Author: Ken Archer

I am an ethnomusicologist, who obtained my doctoral degree at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. My areas of interests include the musical, ritual, and celebratory traditions of the circum-Caribbean and the African Diaspora.

I worked as a lecturer at the Columbus and Marion Campuses of the Ohio State University, where I taught classes in World Music, Rock and Roll/American Popular Music, Western Art Music, and directed the OSU Steel Pan ensemble.

Categories
Festivals Religion

Kingston festival “Kingston Pon Di River”

The following report, written by Vinette K. Pryce, was published in Caribbean Life News on May 9, 2012.


The second annual staging of a cultural assembly billed “Kingston Pon Di River” reintroduced an African aspect of Jamaica’s culture previously ignored or shunned at mainstream celebrations and heritage festivals.

The literary, arts and music festival held at Boone Hall last week featured The St. Thomas Revival Band, a group that were neither promoted nor announced on the billing.

Introduced by Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, the island’s high commissioner to England who emceed an evening offering of drumming featuring talents from Cuba and Jamaica, the added attraction marshaled tourists, visitors and nationals to experience what is usually a private religious ceremony practiced to pay homage to Africa, the regarded Holy Land of the Pocomania sect.

Following the instrumental feast, a procession of men, women and children dressed in red, white and blue emerged from the dark, grassy, hillside setting into the light of the moon where awe-struck patrons watched with curiosity.

With heads tied to fashion a turban, their red, plaid, bandana fabric represented the national cloth and signified a unity between religion and country.

The members of the group seemed entranced by their music as they walked to a white tent where a long table prepared an altar and became the central focus for what ensued as a spirited, ritualistic, revival ceremony.

“The Indians share their culture; the Chinese, Syrians and Jews too, we as Jamaicans should embrace our total heritage,” Dollis Campbell, one of the three promoters representing Dynamic Event Services said.

It was at her urging that the Yallahs-based church group found a welcoming audience at the riverside, weekend fest.

Far from somber, the serious worshippers proved to be missionaries of their faith, ancestry and country.

Without engaging recruitment tactics to patrons, they impressed a number of guests who remained riveted until the midnight end of the ceremony.

Dressed similarly to a Roman Catholic Pope, his head to feet ceremonial dress distinguished him from his congregation and other religious believers in the group.

“People think we are about obeah…but we light candles, sing and praise our Lord…that’s all we do,” Pastor Jonathan Williams said.

To see the way he sprayed mouthfuls of water or liquor into the air can only be described as artistic and perhaps akin to rituals performed in Brazil or Haiti.

He seemed to direct the motions of the lively, musical revivalists who segued from each song singing the gospel of their faith.

They employed the tenets of the festival to deliver literature, art and music to an audience perhaps un-familiar with their mode of worship.

Allegedly rooted in West African traditions, revivalist culture is mostly regarded as an underground religious rite practiced by a segment of the society known as Pocomanianians.

The authentic Afro-Christian religious folk form evolved during the eighteenth to nineteenth century and was regarded in traditional religious circles as a vehicle of rebellion in colonial times. Pocomania reportedly emerged during the 1860s in churches which exuberantly fused African and Protestant performance styles, images, and traditions.

The ritual meetings involve prayers, dances, and rhythmic drumming.

Participants often go into a trance.

However, on the Saturday night that celebrated the 140th anniversary of the capital, Caribbean city, an abbreviated ritual minus magic offered a glimpse into Jamaica’s African ancestral tradition.

A long table filled with fruits of every kind, Duck bread (special ceremonial dough) colored candles, flowers, and beverages formed the central focus of attention.

Ceremoniously staged to thank the ancestors for granting powers of healing and life, the gifts to the spirits are later shared among a congregation.

Each colored candle allegedly represented a significant aspect of the ceremony.

For first-time witnesses it was the candles that captivated the most attention when the preacher indicated that when lit, they could be the vehicle to goodwill and hoped-for wishes.

Individuals voluntarily lit particular candles they hoped will provide fulfillments the pastor allegedly relayed to ancestors. A number of prior skeptics and cynics allayed their fears and proceeded to the altar in order to seek positive enticements.

“This is my first time seeing this but I am totally impressed and proud of my country and culture. I am happy I came, I have learnt a great deal,” Norma Davis said after the ceremony.

