Tobago Fest return will boost tourism

THE EDITOR: It is with a sense of elation that we in the Tobago cultural community welcome the return of the Carnival-styled Tobago Fest. The Tobago NCBA event, which showcases the Carnival arts, reached heights of popularity between 1998 and 2006.

This event attracted large numbers of Trinidadian and Caribbean visitors and some felt it was in fact an alternative Tobago Carnival. Over the past few years, the Tobago NCBA, led by Terrance Sandiford, embarked on a mas-making training programme for Tobago students in partnership with Republic Bank.

This initiative has produced a new generation of Tobago mas makers and together with established Tobago mas band leaders, they now have a revived Tobago Fest to showcase their mas-making skills.

The truth is that TT is a cultural and artiste world power, hence the reason why the Carnival and steelband culture have taken the world by storm.

At present, the Tobago Carnival, which is part of the national festival, is literally being stifled by the power of Trinidad Carnival. Therefore, an alternative Carnival-styled event in Tobago on a different date to the national Carnival will give an impetus to the tourism industry on the island.

At present, the Tobago Heritage Festival is merely an enactment of colonial plantation life which cannot inspire progressive consciousness among the younger generations of Tobagonians.

Most of the events of the Heritage Festival seem to be stuck in a time when we were mimic men and women of our then colonial rulers. Such a festival has proven to be limited in its ability to attract multitudes of visitors.

At the same time, the Tobago Jazz Experience focuses on contracting Jamaican and American artistes with hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars as a means of attracting visitors to Tobago. My view is that TT has the cultural and artistic power to attract the world to our shores once its marketed and packaged correctly.

Our steelband, soca, calypso, chutney and mas-making talents have the capacity to mesmerise planet Earth. However, we must shed the lingering colonial mentality which makes us believe that foreign art and culture are superior to ours.

Surely, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and NCC chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters must know about the power of the TT Carnival arts. Hence the reason why the Tobago NCBA’s Tobago Fest, which take place from September 30 to October 2, must be encouraged and supported.

OPOKU WARE, Scarborough