Caribbean Beat — January/February 2022 (#168)

freshed We identify Caribbean as vibrant, colourful, warm and energetic. Our true colours shine when we know we connect with you. It’s a Caribbean Airlines thing.

We are happy to serve you, proud to REpresent!

#REcalibrated

CaribbeanAirlines

A Message

from our CEO Happy New Year — and what a year we intend it to be!

The history of our region is steeped in the duality of struggle and perseverance: a Caribbean tribe united by the Caribbean Sea and the journeys that brought us here.

The past two years have tested our mettle, but we’ve rallied into 2022, and at Caribbean Airlines we intend to Reset Expectations. This overarching theme will underpin everything we do at Caribbean Airlines, as we REcalibrate and REnew our commitment to our vision, mission, and, most of all, to you, our valued customers. We’ve listened closely to your feedback to help us focus more than ever on providing an enhanced customer experience.

At the start of this year, we began introducing the 737-8 jet into our fleet and phasing out the current 737-NGs. The 737-8 is the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world, and it brings a range of benefits for Caribbean Airlines, our customers, and the environment. Fuel and maintenance costs are lower, each plane has ten more seats than its predecessor, with a total of 160 seats, and the aircraft offers state-of-the-

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art technology and an upgraded level of comfort in every cabin, including in-seat power for mobile devices, a new sky interior, sleek modern seats, and much more.

Meals will be available for sale via our website, mobile app, Reservations Sales and Service centre, and travel agents from 10 January, for flights from 16 January.

Those of you travelling on the new aircraft will catch a preview of our new Cabin and Cockpit Crew uniforms, which were designed by employees and reflect the vibrancy of the Caribbean. A full change to the new uniform design will take place in the coming months, as we roll out our refreshed brand.

Our Cargo business continues to expand its reach to better serve your needs. Now, shipping between Asia and the Caribbean is easier and more convenient. In partnership with our newly appointed General Sales and Services Agent, Megacap S.A. Limited, you can now transport furniture, apparel, machinery, and tons more from Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Narita, Singapore, and Shanghai to several Caribbean destinations.

Also, as the year progresses, we will update our range of products and services to add even greater value to your travel experience, including the ability to pre-order meals when you fly. We will offer an array of authentic Caribbean meals and snacks at affordable prices, which you can purchase at the time of booking or up to 36 hours before your scheduled departure time. Customers who purchase Economy Flex and Business Class fares can pre-order meals at no additional cost. Our menus incorporate a fusion of Caribbean and Western cuisine, including doubles (curried chick peas and bara), bake and salt fish, a variety of wraps, and delicious options for vegetarians and for children.

We’re really excited about the plans and improvements for the coming year, all done with you in mind. Be sure to stay informed via our social media channels, and follow us on #REcalibrate as we Reset Expectations in 2022.

Regards, Garvin

CaribbeanAirlines

Contents No. 168 • January/February 2022

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32 30

EMBARK

8 Wish you were here

Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago

10 Need to know

Make the most of January and February, even during the time of COVID-19 — from Chinese New Year celebrations in Suriname to Caribbean art in London

18 Bookshelf and playlist

This month’s reading and listening picks ARRIVE

21 Backstory

Carnival is love This year’s T&T Carnival season is once again a time of uncertainty, thanks to the ongoing pandemic. But while lovers of the festival dream of

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spectacular Carnivals to come, they also cherish memories of Carnivals past. Janine Mendes-Franco, Mark Lyndersay, Laura Dowrich, and Caroline Taylor share their treasured Carnival memories

30 Own Words

“We want to keep the tradition alive” Venezuelan Burroquite performer Maria Nuitter Espinal on keeping this traditional masquerade alive in her home country, and bringing it into Trinidad Carnival — as told to Raquel Vasquez La Roche

32 Round Trip

Ready to go The start of a new year is a chance to imagine future travel plans — and after two pandemic years, we’re all ready for a break! Are you thinking of a quick weekend getaway, a week of

relaxation, or an even longer escape?

Here are six itineraries from across Caribbean Airlines’ regional network

48 DID you even know

Consider yourself a true foodie? How much do you know about Caribbean culinary traditions? Let our trivia column put you to the test

Caribbean Beat An MEP publication

General manager Halcyon Salazar Design artist Kevon Webster Production manager Jacqueline Smith Web editor Caroline Taylor Editorial assistants Shelly-Ann Inniss, Kristine De Abreu

Business Development Manager, Tobago and International Evelyn Chung T: (868) 684 4409 E: evelyn@meppublishers.com Business Development Representative, Trinidad Tracy Farrag T: (868) 318 1996 E: tracy@meppublishers.com

Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. 6 Prospect Avenue, Long Circular, Maraval 120111, Trinidad and Tobago T: (868) 622 3821/6138 E: caribbean-beat@meppublishers.com Website: www.meppublishers.com

Cover Image provided by Caribbean Airlines

Printed by SCRIP-J, Trinidad and Tobago

Read and save issues of Caribbean Beat on your smartphone, tablet, computer, and favourite digital devices!

Caribbean Beat is published six times a year for Caribbean Airlines by Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. It is also available on subscription. Copyright © Caribbean Airlines 2022. All rights reserved. ISSN 1680–6158.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. MEP accepts no responsibility for content supplied by our advertisers. The views of the advertisers are theirs and do not represent MEP in any way.

Website: www.caribbean-airlines.com

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laxing Atmosphere Spacious Economy, Caribbean Plus and Business Class Cabin The Most Leg room for added comfort

Powered with individual in seat charging power both USB and 110V

Ambient LED Mood Lighting with sky interior

Bigger overhead Pivot bag bins

Business Class Redesigned Business class cabin with modern recline seats

Extra large comfy leather seats

Superior seat pitch of 45 inches, with room to stretch your legs out

Personalized 13.3 inch video seatback touch screens to view your onboard inflight entertainment

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CaribbeanAirlines

Time to RE-thinkA. .Message .

from our CEO

T

he tourism and travel industries are inextricably linked. Their fortunes are tied closely to one another, and in the Caribbean this link is even more pronounced, as no bridges exist to connect the islands of the archipelago.