With a band of musicians constantly fueling infectious sounds, the entire audience joined the revelry and embraced the nation’s cultural heritage.

Janet Silvera, Dollis Campbell, and Millicent Lynch are the three founders of DES credited for enlightening the sophisticated, elite patronage to their milestone anniversary feature and event championing the historic dateline.

Perhaps, the highlight of the festival, this presentation is being hailed with appreciation by nationals and visitors alike.

Kingston has had its allure but until recently few visitors could boast the privilege of sitting up close to witness the legacy and rich, African tradition still practiced by revivalists in modern day Jamaica.

For the original report: Kingston festival attracts visitors and locals alike • Caribbean Life.

Categories
History Music Steel Pan

New York steel band pioneers to be honored

The following article was taken from Caribbean Life, May 16th, 2012.


Rudy King

Two surviving members from a three-piece steel band which appeared in the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers will be among the special lineup of individuals being honored at a Tribute to New York Steel Band Pioneers organized by the Trinidad & Tobago Folk Arts Institute, Sunday evening May 20. The gala event will be held at Tropical Paradise Ballroom, Brooklyn from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

Michael Alexander and Alfonso Marshall (whose name, after he subsequently became an actor, was changed to Austin Stoker) are the two surviving steelpan players from the 1954 production, which starred Pearl Bailey and was written by Truman Capote. The members of the history-making steel band unit were recruited from Trinidad by the noted Trinidad-born choreographer-director Geoffrey Holder, who was also in the House of Flowers cast.

The other honorees are Caldera Caraballo, Milton Gabriel, Edward George, Lennox Leverock, Roy Sangster and Kim Wong. Two well-known names associated with steel band activity in its early days here, Rudolph King and Conrad Mauge, will be honored posthumously. Among them, the steel band stalwarts selected for this recognition aggregated countless hours as leaders and players in the formative period of New York’s steel band culture, as they endeavored to introduce the new musical sound to American audiences. Their experiences ran the gamut from Caldera Caraballo’s touring with Harry Belafonte to Kim Wong’s collaborative projects with folk music icon Pete Seeger to Rudolph King’s sharing nightclub billing with calypso singer Mighty Charmer, prior to the latter becoming a household name in a different sphere as Louis Farrakan.

For original posting: Awards for New York steel band pioneers • Caribbean Life.

Categories
Music

Sparromania!: Wit, Wisdom, and Soul from the King of Calypso, 1960-1976

The following review of the 2012 compilation of the music of Slinger Francisco, the Mighty Sparrow, was written by David Lewis and appears in the May 2012 issue of Black Grooves.

Artist: Mighty Sparrow

Label: Strut / K7!

Formats: 2-CD set, 2-LP set, MP3

Catalog No.: Strut090CD

Release date: January 24, 2012

Any collection dedicated to the work of Slinger Fransisco, better known in the Caribbean by his calypso sobriquet Mighty Sparrow, is going to be woefully incomplete. So any review of such a collection could easily turn into bellyaching about material that is missing. I’ll refrain from that, but will note that by focusing their collection Sparromania! on Sparrow’s career from 1960-1972, listeners will miss some of Sparrow’s memorable pieces such as the iconic “Jean and Dinah,” the popular “Drunk and Disorderly” and the racy double-entendre song “Saltfish.”

Those concerns aside, this compilation showcases Sparrow’s penchant for biting social commentary that earned him the title “Calypso King of the World.” His insightful commentary on “Kennedy and Kruschev” shows Sparrow at the top of his game, both lyrically and musically, with a driving rhythm section and quips on world affairs. His social commentary on “Ah Digging Horrors” is still applicable to Trinidad’s current struggles with high crime rates and the economic downturn, years after it was originally written:

Ah digging horrors, ah digging the blues
Anytime I choose to peruse the daily news
Ah digging horrors because
All I read about is kidnappers, more laws, and wars. (see the following you tube video)

Sparrow’s genius with the witty, oratorical calypso form can be heard in the track entitled “Picong Duel (Sparrow and Melody).” Picong is a West Indian speech form where speakers trade witty banter and comic insults in a spirit of good fun. Picong is deeply intertwined with the history of calypso and still appears today in “extempo” (improvised calypso) competitions. This exchange pairs the two giants of calypso, Sparrow and Lord Melody.

The collection also delves into Sparrow’s experiments with non-calypso genres during this period, such as the jangly ‘60s pop sounds of “She’s Been Gone Too Long” or the calypso-fied version of “Try a Little Tenderness.” Purists will lament the wasted space: why include songs like this when there are worthy, socially relevant calypsos that are left by the wayside? While some of these “excursions” into other genres are not of the same musical or lyrical quality as Sparrow’s true-true calypsos, they document the growth and change in the calypso form itself throughout the 1960s. The influence of U.S. based pop and the growing international success of reggae inspired calypsonians to experiment with pop and soul sounds which would eventually solidify into a new “spinoff” genre: soca.

And while many of these experiments ultimately do not stand up to Sparrow’s other output, one of my favorite tracks on the compilation is the raucous “What’s the Use of Getting Sober?” A lazy shuffling guitar accompanies Sparrow and a few friends as they express their love of Trinidad rum:

Here comes the bottle, I gotta get some
I want my mouth to smell stink with rum!
What’s the use of getting sober
When you know you will be drunk again?

Indeed.

While calypso fans may have many of these recordings on albums from the 1960s and ‘70s, many of the originals—and even Sparrow’s CD releases of the material—have been difficult to find in the United States. The extensive liner notes by David Katz on the history of calypso and Sparrow’s career make this a great introduction to a small slice of his musical output.

For original post: Sparromania!: Wit, Wisdom, and Soul from the King of Calypso, 1960-1976 | blackgrooves.org.

Categories
Culture

Rethinking Caribbean Culture

The following article was written by Wayne Bowman and published in the Trinidad Express Newpaper, Apr 23, 2012.

The Department of Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, on Friday hosted the second edition of its annual TH?NK conference at the Faculty of Engineering.

The conference series examines various facets of local culture, festival and performance arts and explores how can they be effectively employed towards the social, aesthetic and financial benefits of the people.

Conceptualised by cultural researcher Dr Suzanne Burke, TH?NK also dissects Government policy on culture, identifying areas where there may be shortfalls and things that may have been overlooked.

Through panel discussions and lecture presentations, ideas are compiled and documented. The papers are made available for researchers and those responsible for formulating policy on the local entertainment industry, culture and festival arts.

At the opening session of this year’s TH?NK, the keynote address, titled “The Role of Culture in Caribbean Development”, was presented by Jamaica’s Director of Culture, Sydney Bartley, who is hailed as a guru of culture throughout the Caribbean and beyond. Bartley noted that, throughout the Caribbean, influences from Europe and America overpower the cultures of the islands, overshadowing the identities of the peoples.

In one of his examples of this, Bartley quoted Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” to show how the people have been changed by invasive foreign influences. “I remember when we used to sit in a government yard in Trench Town. And then Georgie would make the fire light, log wood burning through the night. Then we would cook cornmeal porridge of which I’ll share with you,” sang Bartley, who was joined by some in the audience.

Bartley then explained that Marley’s lyrics referenced what life was like in the Caribbean then when men, elders and youth alike used to sit together and reason.

He said women did not cry when men sat and talked, conversed, worked things out instead of shooting one another, even in hard times. When men sit together and observe women don’t cry, Bartley said.

Bartley also likened the lyric on sharing the cornmeal porridge to the days when neighbours shared a cup of sugar and other things with one another.

Society now teaches people to lock into themselves and not interact with their neighbours, he said.

Bartley said community living was how the slaves brought here survived mentally because, after the entire day in the fields, at night they ate together in the barrack yard and shared stories, drummed and danced.

Bartley said the two things Caribbean people excel the most in, sport and culture, are designated as extracurricular activities. He said this is the biggest failure of the Caribbean education system and even went on to knock the university system, saying it continues to put the proverbial cart before the horse where sport and the arts are concerned.

Bartley said if an artiste such as Machel Montano were to decide to pursue university studies here in the Caribbean now he would have to start at the beginning in spite of his years of success and achievements.

The right thing to do, Bartley said, would be to allow Montano credits for what he has accomplished throughout the years he has been doing his music. Bartley said the system has to be changed to serve the people of the Caribbean specifically so we can enjoy the maximum benefits of what we possess.

Bartley said nothing cultural has ever come out of universities because it’s the grassroots people who have created their cultural identities. Therefore, said Bartley, any government-formulated cultural policy and cultural education plan must consider the cultural identity of the people.

Bartley said how the people through the ages have healed themselves using herbs and the things of nature, to how they made use of limited financial and other resources, has shaped the culture and seen them survive.

An interesting moment in Bartley’s speech was his invitation to the participants to join him in singing Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”, which everyone did heartedly.

This Bartley did to drive home the point that it is by remembering who we are as a united Caribbean people that will make us prosper.

Bartley also in his presentation celebrated the music of the Mighty Sparrow and David Rudder as artistes who, like Marley, have helped the Caribbean people sing their own songs despite being bombarded by foreign cultures.

For the original report: Rethinking C’bean culture | Trinidad Express Newspaper | Featured News.

Categories
Music Religion

Cuban Music Still Thriving, Still Unheard in U.S.

The following interview, initially published in New America Media and reproduced in Repeating Islands, presents some insights into the popular music culture of Cuba.

From charanga to son to timba, Cuba has long been a country world-renowned for its distinct musical styles and traditions. Nevertheless, people inside the United States – even the most ardent music lovers — aren’t likely to become aware of the newest Cuban artists or to hear the latest musical trends, short of paying an actual visit to the island. Greg Landau is a producer, musician and educator from the Bay Area who’s traveled to Cuba more than 30 times. New America Media editor Jacob Simas sat down with Landau in his Alameda recording studio, where they spoke about Cuban music — where it’s been, where it is now, and what it can tell us about the psychology of the people and the state of affairs on the island today.  To hear an audio version of this interview with music excerpts, click here.
Jacob Simas: You recently came back from Cuba with a stack of CD’s — new music by Cuban artists that are unavailable commercially here in the United States. What struck you about the music that is perhaps different from where Cuban music has been in the past?
Greg Landau: Well, Cuba has a long history of music and a really rich tradition that combines a lot of different elements, and what I’ve seen in every trip is how the music evolves, and how each generation takes elements that they’ve inherited and makes them into a new blend. So the process continues, and a lot of [today’s] groups are innovating, using [traditional] elements, but also the things they hear from outside the country. So you hear reggaeton, hip-hop, cumbia, roots reggae and heavy metal — all these things that are popular outside of Cuba, being interpreted by Cubans in their own way.
But what’s amazing is the level of virtuosity. Because people are able to study and gain that virtuosity because they’re playing all the time, they have time to rehearse, and they’re getting schooled in music schools.
JS: Are young people and elders today in Cuba listening to completely different types of music, or is there a shared appreciation?
GL: The music really crosses generations more than it does here, because first, dancing is common to everybody. Everybody dances [to] music that comes out on the radio, and there’s a mix of old and new. Young people are forced to learn the traditional dance styles, and they know them. They know how to do the danzon; they know the rumba. They’re taught this in school. There’s education. So it does cross generations a lot. Even most of the popular groups — a lot of them have been around for a long time — are constantly evolving. Still probably the number one group in Cuba is Los Van Van, which would translate into English as “The Go Go’s.” They’re still the number one group. They’ve changed singers and new generations of musicians have come through, but the essence of it is that they take Cuban music and combine it with contemporary elements, especially American funk, which is what’s kind of popular right now.
JS: People in the U.S. really have no easy way to hear these tunes. Do you see that changing? Do you see the music industry opening up a little bit or new avenues being created for Cuban music to be heard by people over here?
GL: Well first of all, Cuban musical artists are popular all over the world, and especially all over Latin America. But here in the U.S. not really, because the embargo has been very efficient in stopping that flow of information, that flow of music. And also, the commercial music industry here is not really open to this music. Some of the elements of the music are a little too sophisticated for the pop music that we hear on the radio. The popular Cuban music style timba – which is kind of a modern evolution of salsa — is too fast and too complicated for many of the dancers. And a lot of the [Cuban] groups also have sophisticated messages that are very local, very much about Cuba; about the religious elements; [about] the existential crisis of a Cuban, which is very different than here (in the U.S.)
