When Carnival and revolution collide

Culture Matters

Power to the People

A many, many, many years it took us

To find this natural look

Suddenly out of the blue

This thing has struck like something new

Everybody young and old

Going afro telling the world

Black is beautiful

Look at the gloss

Black is beautiful

It’s the texture of course

Lift your head like me

You got to wear the colour with dignity...

– extract from Black is Beautiful, Mighty Duke

REBELLION. Movement. Disturbance.

Black Power is viewed differently, depending on your perspective. Anti-establishment and pro-African, it was also about unity of the races, social justice and a fair share for all in the wealth of our country.

In 1970, the socio-economic reality was far from fair. Externally, our country was prosperous due to oil. However, as National Joint Action Committee executive member Embau Moheni describes, “Eight years after independence, our economy was still dominated by foreign concerns and a privileged local white elite.”

A BBC film of Beetham, then called Shanty Town, revealed images that were, well, shameful. Makeshift dwellings of old wood and corrugated iron, uncomfortably close to each other; pigs, chickens, dogs and children playing in the same muddy space, no running water; garbage everywhere.

Even if one accepts that the media tend to focus on the negative, it is instructive that today we have similar stark examples of social contradictions, such as the opulence of the Hyatt a short distance from the depressed living conditions of citizens in Sea Lots.

Discontent at home was fuelled by human rights movements in the US and elsewhere. As Khafra Kambon recalls, the “impact of the civil rights movement and Black Power, and strong individuals like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, all happening at the same time, had a profound impact on young academics at the time. Things were happening internationally to influence your thinking process.”

If politics was the focus of the movement, the arts and education were its engine. Activists were required to read prescribed texts on the ideological foundations of their struggle. Walter Rodney, CLR James, Malcolm X and even the writings of then Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams provided the knowledge for speeches and debate. Street corners became centres of learning as young people “were literally studying the works of these great authors under the street lights.”

The Black Traditions in arts spearheaded by Eintou Springer helped bring the movement to life. Community performances evoked a visceral response, such as to the potent realism of a well crafted film. Mighty Duke won the calypso crown in 1969 with Black is Beautiful, in many ways opening a portal for the exploration of African identity and empowerment through calypso. Black Stalin, Mighty Chalkdust and Brother Valentino were some of the major voices, also exploring African spirituality and the culture of Africa through their calypsoes.

The new consciousness was reflected in the masquerade. Bright Africa, George Bailey’s winning band of 1969, was no doubt cleverly named to counter the fact that Africa was described during enslavement as the “dark continent.” Indeed, Bailey was ahead of the trend, having produced the celebrated Back to Africa in 1957 and Relics of Egypt in 1959, winning Band of the Year both times.

J’Ouvert, the official start of Carnival parade days, is synonymous with mud, steel pan, abandon and reverence for the festival. J’Ouvert is also deeply rooted in African spirituality, so it is little surprise that in 1969 “there were at least 15 sizeable J’Ouvert bands with an African theme.”

Springer writes that in 1970 “one could feel the excitement, the increasing polarisation between disadvantaged young Africans and the rest of the society. We descended on the city from East Dry River. Our J’Ouvert band was Pinetoppers – The Truth: Before, Then and Now.”

The band portrayed the glory of Africa before enslavement, the period of enslavement and the militancy of the 1960s and 1970s. It was an important aspect of the Carnival into which we will delve a bit deeper over the coming weeks.

For now, I leave you with the grim truth that 50 years after 1970, the struggle for our culture is far from complete. This week I was told by an elderly woman from Laventille, who says she is a supporter of pan, that she “can’t go to church and then come and listen to pan, you understand?” “No, not really,” I said. “I thought pan was a divine gift.” She looked at me, puzzled.

There is much work to be done. Until next time...

Dara E Healy is a performance artist, communications specialist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN