Grenada’s Carnival Tradition (Hudson George) pt. 1

Reading Time 2 minsThe tradition of carnival will always remain, but the big question is: Why do we still play mas, even though the festival has become corrupted with domestic politics, foreign influence,  and some artistes always fighting among themselves for money and prestige during national competition events? During the colonial era, carnival had a vibrant rural influence. Villagers came together and organised themselves;  and play mas. The songs composed by the masqueraders were as political as they are today, but there were less repercussions from the authorities against the artistes, who sung those anti government songs. Today our political… Read More »Grenada’s Carnival Tradition (Hudson George) pt. 1

Caribbean Carnival in Costa Brava, Spain

Reading Time 1 minsThis piece opens our 2015 Carnival Studies. So now it is time to tell the stories of the Grenadian Carnival: our  Grenadian show opens on August 1, 2015. And remember this: “Nothing has happened until it’s  described “ -Virginia Woolf ======================BDN=================== September time is Carnival time in Begur, the small town on Spain’s Costa Brava. The Costa Brava Carnival is a Caribbean Carnival; its roots in Cuba. Spain’s Caribbean Carnival goes by the  name of Fira d’Indians, the Indians’ Fair.    Note: Costa Brava is located in Catalonia; it is a fine time to read Orwell’s Homage to… Read More »Caribbean Carnival in Costa Brava, Spain

Pan! Our Musical Odyssey (Now at Queens Museum)

Reading Time 3 minsOriginating in Trinidad in the late 1930s, the steel pan is the most important acoustic musical instrument invented in the 20th century. Steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago but is also one of the cultural icons of the Caribbean region. What is the history of this unique musical instrument?  A new documentary [docudrama] Pan! Our Musical Odyssey produced by Jean-Michel Gibert and Barthélémy Fougea and written by foremost Trinbagonian historian of pan, Kim Johnson, recreates the epic story of pan as it moved from various kinds of steel containers to oil drums, and its central role… Read More »Pan! Our Musical Odyssey (Now at Queens Museum)

Cricket: a colour commentary

Reading Time 1 minsA “West Indian Apartheid” lingered in West Indian cricket until the latter years of the nineteen-fifties: of course the game was merely reflecting the state of play in colour-coded societies that stood blackness in the basement. This writer allows that the “gentleman’s game” was not alone in race/colour prejudices. Young Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize winner in Literature 1992) saw the racism/colorism in Grenada during the three months he spend on the island, teaching Latin and English at the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School (GBSS). Professor Simon Rotenberg [University of Chicago] saw it in the course of a 1952 visit to Grenada. Enough. Back to the Oval  A campaign to… Read More »Cricket: a colour commentary