JS: Can you give an example?
GL: Well, a lot of the songs are making reference to the Afro-Cuban religions, and the fall of the Soviet Union that has caused a vacuum in Cuba, where the ideological foundation, the spiritual foundation of the society based on these communist principles, is gone. People have to fill in the void and figure out or find a way to explain why they’re here. What are we doing while we’re here on this planet? What’s our goal? What are we supposed to accomplish? How do we treat each other? Kind of the whole basis is gone.
So we can see that much of the Afro-Cuban religions come in to fill in this gap; that people start reaching back in their history and their tradition to find that social glue. A lot of the music talks about this. There are many young people making references to the Afro-Cuban religions, to this spirituality, and to this explanation that it provides. And people [ask], how did Cuba survive this long? People thought that with the fall of the Berlin wall it would be over, but it wasn’t. So people have found ways to kind of pull it together, and this is a message in a lot of the music… this new spiritual foundation that’s kind of holding things together.
JS: Music is also often a platform for political messaging. Is there a similar platform for musicians in Cuba to speak about politics, or not?
GL: Well yeah. A lot of political debate and a lot of political discussion in Cuba goes on through the arts. People look at Cuban film. It’s very critical of government policies, many of the popular Cuban films, and it sort of opens up a gap to allow people to discuss these things that maybe can’t be discussed in other forums. Music, too. Starting with the Nueva Trova movement of the early ‘60s — it really begins in 1967 – that opens up this musical poetry, a musical poetry that kind of examines and gives people tools for understanding what’s going on around them.
There’ve been maybe eight generations since the Nueva Trova movement, of musicians that have taken this up — not necessarily playing dance music, but playing music for people to listen to, to make critiques of society, to open up dialogues. So we see, going back to Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes, who are still active; Noel Nicola, Sara Gonzalez, and then the next generation that incorporates elements of rock, and then we see elements of jazz; and so they’re experimenting with not just the content but the form, and pushing the envelopes of pop music.
JS: How does the music industry work in Cuba?
GL: Well first off, I wouldn’t really describe it as an “industry.” In Cuba, many of the groups are on salary, which really creates a new dynamic. First, in a capitalist society, groups rise and fall based on their popularity and their money making capacity, where in Cuba, this is very different. Some of the groups are sustained because they’re on salary, they survive maybe even when they’re not so popular but they’re still going… because these are traditions that are preserved.
So for instance, La Orquesta Revé… Elio Revé was popular in the 1960?s, and he had a big band that played changui (a traditional Afro-Cuban musical style) from Guantanamo, and made all these different variations on it. There was changui with violins and heavy drumming, and they went through phases of being popular and not popular. And now his son has taken over the group and continued it, and they’ve incorporated new elements.
So the groups are kind of like institutions that are maintained, like a preservation hall. These forms of popular music are seen as important, and these elements in Cuban culture are maintained way past when they probably would be in a capitalist society.
JS: So, the Cuban state is subsidizing its artists. How does that impact everyday Cubans?
GL: [Cuban musicians] can go play for free in the town squares all over Cuba. Every weekend, all over Cuba, there are huge concerts in every town. So what do you do on a Saturday night? Do you go to a club? No, you go to the town square, with thousands of other people, for free, and listen to music and dance and party. This goes on very frequently. There are frequent festivals and these groups tour all over Cuba, mainly playing for free in town squares, in schools, in hospitals, army bases, farms… wherever. The idea [behind government subsidized musicians] was that one of the rights of being a citizen is the right to culture.

This youtube video shows La Orquesta Revé in performance and the joyous response of the audience as they sing and dance to the infectious music.

For the original report go to http://newamericamedia.org/2012/04/cuban-music-still-thriving-still-unheard-in-us.php

Also: Cuban Music Still Thriving, Still Unheard in U.S. « Repeating Islands.

Categories
Music

The amazing life of Brum jazzman Andy Hamilton, who played for Errol Flynn, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming and has just turned 94

The following feature on Jamaican-born jazz legend, Andy Hamilton, was written by Steve Bradley and published in the Birmingham Mail.

“I GET quite angry – he should be given the freedom of the city.”

So says Birmingham historian Prof Carl Chinn about jazz saxophonist Andy Hamilton – still going strong at 94.

Hamilton, who arrived in Britain in the first wave of West Indian immigrants in 1949, came with a real pedigree as musical director on Hollywood legend Errol Flynn’s yacht Zaca.

But he has experienced some crushing ‘downs’ sprinkled with a few significant career ‘ups’.

Despite earning an MBE in 2008 for services to music and young people in Birmingham, he has endured racism, sometimes accompanied with violence, and had to battle to win regular gigs for himself and his band The Blue Notes.

Born in 1918 in Port Maria, Jamaica, Hamilton heard early US radio broadcasts and was exposed to the music of the Jazz Age in the 1920s.

Displaying a rare talent, he came to the attention of heartthrob Flynn, who owned the Titchfield Hotel in Jamaica’s Port Antonio.

“I think it was 1946 and I was playing there with my band on the terrace,” Hamilton recalled.

“Flynn had just come back from Hollywood and danced real close with his wife for a couple of numbers.

“The next morning a car and chauffeur arrived outside my house and the man said ‘Robin Hood wants to see you’.

“We went down to the harbour where he was on Zaca. Flynn said he liked my music and offered me a regular spot at his hotel.

“The Titchfield was the best hotel in Port Antonio so it was a good day for me and my band.

“He sure liked a good time. He had bought a small island called Navy Island and he used to have big parties there.

“One time he invited the whole crew of an American Navy cruiser, my band would play by the beach and there was a lot of dancing and people having a good time.

“People like Noel Coward and Ian Fleming lived close by and there would be lots of late-night parties.

“Flynn was a real good dancer and dressed real sharp. We became good friends and he kept saying I should go back and play in America but I came to England instead.”

Docking at Southampton, Hamilton took a train to London, then travelled to Manchester, but in little over a week chose Birmingham.

Hamilton made his base at a house in Trafalgar Road, Moseley, owned by Prof Chinn’s aunt Violet and Jamaican uncle Johnny Brown. “It was real tough at times, some places would not let us in and sometimes there was trouble but most people were friendly.

“I remember going to a jazz club with my sax and got invited up on stage and did a couple of numbers which went down real well.

“I was really happy but when I went back the next week they just ignored me.

“I went home real sad and decided the best thing to do was organise my own band and find places to play.”

Gigs followed at venues like the Tower Ballroom, Rum Runner, Chaplins, Cedar Club, plus nightspots in Coventry and Wolverhampton.

But in the 1950s he was attacked by fascists at a gig he had organised, losing his front teeth.

Hamilton, who married a white woman, Mary, said: “I had started a night and it had got popular, then one night a group of young guys came in and you could see they were looking for trouble.

“In a break one of them walked onto the stage and picked up my sax.

“I went up to him, real cool, and asked him to give it back but he was drunk and punched me in the face.

“The police came, I was arrested and had to go to court.

“A policeman who knew me spoke up for me and the case was dismissed – I am not sure what happened to the guy but I never saw him again.”

After decades of performing, Hamilton’s big break came when an article by renowned jazz journalist Val Wilmer earned him a slot at the Soho Jazz Festival in London.

From there he won a record contract with the World Circuit label to make his first-ever recording, aged 72.

Hamilton called the 1991 album Silvershine, named after a long-forgotten tune he had written for Flynn, and it featured Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall and US tenor sax giant David Murray.

Work was easier to come by after that, at least for a while, with shows in St Lucia, at the South African Jazz Festival, and WOMAD festivals across Europe.

He has since won an honorary master of arts degree from Birmingham University and a Millennium Fellowship award for his work in community education, to which he recently added a fellowship of Birmingham Conservatoire.

But although he holds down regular gigs at Bearwood Corks Club and in the Symphony Hall bar, he had to battle for years to get a slot at the Birmingham Jazz Festival. And his band, which has featured two of his sons, Graeme and Mark on trumpet and saxophone respectively, is made to feel it still has something to prove.

Andy said: “There have been some tough times with a big family and with a six or seven-piece band to pay and equipment to buy.

“I have never really made any money from music, I am certainly not rich. It made me very proud to get an MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace but it doesn’t help pay any bills.”

