Joanne Briggs: an advocate for culture

Joanne Briggs 
PHOTO BY 
ANGELO MARCELLE -
Joanne Briggs PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE -

The culture of TT has been subtly ingrained in Joanne Briggs from a young age.

She recalled that her mother, Bernice Briggs, used to play mas with Wayne Berkeley, and would take her and her brother, Ian, to Queen’s Hall to watch Best Village. She would also carry them to Woodford Square in Port of Spain to see the Junior Parang Festival, produced by Diane McIntyre.

Her late father, Joseph Briggs, used to play tenor pan with Invaders and Exodus. He bought and played vinyl records of calypsonians and would even record the songs on eight-track tapes to play them in the family’s car.

In addition, her grandmother had a parlour in Curepe and, during the Christmas season, she would constantly play parang albums.

“That cultural awareness has been in my sphere since I was small. So it was an easy fit for me to be intrigued by the culture. And the more I was immersed in it, the more curious I became and the more questions I asked. As I got older I got more attuned to it and my interest spread to our Indian culture as well.”

To her, Carnival is more than just wearing costumes on Monday and Tuesday. She prefers to visit calypso tents, go see the Canboulay Riots re-enactment, listen to Dimanche Gras, and absorb other aspects of Carnival.

Therefore, when she decided to do a masters degree, it simply had to be cultural studies.

“Cultural studies is more than looking at festivals. It’s about looking at everyday life, and those theories apply to everything we do. Hence we can develop richer discourse on the TT identity as well as look at global issues from a deeper perspective.”

She got her masters in 2018 and, now in her early 50s, she is working on her PhD on the same subject with a focus on Carnival, her other love, at UWI.

She said culture is dynamic and continues to change and grow as outside influences are often absorbed. And its study gives people a better understanding of why people do the things they do, and the significance of actions and traditions.

Joanne Briggs playing mas with Lost Tribe’s Anansi earlier this year. PHOTO COURTESY MARSHA EDWARDS -

“I think there is so much to unpack with regard to our culture. And even though my research is on Carnival, some of the discussions and concepts that exist in the Carnival arena can also apply to parang. For example, looking at TT identity, and localisation for want of a better term.

“If we do that then half of the arguments that we have about, ‘Is this Trinidadian?’ or ‘What is Trinidadian?’ – maybe we can put those things to rest once and for all.”

For instance, with parang, she noted that some people use electronic instruments, or play songs with more of a Latin flavour.

“Just because someone is not a traditionalist, does not mean they are against parang. It’s a question of what you take out of it and if you understand. Even if you understand, you may not necessarily like it or agree with it, but at least you have a better understanding of what is happening to the culture.”

Although she mostly talks and debates about culture with friends and acquaintances, she has presented at a few academic conferences over the years.

Her most recent was in August 2019 at Carifesta, where she spoke on the relationship between Carnival in TT and two cities in Nigeria – Lagos and Calabar.

In July 2019 she and her cousin Anjuliet Woodruffe-Sims gave a video presentation at the Storytelling and the Body conference in Verona, Italy. The only Caribbean presenters, they highlighted stickfighting or bois, J’Ouvert, and pretty mas. It included a clip with mas-maker Peter Minshall and interviews with cultural activist Eintou Pearl Springer.

Briggs told WMN she likes digging deeper to get information and making sure it is recorded and preserved.

“If cultural advocacy means making sure citizens are aware of their heritage through my cultural research, then maybe I am an advocate.”

She also applies her knowledge in her career in public relations and communications since her eyes are more open to situations, events and messaging. She has an understanding of agendas and is able to give different perspectives to clients.

Telling the parang story

Not surprisingly, in addition to being a PhD student, communications specialist and vice-president of the Public Relations Association of TT, Briggs, a former journalist, is also an amateur calypsonian, cultural researcher, and one of the lead singers in the long-standing parang band Los Parranderos de UWI. She also won best lead singer or parang queen in the National Parang Association’s Parang Festival in 1997, 2005 and 2006.

So when the idea of documenting parang history to celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary was brought up, she was raring to go.

Briggs explained that the band was supposed to have a concert this year to celebrate the occasion ,but it was cancelled because of covid19.

Joanne Briggs singing with other members of Los Parranderos de UWI at the band’s 35th anniversary concert at the Learning Resource Centre, UWI, St Augustine. PHOTO COURTESY JOANNE BRIGGS -

“When covid hit we started thinking of ways to continue the parang. On top of that, it was our 40th anniversary, and we couldn’t let it pass without doing anything for such a significant milestone.”

The Los Parranderos de UWI team responsible for social media production therefore went into high gear and started planning what it would do from September through December to celebrate the anniversary.

For starters, they recorded six new cover songs and continued to produce original music for an upcoming album. They decided to share the covers and original songs from past albums on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as a gift, or aguinaldo, to get people into the parang spirit.

“We decided we couldn’t just do that. We had to pay tribute to the source, have something that identifies us as the next generation carrying on the legacy of the stalwarts of writing and producing music.”

So the band is working on its fifth album.

She said over the years UWI has been able to put aside money earned from performances, including a large amount from placing first in the National Parang Association’s (NPATT) Parang Festival in 2006. The money went towards costumes, recordings, and other incidentals. And it helps that band member Robert Persaud is a recording engineer.

The main event, however, is Los Parranderos de UWI’s social media project. Members kickstarted the celebration by posting a Tik Tok #DontRush challenge video to the song Sabaneando and continued with a series of videos.

The first segment is video interviews paying tribute to the stalwarts of parang, including the founders of La Familia de Rio Claro; Los Pastores; Learie Collymore, who anchored the refrain “sai sai sai” in house parang; and, of course, Los Parranderos de UWI.

The Get in Tune or GIT segment allows those who already play parang to follow along to one of the band’s original compositions.

Joanne Briggs. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE -

“It’s all about the sharing. We will share a song, explain what the song is about (because it’s in Spanish) and then we will have some of the musicians sharing the chords, along with a brief demonstration of the song. It’s a teaching moment.”

The Back in Times segment records what parang used to be through the memories of Los Parranderos de UWI foundation members. And the last segment is a collection of lyrics videos for the songs recorded this year.

Briggs recalled that, for about three consecutive Christmases over 15 years ago, she wrote several newspaper articles on parranderos. She feels as if this project is an extension of that series.

She added that some members of the band have a genuine interest in parang history, so she was glad the band was able to contribute and share information with other parranderos and the wider public.

“This immersion is not something you jump out of. And even if, by some strange chance I tell myself, ‘That’s it, I’m done,’ I will only be fooling myself. In some form or fashion I will continue to explore, interrogate, play mas, and sing de parang. Culture is life.”

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"Joanne Briggs: an advocate for culture"

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