Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Guyanese folklore to take centre stage at Carifesta IX

Thursday, September 14, 2006

by: Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The folklore of the Jumbie, Moongazer, Kanaima, Bacoo, Ole' Higue and others that are embedded in Guyana's culture will come alive when an over 100-strong delegation showcases the country's cultures and traditions, during the ten-day festival, Carifesta IX, scheduled to begin in Trinidad and Tobago on September 22.

The celebration is being held under the theme "Celebrating Our People: Contesting the World Stage", and will provide an avenue for countries to present their cultural identity.

During this year's event, the indigenous peoples are also to play an integral role as part of the event, and the Guyana delegation will also be presenting a symposium on the indigenous culture as part of activities at an indigenous peoples village in the Carib community of Arima, Trinidad.

During the festival, Chairmanship of the Caribbean Organisation of Indigenous peoples (COIP), which is presently in Guyana, will be handed over to Arima.

Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Keith Booker, told a media conference yesterday that Guyana will be "doing its thing" in keeping with the theme of the event.

"The idea of Carifesta 2006 is to deal more with traditional folk and we are dealing with nine characters from our folk tradition and that will be done in a very large and extravagant manner because we are having large-sized representations of our folk character," Booker said.

Guyana's presentation will begin with the nine characters at the opening ceremony and later the contingent will be hoping to thrill the audience with their performance on the main stage of the 'Grand Market' during the Guyana Night presentation.

Booker explained that the Guyana Night presentation will attempt to portray an illusion of Guyana's social history through the use of music, dance and poetry to start the clash of civilizations which European expansionism brought about, and which resulted in the displacement of its First Peoples.

The Presentation will also depict the arrival of the ethnic groups and give a glimpse into Guyana's rich cultural history.

Guyana has selected Phillip Moore and Stanley Greaves to stand along with five other renowned artists from around the region to be specially honoured in a Master Artist exhibition.

Additionally, world renowned Guyanese writer Martin Carter has also been chosen for special recognition as Guyana's cultural legend.

Before the event concludes on October 2, it is expected that Guyana's masquerade dancers, fashion, culinary arts and craft in precious metals, leather, balata and fibre would have been featured at the 'Grand Market'.

Minister within the Ministry of Education, Desrey Fox, who is assisting with preparations for the event, related that the dance troupe from Sand Creek an Amerindian community in Guyana will be led by an elder who is knowledgeable about the traditions. She added that the group will perform at least 10 dances and they are also to play a part in other presentations, primarily because of Guyana's relatively small contingent.

"The Carib community is looking to embrace the notion that indigenous people are connected; regardless of borders, so that the celebration of Carifesta will focus on the richness of the cultural diversity of the Caribbean indigenous population while reminding others of the insecure situation in which many indigenous people have to survive day by day," Fox noted.

Carifesta IX is coordinated by the Interim Festival Directorate (IFD), the regional advisory body to CARICOM. The IFD is one of the transitional arrangements in the new management structure of Carifesta.

In previous years, the event was hosted in Guyana, Suriname, St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Cuba.

Guyana was the first nation to host the event when it was launched in 1972.

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