Before COVID-19, travel and tourism had become one of the most important sectors in the world economy, accounting for 10 per cent of global GDP. In the 1950s, at the dawn of the jet age, only about 25 million people took foreign trips annually.

However, by 2019 that number had reached 1.5 billion, and the travel and tourism sector had grown many economies.

The pandemic, the first of its scale in a new era of interconnectedness, delivered a staggering “heat experience” for travel and tourism, but it also made clear the importance of the sector — for economic growth, jobs and trade.

“Heat experiences” are normally used by organisations to place their leaders in stretch assignments to prepare them for larger roles — a sort of trial by fire, to develop top talent.

The ability to endure the “heat” is critical. At the same time, however, proper support mechanisms are needed to ensure that people aren’t burned out. When harnessed well, heat accelerates learning, creating opportunities for big leaps in how people respond to uncertainty and complexity. This is precisely why we use this analogy when considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and tourism: to demonstrate that in the midst of learning to live with the virus, there exist opportunities for tourism and travel to RE-think, RE-tool, and RE-set expectations.

Tourism is rightly recognised as a core pillar of growth and opportunity. Thanks to the breadth of the sector, touching on almost every part of our societies, it has the power to drive recovery and get the region back on track. In the Caribbean, thousands of jobs and businesses are dependent on a strong and thriving tourism sector. To advance a post-pandemic tourism rebound within their parallel experiences, now more than ever, tourism and travel stakeholders must re-focus their existing relationships. Going forward, it is imperative to structure relations in ways that benefit the customer experience and, in so doing, restore confidence in travel and tourism.

#REcalibrated

While tourism figures are not expected to return to preCOVID levels before 2023, in the intervening “lull,” stakeholders can collaborate to re-work these delicate relationships. Partnerships and strategic alliances will be an important aspect moving forward, as the region’s performance is dependent upon industry linkages to ensure relevance and sustainability.

Globally, the airlines that have survived the pandemic have become increasingly focused on adding value to the travel experience. Within the region, Caribbean Airlines undertook vigorous cost-management initiatives, is refreshing its brand, and has skilfully used a phased approach to re-introduce commercial operations based on research and analytics.

A more integrated use of digital technology is one of the areas where opportunities exist to re-focus and improve travel and tourism in the medium and long term. Embracing internationally recognised digital solutions has become part of the course. And this period of recovery should be leveraged to re-tool through training. The World Tourism Organisation encourages support for worker training in order to build digital skills for harnessing the value of big data, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.

Alongside this, and of particular relevance to the environmentally susceptible Caribbean, we must also realign the sector to raise the levels of green investment in tourism, to achieve greater sustainability and provide opportunities outside the sector itself.

In the end, while the decision to travel may hinge on personal and professional needs, tourism and travel stakeholders have a vested interest in re-thinking the customer journey, to collaborate in ways that re-set their expectations and re-align with the new world reality.

CaribbeanAirlines

wish you were here

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Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago The sheer unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, ironically, one of its most predictable aspects.

As this issue of Caribbean Beat goes to press, it’s unclear what form T&T’s annual Carnival may take in 2022. But for those who love ritual and pageantry, come Carnival weekend at the end of February, there’s nowhere else on earth they’d rather be but the very heart of the splendid bacchanal. The traditional blue devil is a living lesson in survival and resilience, and a metaphor for what truly matters in Carnival: defiant, proud, and blazing its glory.

Photography by Jason C. Audain

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NEED TO KNOW

Aisyaqilumaranus/Shutterstock.com

Essential info to help you make the most of January and February — even in the middle of a pandemic

Don’t Miss New Year times two

Celebrating the new year brings joy, hope, and the magic of new beginnings.

If you’re in Suriname, you can do it twice. Its large Chinese community means Suriname is the only country in the Western Hemisphere to observe the Chinese New Year — falling on 1 February this year — as a public holiday. Begins with the new moon, it comes with feasting and fireworks, parades and family reunions. Although 2022 festivities may be scaled down due to the ongoing pandemic, celebrants will still usher in the Year of the Tiger with rituals of welcome. In the Chinese zodiac, the tiger symbolises strength, braveness, independence — solid qualities for the year ahead.

Shelly-Ann Inniss

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torarica.com

The best Of the

Caribbean

In the heart of

Suriname

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need to know

Ready to Wear Sail in style January brings the start of the Caribbean regatta season, running through Easter and into late April. Constant trade winds and the island’s fifty-four gorgeous miles of bays and natural harbours make Antigua a yachties’ favourite.

Whether you’re on deck or watching from shoreside, and especially at post-race parties, you’ll want to look just as captivating. Easybreezy and free-flowing are the style you want, and Antiguan designer Miranda Askie’s awardwinning Serendipity collection reflects that versatility. Her bold, elegant, and eclectic designs offer ready-to-wear functionality with a wide array of hand-painted fabrics, plus accessories for both women and men. Check out her boutique in St John’s or Miranda Askie Designs on social media, and plan your outfit ahead of the next regatta.

courtesy Miranda Askie Designs

SAI

courtesy Miranda Askie Designs

Breezy and practical looks from Miranda Askie are perfect for regatta season in Antigua — or anywhere else in the Caribbean

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Tobago Properties For Sale 5 Bedrooms – Ocean View TT$2.7m Crown Point

Shazim Ali – Property Developer

2 Bedroom Condos TT$1.25m Shirvan Road

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need to know

Courtesy Timeka Marshall

Top Five Mash music Enormous floats try to outdo each other in a flurry of creativity, showcasing Guyana’s culture at Mashramani. Guyana’s Republic Day Carnival, observed on 23 February, Mash features a unique street parade combining patriotic messages with revelry. And though the COVID-19 pandemic may not allow the traditional festivities this year, that won’t stop Guyanese from celebrating Mash in their memories and imaginations. As in other Caribbean Carnivals, music is at the heart of Mashramani. Singer/ songwriter Timeka Marshall, known for her hit singles like “I Won’t Stop”, “Bend Me Ova”, and, most recently, “Anything”, is “proud of how far Guyana has come as a people, and the music that captured the nation’s attention over the years.” Excited to think about the future, and how Guyana and the music industry will continue to evolve, she summons up some sonic nostalgia with her top five Mashramani tunes.

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Mash in Guyana, by Eddy Grant (1987) “This is a classic! It’ll never grow old, and it can never truly be Mashramani if you don’t hear it playing somewhere.”

Umbrella Party and Balloon City, by Compton Hodge (2003 and 2004) “These were big songs during my high school years. I remember many dance routines to these songs during the Mashramani kids’ competitions.”

I Am a Guyanese, by Adrian Dutchen (2011) “Another classic, in my book. You can’t help but sing along, as its words ring true to love and a proud representation of being Guyanese.”

Stadium, by Samuel Medas (2021) “This song was released for Mashramani last year, when there was no parade or road celebrations due to COVID-19. Although it was such an uncertain time, the song brought an uplifting energy and vibes that made us all reminisce about the Mashramani we love, miss, and can’t wait to experience again.”

need to know

Courtesy Tate Britain © Aubrey Williams Estate

Shostakovich Symphony No.12, Opus 112, by Aubrey Williams (1981)

On View Life Between Islands at Tate Britain The Caribbean has shaped British culture for centuries — from the unimaginable wealth generated for the so-called “mother country” by the West Indian colonies, to the music, literature, food, fashion, language, and ideas brought to the United Kingdom by generations of Caribbean migrants.

It’s a cultural debt that’s both obvious and still inadequately accounted for.

So Life Between Islands: CaribbeanBritish Art, 1950s–Now — which opened at Tate Britain, the UK’s national museum of British art, in December 2021 — is both timely and highly overdue. And it only scratches the surface. Covering four generations 16

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and a timeframe of seventy years, Life Between Islands sets out to explore the impact of Caribbean-born artists on postwar British art, with a detour into UK-born artists who “chose to move in the opposite direction,” relocating temporarily to the Caribbean (in most cases here, to Trinidad).

Life Between Islands opens with Windrush-era artists such as Aubrey Williams, Denis Williams, and Donald Locke — all from British Guiana — and proceeds through the London-based Caribbean Artists Movement of the 1960s and the Black Art Movement of the 70s and 80s. It ends with a handful of younger Caribbean-

born artists who have established increasingly transnational art careers from a UK base — such as Bahamasborn Blue Curry, Barbados-born Ada M. Patterson, and Barbadian-British Alberta Whittle, who will represent Scotland at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

The show brings together artists long represented in the Tate’s collections — such as Ronald Moody and Frank Bowling — with others whom it might once have been inconceivable to imagine in these galleries dedicated to the British art establishment. Perhaps the Tate’s next breakthrough will be to show some of these Caribbean-born artists without the need for historylesson labels.

Life Between Islands runs until 3 April, 2022, at Tate Britain in London

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bookshelf

This month’s reading picks from the Caribbean Reviews by Shivanee Ramlochan, Bookshelf editor

Dangerous Freedom

by Lawrence Scott (Papillote Press, 290 pp, ISBN 9781999776862) Dido Belle is perhaps best known through her stunning 1779 portrait by David Martin, in which she stands next to her cousin and companion Lady Elizabeth Murray. What lies behind her enigmatic gaze is the work of Dangerous Freedom, Lawrence Scott’s tender fictional revisioning of what Dido’s life might truly have held in its most private moments.

Elizabeth d’Aviniere — Dido’s married name — navigates states of duality in the late eighteenth century: mixedrace, installed at London’s Kenwood House yet everaware of her dubious grasp of respectability, fearful as a young mother for the possible fate of her children at the hands of slavecatchers. Scott illuminates the obscure areas of Elizabeth’s freedoms, rendering overlooked domestic and social exchanges in luminous narrative portraiture. In its finest moments, the novel tugs at connective emotional tissue between Elizabeth and her mother, revealing chasms of love and loss.

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How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

by Cherie Jones (Little, Brown, 289 pp, ISBN 9780316537001) Women the world over die because men can’t control their rage: this grim manifesto is hammered into the pages of Cherie Jones’s debut novel, How the OneArmed Sister Sweeps Her House. Taking the image of the Caribbean luxury resort to immediate task, Jones reveals the chipped teeth behind the grinning façade of respectability, both in and outside of the bedroom.

Lala, the protagonist of this anti-fantasy, lies next to her abusive unicycling husband Adan, leveraging the life of violence into which she’s been thrust against hopes for security, succor, a kind of home warmth that has little to do with Barbados’s heat. Nothing about these characters or their circumstances promises comfort, yet in the book’s aching machinery are threaded glimmers of hope: Lala does what she can, despite unfathomable odds, to survive her life.

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The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

by Chanda PrescodWeinstein (Bold Type Books, 336 pp, ISBN 9781541724709) If a racist shouts epithets into a black hole, will any star matter be around to hear its echoes? Barbadian-American theoretical cosmologist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein unveils systemic racism even among the celestial bodies.

The Disordered Cosmos unpeels layers of institutional disenfranchisement of Black intellect in STEM fields, with particular focus on astronomy and physics. What emerges in this extraordinary study is not solely science: personal essays and cultural criticism saddle up alongside explanations of theory that combine depth and accessibility. The future of science, Prescod-Weinstein affirms, must be open to Black girls and children everywhere, so that there are no more lone exceptions like herself, studding laboratories. This work soars with an inquisitive passion.

Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean

by Andil Gosine (Duke University Press, 192 pp, ISBN 9781478014584) “I would come to understand that I deviated from something.” In Nature’s Wild, Trinidadian-Canadian scholar and artist Andil Gosine reckons with no less a vulnerable and complex subject than himself. Querying his origins in rural Trinidad, his migration to Canada as a teenager, and his life in art and activism, Gosine enables a vast canvas for the examination of sexual autonomy in Caribbean cultures.

Revealing the homophobic structures that criminalise and repudiate queerness as holdovers of a rigid colonialism, the book involves its reader in a celebration of “wildness.” We must, all of us, be open to becoming more free: this is the rallying, community-oriented cry of Nature’s Wild, which devotes an entire segment to the radical pioneering resistances of the late Colin Robinson, whose LGBTQI+ labour is lovingly remembered here.

playlist

This month’s listening picks from the Caribbean Reviews by Nigel A. Campbell

Single Spotlight

Jazz Standards in the Tambrin Sauce John Arnold (self-released) The tambrin drum — a kind of frame drum similar to the Irish bodhrán and the Brazilian pandeiro — is indigenous to Tobago, and acts as that island’s sonic identification, as does the steelpan for Trinidad. On this new album, Tobago-born musician and keeper of the cultural flame John Arnold seeks a rhythmic basis and bedrock for the tambrin drum family, the cutter (high pitch), roller (rhythm), and boom (bass), outside of the island’s traditional festival and ceremonial dances. Six popular jazz standards are performed here, to find a new interpretation of how songs can swing when imbued with rhythms born in the islands.

The indigenous reel and jig beat is used to give “Fly Me to the Moon” the “feel of the folk style.” This kind of attempted amalgamation of genres and sounds has a presence in jazz, and this experiment in fusion has merit. The conversation between cultures — jazz and tambrin — expands the possibilities of world music.

Intra-I

Dancing the Ska

Theon Cross (New Soil/ Marathon)

Various Artists (Studio One Records)

Caribbean heritage remains strong in a newer generation of British-born musicians at the forward edge of recent jazz in the UK. Theon Cross — Jamaican dad and St Lucian mum — is a boundary-pushing tuba player who is evolving the role of that instrument and, critically, reinforcing the cultural legacy of the islands as a lynchpin for a modern jazz that moves away from the blues as the music’s foundation. With that knowledge and ancestry, he improvises and fuses jazz with dub, dancehall, soca, UK hiphop, grime, and “other sounds connected to the Afro-Caribbean diaspora.”

Sound system culture exudes from the sonic profiles of the ten songs on this album. The extended Caribbean, beyond Windrush, brings island ideas to global audiences. While the tuba is not generally the first instrument one thinks of as a lead, Cross has found a way to move the sound and musicality beyond comedic artifice towards ethereal reinvention.

The blurb for this compilation record of some of the greatest ska music recordings notes that “Studio One is the label that discovered, and in many cases, helped create legacies for artists who became international legends.” Among those legends are the Wailers, predating Bob Marley and the Wailers’ global superstardom, as well as Rita Marley and Don Drummond.

Ska, the precursor to reggae, was the popular music in late 1950s to early 60s Jamaica, moving with migration and gaining traction in the UK and influencing the creation of popular genres there like 2 Tone. This compilation, produced by the legendary Clement “Coxsone” Dodd — the king of the formative sound system scene in Jamaica — and culled from the culturally rich and plentiful vaults of Studio One, shines a light on the genre and the singers who gave it legs here and in the diaspora.

Sixteen gems from that era re-released for a new generation are gold. Dancing to ska never ages.

Love Has Found Its Way Tigana Thomas (selfreleased) In 1982, the Crown Prince of Reggae, the late Dennis Brown, released the lovers rock/R&B smooth groove “Love Has Found Its Way” to moderate success in the US and UK. The song has a staying power, however, that proves you can’t keep a good song quiet. Guitarist Tigana Thomas from Trinidad explores the song’s potential to remain a danceable tune, whether falsetto vocals or full-bodied jazzy guitar strums take the lead.

In this case, singer Jolene Romain sings the verse while Mya Scott sings the chorus refrain. The interplay between voice and guitar adds a layer of alternating sonic elements that are interesting enough to make this new cover of a classic song listenable beyond a few bars. The Caribbean “romantic getaway” aesthetic evoked by this recording reinforces a popular notion of what is sought after in these isles by tourists. If this song is part of the soundtrack of visitor engagement, that’s not a bad thing at all.

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backstory

Carnival is love

TeamDWP Studios by Dwayne Watkins

For the second year in a row, the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent Trinidad and Tobago Carnival from achieving its accustomed glory.

But for true devotees, this isn’t the end of the Carnival love story — which blazes on in memories of Carnivals past, and hopes for Carnivals of the future

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“I did it for the joy” A love letter to Kiddies Carnival,

by Janine Mendes-Franco

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S

ix-year-old me is a volcano. A flared onyx dress forms the steep cone, while an explosively elaborate headpiece towers above, plumes of lava and ash spewing skyward. In my right fist, I clutch a single, ivory feather as desperately as if it is my last breath of air before the dome’s invisible vapours consume me.

In reality, Gregory Medina, who designed the costume, had instructed me to “hold the feather tight.” I had no idea what perils lay ahead if it somehow escaped my grasp, so, though counterintuitive to how I wanted to play the mas — which was to pour myself into the volcano’s creative magma — that quill was not going to meet the end of its innocence on my watch.

Thankfully, Gregory soon realised I had “a glow” once I hit the stage, and learned to leave me to it. Other photos that year show me featherless and free, the cascading strands of beads on my outstretched arms blowing in the breeze at the Queen’s Park Savannah, making The Eruption of Popocatépetl come alive.

For a twirly little girl who was always reading, imagining, and spinning stories, weaving their silky yarns into a web you could touch and feel and get caught up in, it was my baptism of fire into both the sacredness of Carnival ritual and the worth of creative life. The first realisation was easy to come to. The second . . . well, in a country that has a complicated relationship with its

creatives, I often found myself fleeing the volcano’s fierce fertility. Better to be safe.

But volcanoes have incredible reach, their particles travelling over great distances and across years, settling into crevices, building up, becoming more burdensome, impossible to ignore.

Only very recently have I started calling myself a writer, claiming it in the same way I claimed the stage, and bubbling over in

From the camaraderie of the mas camp to the sensation of the stage, Carnival was proof there was magic in the world

be sculpted from a bland block of Styrofoam, or butterflies birthed by bending wire. Once I followed where each portrayal led, and trusted how the costume wanted to be moved, I existed only as a channel through which the mas coursed. What a privilege to bear witness to that discovery, year after year, to actualise something that wasn’t really there before I stepped into it, before I said “yes” to being part of the process of creation.

One Saturday morning a few Carnivals ago, I was driving, soca blaring in the car. A flatbed truck carrying a viridescent Kiddies costume overtook me, in more ways than one. The pangs of memory burned hot and bright as I teetered on the edge of my crater. I had to catch my breath, but when I did, it was to wish that mini-masquerader the power of inventiveness, the audacity of self-assertion, the courage to trust her instincts, the humility to bow before the gift that is Carnival — and with love, release the feather and step onto the stage, arms wide open.

my own defence when people preface it with the word “just.”

For that, I have the transcendent experience of Kiddies Carnival to thank, for that is where — along with J’Ouvert, pan, and traditional mas — the spark of ingenuity that fuels our national festival burns brightest. Its fire helped forge me.

Despite the trophies, I was never in it to win anything. I did it for the joy. From the camaraderie of the mas camp to the sensation of the stage, Carnival was proof there was magic in the world: the way the flare of the sun would illuminate a piece of iridescent mesh or make a cheeky sequin wink; the way fish could

Photography courtesy Janine Mendes-Franco The author portraying three Kiddies Mas presentations Opposite page: Storyteller of the Water Babies (1976) Left: The Eruption of Popocatépetl (1975) Above: I Once Was an Ugly Duckling (1978)

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“The crowds would go wild” A love letter to calypso tents,

by Mark Lyndersay

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A

ll my most vivid memories of calypso tents in Trinidad are moments of triumph.

In one of them, I am fighting past crowds on Henry Street in Port of Spain, washed by burned orange sodium vapour street lamps and the acid green fluorescent bulbs of Spektakula Forum, desperately waving my press pass to get past surging crowds flowing into the massive hall.

In another, I am off to the side of the stage with a camera at the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union Hall on Wrightson Road, waiting for Bill Trotman to walk closer to me on the stage as he sings “Schooldays”, with its infectious chorus, “Mammy, mammy, I want to go back to school.” Trotman is laughing broadly as the chanting crowd, embracing the hit from the tent’s master of ceremonies, keeps calling him back for encore after encore.

And finally there is the Queen’s Park Savannah, home of the Calypso Monarch competition. The night that strobes bright in my mind is a three-tent clash as Winston Bailey, the Mighty Shadow, marched solemnly onto the broad stage to steal the show. Bailey stood stock still in front of the microphone to sing

Photography by Mark Lyndersay Portraits from the author’s 2020 calypso tent series. From left: Baron (Timothy Watkins), the late Singing Sandra (Sandra Des Vignes-Millington), the Mighty Chalkdust (Hollis Liverpool)

In this century, calypso tents are very different. Squeezed between a new generation’s preference for soca — the dance music form of calypso — and poor audience management, there are tents that convened in 2020 with casts that were barely outnumbered by their remaining patrons.

I visited many of these tents that year on a personal mission to photograph the calypsonians on the 2020 circuit, and found shows produced on shoestring budgets for sparse audiences.

COVID-19 dealt a death blow to tents as performance venues just a few weeks later, but also offered, through online streaming, a chance for calypsonians to rethink their reality in the context of a new world.

In San Fernando, in an unspectacular concrete office building, Kenny Phillips reimagined WACK Radio’s studio spaces as a streaming venue, offering live and on-demand shows that took the fevered pitch of calypso tent life from a crowded room into a new digital space. Clouds of cigarette smoke were now replaced with aerosol disinfectant, as Phillips worked to balance safety with opportunity, giving calypsonians a new, if somewhat disorienting chance to connect with audiences viewing the shows on smartphone screens and tablets all over the world.

Without government subsidy, it’s unlikely that any tent could afford to produce a live show anymore, but COVID-19–inspired “Jump, Judges, Jump”, his reproach of the judges who placed him unforgivably low in his breakout year. He faced the Grand Stand for one verse, then swivelled the microphone stand to address the North Stand, remaining otherwise immobile save for a quiet hop on the beat as the crowd roared its endorsement.

At all these venues, and many more, buoyed by hundreds of witty, lyrically diverse, and unquestionably colourful calypsoes each season, none ever repeated, the crowds would go wild.

A cultivated thirst for this seemingly unquenchable flood of inspired verse, commentary, and colloquial wisdom was barely sated by return visits. A visit to a calypso tent was an encounter with everything that makes Trinidad and Tobago unique.

From the aroma of corn soup to the authoritative bark of the brass players backing the calypsonians, the calypso tent framed the sharp commentary (picong, in local slang), the brutally funny observations, and the ruthless social self-examination that were the hallmark of the practice of calypso at its peak, in an experience that was culturally singular.

Like the most terrible of deaths, the slow collapse of the calypso tent from that pinnacle was a steady social erosion over two decades, and what is left barely hints at its glorious past.

A cultivated thirst for this seemingly unquenchable flood of inspired verse, commentary, and colloquial wisdom was barely sated by return visits necessity created a new public record of these folk artists in performance. Limned by colourful LEDs in a black painted room in San Fernando, singing to pre-recorded backing music, generations of calypsonians preached an old sermon into a twenty-first-century medium.

Where calypso and the aggregation of performers known as a tent go from here remains uncertain. But calypsonians have been given sight of new opportunity, and a world’s worth of audiences, to recraft and relaunch an experience born on dirt floors under thatched roofs into a particularly cold and unforgiving medium.

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“Unfiltered glee gathered in my soul” A love letter to mas, by Laura Dowrich

I

t was the prettiest costume I ever wore. A red organza-like material was shaped into a halter top with a large rose in front, and a long skirt with frills that cascaded onto the ground.

Together, it looked like one piece of fluffy red cotton candy, a look I completed with synthetic rose petals stuck on the left side of my face and hair.

That costume, Beyond the Roses from the 2016 band Finding Shangri-La from K2K Alliance and Partners, wowed everyone who saw it. I was stopped for so many photos that Carnival Tuesday by fascinated onlookers. To say I am a proud peacock in a fancy costume is a gross understatement. I particularly love when I come off stage, the ultimate preening platform, and a little child approaches me in awe to ask for a piece of my costume.

I have been playing mas since the age of five. I think my

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Photography by Andrea de Silva The author on stage with K2K Alliance and Partners’ Finding Shangri-La, Carnival 2016

Throughout the course of my mas-playing years, I played a member of an American Indian tribe, a mermaid, a fancy saloon girl, and Jean and Dinah, a band section inspired by Sparrow’s infamous song.

Our Carnival is rooted in history, with early masqueraders using costumes to portray and make fun of other people. As the mas evolved, portrayals derived inspiration from history and literature. My uncle Hollis Dowrich won the San Fernando Band of the Year competition three times in the 1950s with portrayals of Shakespeare, Spain in Mexico, and West Indian History from Columbus to Federation. In those days, they used metals and heavy fabric to stay as true to the theme as possible.

In T&T, there are costumes for everybody and every body. You don’t need to have a six-pack to play mas, you just need to find the right costume for your comfort level

first costume was a fish. My father fashioned it from a piece of sponge, stuck on an assortment of coloured foil pieces with contact cement to look like scales, and sprinkled glitter to give it that extra bling. I will never forget that day. As I stood still for my father to complete his last-minute alterations, mere hours before we hit the streets of San Fernando, a well of unfiltered glee gathered in my soul, and I wept.

To this day, putting on a costume makes me cry with unbridled happiness. Something about walking the streets disguised as something other than myself makes me ridiculously happy. There is also a sense of pride wrapped up in there, too.

While some people love the chance to flaunt their bodies in the skimpiest of costumes, I cherish masquerading in a full costume that actually depicts a theme.

Nationally, pre-eminent masman George Bailey tapped into history, bringing Ancient Egypt and Africa to life, among his many themes. Peter Minshall continued that legacy, incorporating history into a social narrative that forces us to learn something about ourselves.

I have nothing against bikini and beads, and I have played mas in them in the past, but we have so successfully exported that version of mas that foreigners are often shocked when I show them photos of my costumes. And beyond educating them on the real purpose of mas, those photos show them our inclusivity. In some countries, people wouldn’t dare don a costume if their bodies weren’t close to perfection.

In T&T, there are costumes for everybody and every body.

You don’t need to have a six-pack to play mas, you just need to find the right costume for your comfort level — and if you find passion and purpose in helping to tell a story, there are costumes for that.

Last Carnival, in the absence of a parade, I put on my Lost Tribe costume from 2020 and paraded in my yard. I look forward to the day I can once again dress up in an extravagant creation and play a mas in the streets of Port of Spain. I am pretty sure the tears will be flowing fast and hard.

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“And this was just until Friday night”

A love letter to doing everything for Carnival, by Caroline Taylor

Is a vibe coming outta we soul Everybody take up yuh role This year we playing brave and bold Jumbies coming out ah dey hole — Machel Montano, “Jumbie”

P

icture it: Port of Spain, 2007. For a plucky twentysomething, it is the first full Carnival season back in Trinidad after several years in the cold. Greedy (and hubristic), she looks upon the tantalising buffet of Carnival experiences, and resolves that none shall go

unsampled.

It started sensibly enough — a reasonably spaced series of mandatory Carnival activities. Panyards. Pan semis. Calypso competitions. Viey La Cou. Some fetes. But the week before

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Carnival is . . . different. The quasi-hermit who could be counted on to shimmy out of almost every social invitation was instead seeking out as many pre-Carnival activities as could reasonably be attended without physical expiration, linking up with seven different posses of friends on the final sprint to Ash Wednesday.

The ambitious pre-mas itinerary was Tribe Ignite; then the Canboulay Riots re-enactment in town at 5 am; traditional Carnival character competition at midday; then Soca Monarch backstage. And this was just until Friday night.

Saturday morning was the critical re-fuelling point before Panorama finals at the Savannah, immediately followed by Insomnia fete at MOBS 2. There would be no cat naps. And the friend who was joining me on my mother and her friends’ annual pan pilgrimage was also coming with me to Insomnia. Bailing was not an option.

I cherished the pan. Among the lime that night were All Stars, Phase II, Renegades, and Despers die-hards, all fiercely

After all, I was registered to play two days of mas and J’Ouvert a few hours later.

That night, as I took in the final Dimanche Gras performances, I entertained a brief flirtation with the idea of making a J’Ouvert costume — at the last minute, despite my dodgy arts and crafts skills, and with nary a clever sociopolitical pun at hand. I settled for old clothes, lathered up in baby oil, and made the rounds to collect a couple of friends before heading to meet 3canal. One homey, who shall remain nameless, was putting the final touches on her J’Ouvert kit in the back seat, using the dome light overhead. This was the first time I was driving myself to and from J’Ouvert, so my delight at successfully dodging all the bands assembling on Long Circular Road and securing a park in Woodbrook was short-lived. Because Jesus knows the speed walk back to Ariapita Avenue after crossing the Savannah stage is a gauntlet when there’s no music truck, no alcohol, and the sun starts assaulting your weary body from the sky.

It started sensibly enough. But the week before Carnival is . . . different

Photography by Jason C. Audain Waiting to go on stage at Panorama Finals in the Queen’s Park Savannah

cheering and arguing for their bands, but with a magnificent camaraderie in celebration of our resplendent instrument, our defiant resilience and creativity. Listening to the pan, with a view of the lights flickering on the surrounding hillsides under that cool, crisp night air, has always been an experience that fills me with tremendous gratitude, no matter the victors.

Still high off the music, my friend and I persevered through the gridlock entering Chaguaramas. I was grateful for the company, despite my hermit tendencies beginning to flare from lack of sleep, too many bananas (they’re so useful for hangovers), and having far exceeded my weekly peopling quota. At some point, hours later, when the sun was well into the sky, I made my way happily but wearily back home.

By this time, my body had begun to stage an intervention.

Not even black-out curtains could fool my body into believing this was sleeping time. Even if I couldn’t sleep, I could at least remain horizontal, giving my aching feet and sore back a chance.

I hosed down, showered, hydrated, closed my eyes for a five, and then readied myself for Monday mas. It was not even a thought to skip it. I hauled my behind to the car . . . which would not start. My battery was dead. It wasn’t until my dad gave me a jump that I could see why: my friend never switched the dome light off after we met the band. I had to laugh. I took it as a sign to ask my dad for a lift to be on the safe side.

Several groups of friends were playing in Island People that year, so with a few SMS messages I was able to link up with my section. We jumped the afternoon away, got some great photos (including blue paint still leaching out of my skin — several showers later — onto my white Monday-wear shirt). But I knew my limit. I needed to ice. And to hydrate. And to get one full night of sleep before the final push.

I met the band downtown early Tuesday. There’s one particularly sleepy-looking photo of me from that morning, somewhere near South Quay. The rest of the day was a blissful blur, right through to Last Lap by the Stadium — all powered by soca, Lucozade, and spirits. There was a photo that came out in a Carnival magazine afterwards that took me years to figure out.

And then I realised.

Dip in de centre Do de jumbie dance Lean back and reverse Do de jumbie dance.

It was that — all of us in our bronze costumes leaning back, reversing, doing the jumbie dance. The perfect immortalisation of the year I was fully (or almost fully) outta body, then back to myself.

We ready for mas again? n

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own words

I

am an artist from a small fishing and tourism village called Puerto Colombia, located in Choroní, Venezuela, forty miles west of Caracas. The village has only three streets, but is well-known for its celebration of the Burroquite. As a teenager, I was encouraged by my father and a teacher named Augusta Chavez to love my cultural traditions. As a result, I toured throughout Venezuela with the Choroní Dance and Drums Foundation, performing various folk traditions such as the May Cross, St John the Baptist, the Christmas Shepherds, and the Burroquite.

These performances included drumming and various folk dances.

The Burroquite tradition goes back beyond what I can remember. People from the village say that a man used to come from the nearby mountains to dance the Burroquite in various festivities, like New Year’s Eve, to celebrate our village

“We want to keep the tradition alive” Venezuelan performer Maria Nuitter Espinal on the traditional Burroquite character of Choroní, the importance of passing down cultural heritage, and how she brought the Burroquite into Trinidad Carnival — as told to Raquel Vasquez La Roche Photography by Jason C. Audain 30

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patron, St Clare of Assisi. He did not show up to dance for two years, and since I was an active performer in Choroní, my family told me, “Let’s bring joy to the village.” From then on, I became Choroní’s Burroquite, and have danced with La Campanera, my donkey, for the last twentyfive years. I began with the company of my family, who are musicians — my numerous sisters, my nephews and nieces, my children, and of course, my husband, Vivi.

Over time, more people joined the Bur roquite for the New Year’s Eve celebration. I visited every house in the village with my parranderos. We toasted, we danced, we played maracas, and sang in celebration of the new year. That’s the spirit people have towards their traditions. A town that doesn’t maintain its traditions becomes a difficult place to live.

O

ver the years, some family members settled outside Choroní, and I started performing with a group of young musicians who played drums and trombones in the street, El Parampampam. This encouraged more youth to come out and join us during the main festivities throughout the year.

In my town, there are between thirty and forty children who I teach to dance the Burroquite. Why do I do this? It’s because we want to keep the tradition alive with its original characteristics — the Choroní’s Burroquite dances parranda and to the sound of drum beats. In Los Llanos, the burroquite dances joropo.

Therefore, we don’t want to see the burroquite dancing reggaeton.

It’s my duty to communicate to children in schools, and everywhere I go, that the Burroquite’s manifestation is originally a man dressed as a woman, with a hat with long braids and a bag hanging from her side. Although each child has their own dancing style, there is a pattern to follow. It’s essential to listen to the music to get the right movements, since the song gives the cues to know when to turn or kick as you dance to the rhythm of the drums and trombones.

It’s important to me that the Burroquite tradition continues. The Traditional Burroquites Collective have organised nationwide Burroquite gatherings for over five years. Hundreds of Burroquites

“When I see my grandson dancing with passion because he mirrors my passion, I know a little piece of my country is here with us”

I

from Apure, Mérida, Caracas, Barlovento, Marizapa, and Margarita come to Choroní each year. As a result, other Burroquite groups and collectives have done the same and the tradition has gained visibility in various parts of Venezuela.

In 2016, after arduous research and interviews, out of 1,500 burroquites and sixty collectives, only twenty-one were declared part of the national cultural heritage of Venezuela, including the Burroquite of Choroní. A formal act was held in

Caracas where they gave us a decree, and a diploma that has given me the support to take Choroní’s Burroquite to Spain, Curaçao, and Aruba. We also travelled by bus from Choroní to Chile, where I had a fantastic experience dancing with the huasos — Chilean cowboys — and their traditional dance, the Cueca. I also met a Senegalese percussion group. I wanted to be in Africa, and Africa was there with me, playing the drums in their impressive costumes.

Long established as a form of traditional masquerade in Trinidad, the Burrokeet — which depicts a small donkey and its rider — was originally brought across the Gulf of Paria by Venezuelan migrants in the nineteenth century. The original Venezuelan Burroquite is still performed in communities across Venezuela, and ultimately traces its roots back to the Iberian Peninsula.

’ve been coming to Trinidad for the last ten years, since my daughter lives here with her family. At first, I didn’t dare to bring out my burroquite during Carnival.

I performed at schools and orphanages, but never Carnival. I respect people’s traditions, and if I want my culture to be respected, I must begin respecting others.

Then in 2020 I met the right people, and I was invited to play with a group of Moko Jumbies. I had never imagined myself in one of the world’s greatest Carnivals, performing Choroní’s Burroquite with my grandson, Thiago Salomon, a born dancer.

To me, it’s important to pass my traditions to my grandchildren, who live in Trinidad. I teach them the Venezuelan culture and they also learn the traditions of the place they are living now. There are too many influences that can lead them away from their traditions, especially when they are young and feel other kids can ridicule them. Therefore, the more they know, the more they will have the confidence and pride to be part of it.

When I see my grandson dancing with passion because he mirrors my passion, I know a little piece of my country is here with us.

I feel identified with Venezuela when I dance the Burroquite, as it embodies so many things. The mix of races — Black, Indigenous — and the music. We connect as Venezuelan immigrants, since our country is rich in cultural traditions.

