Yoruba Drum Festival on Saturday

The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago (ESCTT)’s Pan African FestivalTT Commemorating Emancipation will continue this Saturday with the Yoruba Drum Festival.

The festival which leads up to Emancipation Day, August 1 was launched on May 25. This year the drum festival will honour Christine Duncan Mark who is the founder, vice president, dance instructor and artistic director of Belmont Freetown Cultural Arts and Folk Performing Company.

A release on the event said the festival played the role of passing down stories, through generations for the sake of nation building.

One way of doing this was through the Yoruba Village Drum Festival which will take place at the Yoruba Village Square, Besson Street, Port of Spain.

“The Yoruba Village Drum Festival brings artistes, parents and children of the community and the nation together at this African Heritage Site. The drum festival highlights the significance of the history and contribution to the development of East Port of Spain of the Yoruba and other African peoples who lived in this community,” the release said.

It added that Duncan Mark will be the recipient of the Keeper of the Tradition Award which is given annually to someone from the Yoruba Village community who “worked diligently to preserve and develop African cultural traditions.”

It said the Belmont Freetown Cultural Arts and Folk Performing Company travelled the world as cultural ambassadors of TT and performed and taught the country’s culture to other countries such as the UK, Germany and Canada.

“The young people of the Yoruba Village community are also recognised and awarded for their achievements. This is done in keeping with the observance of the International Day of the African Child on June 16. The day is in honour of young people who struggled and lost their lives in the Soweto Uprising of 1976, protesting the poor quality of education, the right to be educated in their own language, and an end to apartheid.

“This year, the two students who will be celebrated are Cherisse James and Josiah Jordan for their outstanding achievements in academics, culture, and sports. Both are students of Morvant Laventille Secondary School,” it said.

The festival’s events began with Ewa Afrika Fashion Show which was held on May 28 at Queen’s Hall Garden Theatre, St Ann’s Road, Port of Spain.

It continues with the Drum Festival and, from June 17-19, the Pan African FestivalTT Commemorating Emancipation will host events in south Trinidad at Palm’s Club, San Fernando from 10 am-10 pm daily.

The release said the southern events were a feature to the festival.

It quoted the ESCTT’s executive chairman Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada as saying that, in the past, the activities of the Pan African Festival were often focused in Port of Spain. "We felt it was time to extended our celebration down south.”

It added that fashion designer and founder of the Torrence Mohammed Foundation Deron Attz will lead the southern events along with the committee.

The three days of celebration in the south will include drumming, pan, shopping, and fashion, it said.

The ESCTT said His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, King of the Asante Kingdom, Ghana, will be the special guest at this year’s Pan African FestivalTT (PAFTT) commemorating Emancipation.

The drummers for Saturday are:

1. Wasafoli2.

2nd Freeport Sea Scouts

3. Frontline Drummers

4. Persistent Drummers

5. Claxton Bay Tamboo Bamboo Group

6. St James Cultural Artisans

7. Unified Cultural Beacons

8. Sankofa Cultural Group of Ghana

9. San Juan South Cultural Organisation

10. Drumline

11. Chaguanas Women and Youth Group

12. Egbe Omo Oni Isese

13. Ancestors Beyond

14. Malick Folk Performing Company

15. Diego Ville Drummers

16. San Fernando School of Arts and Sports

17. Daffodils Cultural Group

18. Soul Oasis Cultural Ambassadors

19. Olokunsanyaawopeju Yoruba Village Drummers

20. Belmont Freetown Arts and Cultural Performance Group

21. Jeffery Hamilton-Scott Drumming Group

More info

The festival’s schedule of events is available at https://www.emancipationtt.com/.