Tobago Heritage Festival streams to thousands

The Tobago Heritage Festival’s virtual events have being widely viewed since going online to prevent the spread of covid19.

The virtual events began with the Step by Step demonstration series on July 30. Its first six episodes featured a demonstration on head-wrapping.

“This was livestreamed on the commission’s Facebook page and garnered 2.6 thousand views,” Tobago Festival Commission Ltd chairman Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus told Sunday Newsday.

She said other episodes included preparing a traditional breakfast of cassava bread, saltfish and chocolate tea, traditional Tobago coconut confectioneries, dancing the cocoa, the Tobago Jig and Con Con Teh (cassava coo coo), one of the island’s indigenous dish.

“All episodes have streamed to high viewership and garnered complimentary reviews from excited viewers.

“This could be seen as the online version of the Folk Fiesta competition.”

Tsoiafatt Angus said participants were required to submit entries by video in the various categories – dance, oral tradition, folk melody and drumming.

“Pieces submitted were highly creative, utilising historic site locations and captivating videography for their presentations.”

She said the entries from all of the categories were posted on the commission’s social media platforms “and to date there has been significant social media engagement from the public.”

Tsoiafatt Angus said entries attracting the most engagement-reactions, comments and shares will win additional prizes.

She said since people could no longer go to communities to enjoy the various presentations, the commission decided to bring the drama to the people by way of four radio drama series involving participants from the different communities.

Themes included wake and bongo, courtship codes and folk tales and superstitions.

Tsoiafatt Angus said four, five-episode series were presented on four radio stations at different times to ensure maximum audience exposure to the dramas.

She said the Tobago Heritage Personality show is one the major events on the heritage festival’s calendar.

The event was held at the Magdalena Grand Resort, Lowlands on August 29, to be aired as a virtual event in four parts on the social media platforms as well as TTT and Channel 5.

Tsoiafatt Angus said the event saw several changes in order to comply with the covid19 restrictions.

She said all pre-events – oral tradition, financial, etiquette and personal development – were adjusted to cater to the protocols of physical distancing, mask wearing and sanitisation.