Wherever I go with my husband, my suitcase has my maraca, flag, and donkey, and then Vivi and I share his suitcase for our clothes. And wherever I am, I’ll dance and sing. n Interview translated from Spanish by Raquel Vasquez La Roche

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round trip

Ready to go 32

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We’ve made it to 2022 — and after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re all feeling ready for a break.

Time to start making travel plans!

Whether you’re looking for a quick weekend getaway or a longer trip to truly decompress, Caribbean Airlines’ destinations across the region have just the itinerary for you

Seven days of bliss

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Every tourist guide will tell you there are 365 distinct beaches in Antigua, one for each day of the year. Few of us get to take a year-long vacation, so you probably won’t get to sample them all, but a week is just enough time for the greatest hits. There’s world-famous Half Moon Bay on the east coast, secluded Rendezvous Bay in the southwest, ever-popular Dickenson Bay with its restaurants and nightspots . . . And while you’re beach-hopping, make sure to leave some time for the historic sites around English Harbour, shopping in St John’s, and exploring the rolling countryside of the interior.

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Or head for Dominica and a week of nature therapy: the lush mountainous interior is full of deep valleys, rushing rivers, waterfalls — like Victoria Falls, pictured here — plus hiking and biking trails. Dramatic volcanic beaches line the coast, with diving adventures and even whale-watching just offshore. Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a World Heritage Site, includes the famed Boiling Lake and Valley of Desolation — both created by subterranean volcanic forces — as well as dramatic Titou Gorge and the shimmering Emerald Pool.

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BEGIN THE NEW YEAR WITH A NEW VIBE Set the tone for 2022 with a colorfully vibrant getaway to Curaçao. With flights twice a week from Trinidad, it’s now easier than ever to immerse yourself in a unique island experience filled with endless culture and unforgettable energy.

FEEL IT FOR YOURSELF

VISIT US AT CURACAO.COM

A fortnight to remember

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Some adventure stories need a little more time to unfold. To experience the Caribbean at its wildest, consider the interior of Suriname, with its vast rainforests, remote savannahs stretching as far as the eye can see, and dramatic mountains. Such as sheer-sided Voltzberg in the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, with views from the summit of the forest canopy, home to troops of monkeys and hundreds of bird species. Or imagine an expedition on one of the country’s many rivers, past tiny islands and rapids, to a rainforest lodge with nature at your very doorstep.

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The Brash Villa — Aurora Avenue, Mt Irvine, Tobago —

Located high on the hill above Mount Irvine golf course, the Brash Villa has a wonderful location offering views of Buccoo Reef and the Nylon Pool.

• Up to 14 guests • Pool and tennis court on site • Golf Course at 15 min walk • Beach at 5 min drive +1-868-681-9922

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@THEBRASHVILLA

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Or perhaps you’ll find your great escape in Tobago — just twenty-five miles long by six wide, but diverse enough to offer everything from wilderness adventure to thrilling nights out. For sheer peace and quiet, head to one of the seaside villages of the Leeward Coast, dotted among dramatic scenery, with waves breaking before you and the green slopes of the Main Ridge behind. Near the island’s southwestern tip, you’ll find not only world-famous Pigeon Point — pictured here — and bustling Store Bay, but elegant restaurants and nightspots to party the night away. Or head offshore and experience Tobago’s celebrated dive sites, from reefs to wrecks, home to a wealth of undersea life.

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The perfect weekend

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Sometimes all it takes is two days — or three, if you squeeze in a Friday — to recharge your batteries. And some islands seem just the right size — not too big, not too small — for a weekend break. Like Curaçao, which manages to combine some of the Caribbean’s most gorgeous beaches with buzzing nightlife and picturesque historic buildings in central Willemstad.

You can even combine some outdoor exploration with fun history lessons at Christoffelpark, a national park created from three former plantations, with Curaçao’s highest peak at its heart.

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Jason C. Audain

Or, if you’re in Trinidad, pack your overnight bag and enjoy the scenic drive down the east coast to Mayaro, where the bay stretches for miles and miles, shaded by coconut trees. A beach house verandah is the perfect place to kick back, enjoy the Atlantic breeze, nurse a beverage — and once night falls, count the stars in the Milky Way gleaming overhead.

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did you even know

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Traditional Javanese dishes are one of the culinary delights of Suriname

Hungry yet?

In the Caribbean, the culinary traditions of four continents combine with delicious local ingredients to create a menu full of spice and savour. Consider yourself a true gourmand? Test your knowledge of regional food traditions with our quiz — and check your score in the answers below!

5. The traditional Cuban dish Moros y Cristianos involves what two main ingredients?

1. What’s the name of the crucial ingredient of Guyanese

6. What seafood delicacy is considered the national dish of the Bahamas?

pepperpot that both preserves the dish — allowing it to be kept on the stove for weeks, months, or even years — and imparts its distinctive flavour?

7. Native to the Pacific, breadfruit was first introduced to the Caribbean in 1793 — to which island?

2. Jamaica’s national dish involves two ingredients

originating elsewhere in the world — what are they?

most delicate version of — and which even appears in the country’s coast of arms?

3. What’s the traditional accompaniment to fried flying fish in Barbados?

9. What’s the name of the mountain mushroom native to Haiti that’s used to flavour a delectable rice dish?

4. The chili pepper variety often considered the Caribbean’s hottest is named for a village in south Trinidad — what’s it called?

10. The best place to find traditional Javanese food in Suriname is one of the family-operated restaurants attached to a private home — what are they called?

4 The Moruga scorpion 5 Black beans and rice 6 Conch, often served battered and fried 7 St Vincent 8 The Antigua black pineapple

9 Djon-djon 10 Warungs — the neighbourhood of Blauwgrond north of Paramaribo is celebrated for them WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM

Answers: 1 Cassareep, made from cassava 2 Ackee — native to West Africa, and now grown in the Caribbean — and saltfish, or salted cod, usually imported from Canada 3 Cou cou, made from cornmeal and okra

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8. What fruit is Antigua reputed to grow the sweetest and