
The setting was a secluded rural burial ground. Family and close friends travelled to be there — a private service, kept small in accordance with his wishes. People braved the weather and the mud, standing together around his grave in the kind of collective grief and love that is rarely seen anywhere else.
The mud, as it happened, was considerable. This was one of the wettest natural burials I have covered — deep, soft, yielding ground that made every step deliberate. But nobody left early. Nobody seemed to mind. The ground itself felt right somehow — unruly and alive, exactly what Benjamin would have chosen.
Jamaican Drums, His Own Poems, and an Open Mic
The service was a celebration of his life as much as a farewell, with the Caribbean and musical elements of his heritage and his art at the centre of it.
Traditional Jamaican drummers performed as part of the service — the rhythm carrying across the open ground, grounding everything in the culture and tradition that had shaped him since childhood in Handsworth. For anyone who knew his work, the sound felt immediately right.
His own poems were read aloud — words he had written and performed over forty years, heard now at the place where he was being buried. There is something remarkable about that moment, when a poet's words come back to them at the end. They sounded as alive as they always had.
An open mic allowed family, friends and those who had known him to step forward and speak — their own memories, their own tributes, in their own words. This kind of unscripted, collective tribute is something I have seen most often at Caribbean and Jamaican funerals, where the formality of a fixed order of service gives way to something more communal and organic. Benjamin's funeral carried that same spirit — of a community gathered, speaking freely, honouring honestly.
Capturing all of this required careful audio work. Drums and open-air voices in a natural setting are among the most technically demanding elements to record well — no fixed PA system, no reliable acoustic reference point, changing wind. I used dedicated portable microphones and stabilised cameras throughout, keeping the recording clean and steady even as the day moved around me.
Filming a Private Funeral for a Public Figure
Filming a private service for someone who was also a public figure requires a specific kind of care. The family's need for privacy and discretion comes first — always. At the same time, the film is also a record of someone whose life touched many people, and the quality of the documentary record matters for those who will return to it.
My approach throughout was to work from the edges — present enough to capture what was happening, quiet enough that the day continued without the camera as a distraction. I moved only when the service allowed it, kept equipment minimal, and trusted the longer lenses to do their work from a respectful distance.
The result is a film that belongs to his family. What they share of it, and when, is entirely their decision.
Benjamin Zephaniah and the British-Jamaican Experience
Benjamin Zephaniah shared something significant with another extraordinary British-Jamaican figure whose memorial service I was honoured to photograph — Andrea Levy, author of Small Island, whose father was among the first passengers on the Empire Windrush in 1948. Like Benjamin, Andrea's work gave voice to the Caribbean experience in Britain, and like Benjamin, her funeral gathering felt like a community saying goodbye to someone who had carried something on their behalf.
You can read that case study here: Andrea Levy — Funeral Photography at Golders Green Crematorium.
The experience of being trusted with both of these farewells — within months of each other — is something I find genuinely hard to describe. Two of the most significant British-Jamaican voices of their generation, both gone in the same year, both honoured in ways that were entirely and unmistakably their own.
Caribbean and Jamaican Funerals — My Experience
Having covered Benjamin Zephaniah's natural burial, Andrea Levy's memorial, and many other Caribbean and Jamaican services across the UK, I understand what these funerals mean to the families and communities involved — the music, the drumming, the open tributes, the communal grief, and the strong sense of cultural identity that runs through the farewell.
I have streamed, filmed and photographed many Caribbean funerals including:
Caribbean Funeral Live Streaming — Antiguan & Barbudan Service, Bedford — 1,900 viewers across 7 countries
Jamaican Funeral Videography — Hitchin, Hertfordshire — gospel singing in the snow at graveside
African Funeral Streaming — Hertfordshire — two-camera coverage to Ghana and 20+ countries
For Caribbean families, funeral live streaming is often the most important service of all — allowing relatives in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Ghana, Nigeria and across the diaspora to be present in real time. For the permanent record, funeral videography and funeral photography give the family something to return to for the rest of their lives.
My guide on live streaming a graveside or outdoor funeral explains how I handle outdoor coverage including natural burial grounds. And for more on why the record matters, see my guide on why funeral videography matters.
Natural and Woodland Burial Videography
Benjamin's natural burial is one of several woodland and natural burials I have filmed — alongside services at GreenAcres Chiltern, Clandon Wood in Surrey, and South Downs Natural Burial Site in Hampshire. Each has its own character and challenges, and each requires the same careful preparation and respect for the atmosphere the family has chosen.
If You Are Planning a Jamaican, Caribbean or Natural Burial Service
I provide funeral videography, funeral photography and funeral live streaming for families across the UK — including Caribbean and Jamaican funerals with music, drumming and open tributes, natural and woodland burials, and celebration of life events of every kind.
Call or text me on 07772 509101 — available seven days a week, 9am to 10pm — or get in touch online.
Related pages and case studies: