Carla Foderingham wants Unesco City of Music conference 2027 in Port of Spain

A Music Walk of Fame for Port of Spain excited people and drew a large public response. The idea germinated from the October 31, 2019 declaration of the capital as a Unesco City of Music, a part of the wider creative cities network.

The walk of fame was among other initiatives developed by a team led by sociologist, development consultant and former TV presenter Carla Foderingham.

Some of these initiatives are still ongoing.

Not only was the project affected by the covid19 pandemic which began in 2020 but the designation was not associated with access to a fund or monetary allocation.

“All work to date is the result of grant funding and voluntary work still ongoing,” Foderingham said in e-mailed responses to Newsday. The initial project had a four-year plan from 2019-2023.

Some of the other initiatives included music zones, a Carnival Museum and cultural exchanges. The Carnival Museum today exists at 81 Charlotte Street, Port of Spain.

There have been exchanges with the cities of Jinju, South Korea in 2022; Metz, France in 2023; Lliria, Spain in 2024; and Ulyanovsk, Russia in 2024.

The music of Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument played for the first time in the cities of Jinju and Metz, and information on TT culture was shared widely with creatives and policymakers with Pan Trinbago providing support to the exchanges, Foderingham said.

She assured the city was not in danger of losing the designation despite the pandemic setback and the lack of funding.

She suggested speaking with Port of Spain mayor Chinua Alleyne about the walk of fame but Newsday was unable to reach him.

But the work done so far has grown fruit.

The city of Wuxi, China, is currently in talks with Port of Spain’s creative city personnel to develop their Creative City of Music application and Port of Spain networked with the creative cities Latin American Music sub network to develop a two-year implementation plan to promote the region’s music and creatives, Foderingham said.

She hopes these developments could lead to TT entering a bid to host the annual Creative City conference in Port of Spain in 2027.

Other deliverables Foderingham and the team want to accomplish include positioning panyards as centres of inspiration, development vehicles and propelling community, young engagement and education outside of Carnival; developing music zones in panyards and the implementation of policies that facilitate the sustainable non-seasonal development of the city’s music, heritage and traditional art forms.

Pan is a major part of the project and targeted Port of Spain youth in secondary schools and steelbands.

When asked why this was, she said, “The designation covers the music of the Port of Spain festivals, both cultural and religious festivals.

“The majority of TT/Port of Spain musicians are people who learn to play music on the national instrument in schools with junior panorama and conventional steelbands.

“Data collated by the creative city project reveals major knowledge gaps with TT's youth pannists, few of whom know the history of the capital city, the names of the pioneers and innovators who fashioned the national instrument, even though they are cultural ambassadors and standard bearers of TT's unique cultural traditions.

“The Port of Spain Music Walk of Fame will address this gap with information in the public space on the icons and innovators of TT's cultural traditions including the tamboo bamboo, calypso, the steelpan, the drummers of the festival of Hosay and of the Orisha faith.”

Apart from the pan being a major component, Foderingham and team see the panyards as being central to the development of the music zones.

She said, “This concept seeks to create centres of music within existing Port of Spain music spaces such as the panyards where nationals and visitors can enjoy live indigenous music beyond the season of Carnival and the staging of cultural and religious festivals in the city.

“The zones are envisaged as organic non-seasonal spaces of collaboration, creativity, and entrepreneurship that support the empowerment of musicians and the expansion of the Port of Spain music ecosystem.”

The organisers worked with several schools and steelbands over the initial period such as Success Laventille Secondary School, St Francois Girls College, Holy Name Convent, Queen's Royal College and Servol Life Centre. Proman Starlift, bp Renegades, Phase II Pan Groove and Power Stars Steel Orchestra were some of the bands with which they worked.

She said data collected from participants in the Creative City 2022-2024 suite of projects confirmed the need for more to be done from the ground up to teach the history of the city’s musical heritage which has infused over 300 diaspora Carnivals worldwide.