David Kalloo explores folklore with Jumbie in Town

In David Kalloo’s third book, Jumbie in Town, he explores his childhood adventures in search of characters from the rich amalgamation of Trinidad and Tobago folklore.

While these folklore tales were meant to scare you and keep you on the straight and narrow, Kalloo had a fervour to delve deeper to prove the existence of these nocturnal and diurnal jumbies, a media release said.

“Listening to the stories narrated by his mother infused and fired up an inquisitive nature in him to find a lagahoo, douen, papa bois, soucouyant, la diablesse or Mama D’Leau. The anticipation of chopping a silk cotton tree at midnight to watch it bleed blood enthused him,” the release said.

His vivid recollection of his childhood adventure lends a colourful aura as he takes the reader through a period that was teeming with folklore. He crafts together, too, the lack of understanding then about the environment and people’s arrogance due to the lack of information about their habitat, the release said.

Unlike his novel Green Mango Chow, his new offering Jumbie in Town is his own account into his adventures to find a Jumbie in Town from the age of ten right up into his penultimate teenage years.

Kalloo, who was born in Port of Spain, spent most of his years growing up between Arima and San Juan where he attended a Seventh Day Adventist School.

Having left formal education at 14 he drifted through various methods of employment before becoming a self-taught signwriter. Growing up in a diverse society like Trinidad, where the exposure and, more importantly, the participation in all the cultures helped to elevate his understanding and appreciation of the society in general.

This complexity of intermingling ethnicity and cultural honeycomb played a crucial part in his life when he migrated to London in 1989, in the hopes of expanding his knowledge in the sign industry. Unfortunately the career path of a signwriter was not to be, and adapting to meet family needs saw him drift away from the profession, the release said.

Kalloo spent many years with a mas band at the Notting Hill Carnival and in 2001 focused his interest in documenting the carnival's history. This venture played a dynamic role when he embarked on a degree in Caribbean Studies and media studies at London Metropolitan university.

Wading into full-time higher education after 31 years had its challenges, but also awakened a dormant passion for writing. He has published a concise version of the history of Notting Hill Carnival in the TT High Commission’s newsletter and several articles on Carnival and soca music in the London magazine SocaNews.

He has a BA in Caribbean Studies and media studies and an MA in international relations.

He has been a judge with the Notting Hill Carnival for three consecutive years and also judged Hackney One Carnival. He also sat on a judging panel for a short story competition in conjunction with Black History Month 2017, organised by a leading City law firm.

He is the founder and editor of the online magazine, Culturepulse, a publication dedicated to connecting the Caribbean diaspora.

Kalloo has served as a trustee with Steelpan Trust, the TT Association UK and is the communications and media adviser of the FHALMA Foundation, the media manager for the Notting Hill Carnival Pioneers festival.

Jumbie in Town is out now in paperback and Kindle and available on Amazon.

For more info: e-mail cashewmedialtd@gmail.com or visit www.david-kalloo.com