CARIFESTA short-changed

Ms Sherma Mitchell, Communications Specialist for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Director of Culture, Lester Ebefo Wilkinson, and Senior Culture Officer Mr. Tej Ramlogan need to present the Ministry’s position as to why the rich cultural diversity of Trinidad and Tobago is not being presented at the upcoming CARIFESTA VIII to be held in Suriname from August 25 - 30.

The theme “Highlighting excellence of Arts and Culture, an ideal place for re-union of the Caribbean Family” is therefore short -changed with the under-representation of Trinidad and Tobago’s full cultural representation. It has to be a mistake that there was this level of omission of major cultural components of the plural culture of Trinidad and Tobago, as surely this could not be an official policy to have a truncated cultural representation on a regional stage. Through the years, CARIFESTA has grown into the largest Arts and Culture festival of the Caribbean, the grandmarket of the arts and culture diversity of the Caribbean, the stage and honour of our art and culture world and, the ideal opportunity for the Caribbean Community to interact with each other. The unification of the Caribbean has been sought after ever since most of its nations gained their independence from the European superpowers. CARICOM as well as CARIFESTA have tried to bring the Caribbean together as one, trying their best to unite its people. For the Caribbean to become completely united, cultural/racial tensions among its people both within the region and within its nations need to be minimized with each people being able to freely practice its culture, as well as have that culture exposed to the rest of the Caribbean and the world.

Trinidad’s contingent to CARIFESTA VIII to be held in Suriname as published (July 17, 2003) is as follows: Dancers (female) — Adana Cabbler, Lisa Mc Sween, Shelly Ann MC Cleod, Roxanne George, Joanna Francis, Kimi Stoute Robinson, Natasha Simons, Laura Pereira, Katrina Rampersad, Kavita Nanhu, Nutan Rambally. Dancers (male) — Roopnarine Rampersad, Clarence Nurse, Richard Reid, Dean Rayside, Martin Roberts. Tassa — Sumesh Kumar, Lenny Kumar, Sunil Bridgelal. Drummers — Wendell Berkely, Kevin Griffith, Stephen Joseph. Musicians — Lawrence Crooks, Ewart Serrant, Cuthbert Fletcher. Singers — Nekheisha Chadband, Leslie Ann Lewis, Nigel O’ Connor, Kerwyn Greig, Ian Bayne, Kizzy Ruiz. Actors — Curtis Gross, Kevin Mc Mayo, Hyacinth Gomez, Noel Blandin, Eric Barry, Jameela Phillips. Clearly it can be seen that both the categories and the people selected by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism largely reflect one cultural expression — the Afro-Trinidadian heritage. This ignores the fact that there is an overall population where the Indo-Trinidadian accounts for 40.7 percent of the population according to the 1995 survey. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism contingent named above does not reflect this plurality and with the exception of Tassa, none of the other categories represent anything remotely Indo-Trinidadian. If one were to base his entire view of Trinidad and Tobago culture on this contingent, he would conclude that Indo-Trinidadians were in a minority and that their culture plays a negligible part in the society of Trinidad and Tobago.

Apart from the numerous Indian festivals such as Divali, Phagwa and Eid -ul-Fitr, which are celebrated every year with Divali and Eid-ul-Fitr being public holidays, the vibrant Indo-Trinidadian culture is constantly on display throughout the year. East Indian music such as chutney can be heard on any one of the country’s East Indian radio stations and chutney songs such as “Rum Till I Die” by new chutney star Adesh Samaroo are echoed from end to end of the country by all people of Trinidad. There are even concerts that display our local talent such as the 103 FM anniversary Mela held recently at Skinner Park San Fernando which saw thousands of people turning up to support local culture. This concert featured the musical talents of Andy Singh, Nisha  Baksh, Adesh Samaroo, Vedesh Sookhoo, Anil Bheem, Raymond Ramnarine, Daddy Chinee, Heeralal Rampartarp, Ras Nancoo Singh, Indira Mahatoo, Rasika Dindial and Rooplal Gidharie.

With so many prominent East Indian artists in the country, why weren’t any chosen to represent the vibrant and unmistakably present East Indian culture in Trinidad? There are even artistes with International recognition such as Devanand Gatoo who won the International Chutney Monarch in Toronto Canada a couple months ago. Indar Khanhai was also recently selected to perform at a prestigious Bollywood function in India.  People such as these could serve as excellent ambassadors for Indo-Trinidadian culture for the rest of the Caribbean. Indo-Trinidadian culture exists in numerous forms, encompassing every aspect of music and dance. Apart from singers there are also many prominent dance groups, which specialize in all forms of Indo-Trinidadian dance from classical to chutney, such as the Clico Shiv Shakti dancers and the Carib Vikash dancers.  With so many prominent singers and dance groups why is it that only three tassa drummers were chosen to represent the entire East Indian culture of Trinidad?

When one looks at Suriname, their population is 440,000 people, 33 percent of which are Hindustani, 30 percent are Afro-Surinamese (Creoles), 17 percent Javanese, eight percemt Maroons, three percent Indigenous, nine percent others, with 27 percent of them being Hindu, 25 percent Protestant, 23 percent Roman Catholic and 20 percent Muslim. With such a large percentage of its people being Hindustani, they would be able to relate to the Indian culture of Trinidad and Tobago that is undoubtedly similar to their own. Indo-Trinidadian culture would be welcomed and appreciated among their people. If CARIFESTA is to be truly successful each island of the Caribbean has to be fully and truly represented without fear or favor. Every aspect of culture on each country need to be represented if our people are to be expected to truly understand each other. Learning more about each other can only enhance the precarious harmony in which we live. It is only then that we can become one region of people, confident in our individuality but comfortable in our diversity.