For the original post: The amazing life of Brum jazzman Andy Hamilton, who played for Errol Flynn, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming and has just turned 94 – Top Stories – News – Birmingham Mail.

Also: Repeating Islands

Categories
Music

Jazz Artists on the Greens, 2012

In the following article Trinidad Express columnist Wayne Bowman reports of the recently concluded 2012 Jazz Artists on the Greens.

The sight of patrons wining, jumping and waving bandanas gave the impression they were at a Carnival fete when they were, in fact, enjoying the music of Clifford Charles and Friends at the 2012 Jazz Artists on the Greens (JAOTG).

The tenth edition of the concert took place on March 24 at the WASA Grounds, St Joseph, and featured several local jazz acts alongside artistes from abroad. The event was introduced in 2003 by Production One Ltd, which comprises several jazz enthusiasts who believed there was the need for a platform for homegrown jazz musicians.

Back to the rag-waving patrons and Charles, who is an accomplished guitarist, known for interpreting soca hits in the language of jazz in a most unique manner. Charles took “Bacchanalist” by Kerwin Dubios and gave it an alternative identity that was much appreciated by the patrons. Some abandoned their seats and came nearer the stage to dance as Charles and his fellow musicians jammed.

Charles and company opened their set with “Strolling”, an original song from Charles’ debut CD collection from a few years back. The first people to leave their seats and approach the stage did so as the band began to play “That Girl” by Stevie Wonder.

The patrons danced happily as Charles and the other musicians, David Richards (drums), Sean Friday (bass), Rodney Harris (keyboards) and Deryck Cadogan (keyboards), played around with the song’s melodic and rhythmic structure, improvising and delivering exciting solos.

We should note here that JAOTG is a laid-back event that affords patrons the opportunity to either sit in the chairs provided or spread blankets on the ground. There is always a variety of food available, but some people walk with small coolers with wine and other drinks, along with light snacks such as cheeses and other finger foods to nibble as they take in the show. Another element of JAOTG is the socialising among patrons and the musicians being featured, as well as those who come out to support their peers.

So as Charles continued his impressive performance, the band then did a few songs from his new CD collection, Songs From Deep Within. They performed the title track, followed by “Bounce”, punctuating that with the jazz classic “Take Five”. Near the end of the set, they played a jazz interpretation of “Dance With You” by Machel Montano, which is the song that initiated the abandoning of seats, and “Bacchanalist” kept them coming.

The act that really had the audience mesmerised was Michele Henderson, the songbird from Dominica, who has been a Goodwill Ambassador for her island since 2004. Accompanied by Michael “Ming” Low Chew Tung, along with Dean Williams (guitar), Kevon La Fleur (bass), Modupe Onilu (percussion) and Richard Joseph (drums), Henderson had the audience cheering at intervals throughout her performance.

She opened with “Agua De Beber”, in which Onilu and Williams traded solos that impressed even Henderson, who grooved to the music just as much as the audience. Actually, throughout her set, Henderson’s passion for music was clearly evident as she imbibed everything around her on the stage. This, of course, made for a fantastic performance that we are sure the patrons will speak of for some time to come.

In the song “Misty”, Henderson played a captivating flute solo as the intro, with Low Chew Tung adding in a smooth solo on keyboard. Williams delivered a lively guitar solo when Henderson sang “My Favourite Things”, popularised in the classic movie Sound Of Music. Henderson had people dancing when she opened “Waiting In Vain” with another intoxicating flute solo, then giving way for Williams to again work his magic on the guitar.

As Henderson exited the stage, the audience demanded more, and they were treated to a few additional minutes as she brought the house down with “Do I Do”. Her session also included “Fow Daw Leve”, “Pani Pawol”, “500 Miles High”, “I Am Changing”, “Spain” and “Armando’s Rhumba”.

JAOTG 10 also featured performances by pannist Annise Hadeed, who was supported by Theron Shaw (guitar), Douglas Reddon (bass) and Richard Bailey (drums). Opening was Carlton “Zanda” Alexander and the Coalpot Band and multi-faceted vocalist Llettesha Sylvester.

For the original post: Joyful Jazz | Trinidad Express Newspaper | Sunday Mix.

Categories
Religion

Celebrating our freedom to worship

The following article, written by Seeta Persad, appears in the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, March 30, 2012.

The nation today celebrates, with a public holiday, the collective right of the people to freely worship in the religion of their choice, and specifically the struggle and eventual victory of the Spiritual and Shouter Baptist community to secure that right for themselves.

It was in 1996 that the Government granted a public holiday, called Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day, in commemoration of the repeal of the prohibition act, which had prevented Spiritual and Shouter Baptists from openly practicing their religion. Trinidad and Tobago remains the only country globally that celebrates a public holiday for those following the Spiritual Baptist faith.

The doors of the Holy Faith Spiritual Baptist Tabernacle in La Horquetta will be opened for the entire day today as the faithful unite for a day of worship.

Other Baptist churches that will be marking this Holiday with prayer include Garazin Shouter and Baptist Church Ltd of Sangre Grande, Baptist Church Centre in Princes Town, Beth’aleel Fundamental Baptist Church in San Fernando, Bon Air Full Gospel Baptist Church in Mausica, Dickson’s Memorial Baptist Church in San Fernando, First Baptist Church in San Fernando, Monte Grande Baptist Church in St Augustine, Mount Hope Spiritual Baptist Church in Port-of-Spain, Mt Pisgah Spiritual Baptist Church in Santa Rosa.

According to author Hazel Ann Gibbs De Peza, who is a practising Shouter Baptist, the Spiritual Baptist Faith is the name given to the Christian religious group emerging among the Africans in the 19th century in Trinidad. In 1917 the group was outlawed by the Shouter Prohibition Ordinance against its mode of worship which was considered “too noisy” and “too African” and therefore uncivilised and unacceptable. It suffered legal persecution and prosecution until the ordinance was repealed in 1951.

For the original report: Celebrating our freedom to worship: Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday

Gene Toney sings some examples of Trumpets, short hymns sung by members of the Spiritual Baptist Faith.

Categories
Festivals

Chowtal & Phagwa at Trinidad and Tobago Consulate

Caribbean Life News reports on the celebrations of Phagwah in New York.

Mageeras, dhantals, and drums accompanied chowtal singers featured in the Phagwa celebration on March 7 at the Consulate headquarters in New York.

The Phagwa or Holi festival, which celebrates the advent of Spring and the destruction of the demoness Holika, coincided with a welcome rise in temperatures in New York.

Pundit T. Samaroo Ramayan & Chowtaal Group of New York, Shiva Mandir and Shiva Mandir Affiliates Chowtaal group with singers of all ages gave exuberant performances while U.S. #1 tassa band had members of the audience on their feet “dancing the tassa.”

The Phagwa celebration is the second in a series of events co-organised by the Interfaith committee comprising spiritual leaders of different faith under the auspices of the Consulate.

Upcoming events include Shouter Baptist Day, which will be celebrated on March 29 and an Interfaith and Thanksgiving Service to commence the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on April 14 at York College, Performing Arts Center, Jamaica, N.Y.

For the full original report: Chowtal & Phagwa at T&T Consulate • Caribbean Life.

The following you tube videos show segments of the Phagwah celebrations, 2011, Smokey Park Queens New York.

Categories
Festivals

Queens residents celebrate Phagwah

Tangerine Clarke reports on the Phagwah festivities in Queens New York, for Caribbean Life.

The sunny, warm weather on Sunday, March 11 certainly complemented the arrival of spring in the Hindu calendar, that was celebrated at the 24th Annual Phagwah Festival in Richmond Hill, Queens.

Also known as Holi, the festival attracted an estimated 25,000 Indo-Caribbean nationals who lined Liberty Avenue to witness beautifully decorated floats, and revelers who danced to the sound of recorded Indian music and tass drumming.

Many on foot were dressed in traditional Indian regalia, carrying banners and flags that represented their rich cultural heritage. Young and old got into the merriment of throwing colored dyes on each other to celebrate the colorful flowers in bloom in the spring season.

The white clothes and faces of the festival goers were covered in the “Abrac” powder in red, yellow, blue, green and pink.

Traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on the Hindu calendar, Holi also celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the welcome of the New Year.

The festival culminated with a spectacular cultural presentation in Smokey Oval Park in Richmond Hill.

For the original report: Queens residents celebrate Phagwah • Caribbean Life.