Simone Harris walks tall with moko jumbies

A seventh-generation descendant of the Jamaican Maroons, who embrace stilt-walking as part of their indigenous culture, has turned to Trinidad and Tobago to reignite that cultural heritage.

Simone Kimberly Harris said she is a descendant of Jamaican’s only woman national hero, Nanny of the Maroons (an early-18th-century freedom fighter and leader of the Maroons).

Harris spent two weeks in TT before African Emancipation Day, immersing herself in the culture as part of her mission to revive this dying art form in her country.

She experienced several firsts – first in the two-mile long Ethiopian Orthodox parade in San Fernando, on 12-inch stilts, in the Emancipation celebration in Port of Spain, her first costume in Jamaica’s national colours, designed and sewn by Victoria Bisnath, as well as her first doubles, which she promised would not be her last.

Before she left on August 4, Harris sat down with the Newsday at the Henry Street, San Fernando headquarters of the Junior Bisnath School of the Arts, Sports, and Culture, popularly known as Kaisokah School of the Arts.

Harris, who works with Jamaica’s Tourism Ministry, was taught the techniques of stilt-walking, constructing stilts, costume designing and its impact at Kaisokah.

Her mission, she said, is to work on a cultural exchange programme between her stilt-walking group, Walking Tall Jamaica, and Kaisokah.

Sayting she has a love affair with TT culture, Harris said while exploring her Maroon ancestral connections to Nanny, she learnt stilt-walking was actually part of her bloodline’s culture. Her father Donald Harris and his brothers practised this art while growing up in Portland, Jamaica, in Moore Town, a Maroon community.

While Walking Tall Jamaica engages in tourist spaces, on the ports, on significant cultural days, including its Independence and carnival, there is no comparison to the spectacular vision the walking giants present in TT: hence her reason for turning to the “foremost authority.”

Her group walks on two-foot and three-and-a-half foot stilts.

A retired dancer, Harris wants to see Walking Tall mokos dance on taller stilts like the TT mokos while dressed in impressive, colourful costumes, drawing in the crowds with their dynamism.

Her first encounter with moko jumbies in TT was in 2016.

“I was in Port of Spain and recall seeing these almost celestial beings floating down the (Ariapita) Avenue. I remember being introduced to 'Sir' Bisnath (the respectful title with which his charges identify him).

“Fast forward three years later: I received funding from the British Council in Jamaica to run an arts programme. Based on the type of activism work I do, I believe in bringing people together through the three ‘Cs’ – culture, connection and community.

“I could have easily done music, which comes naturally to Jamaicans, but I decided to do stilt-walking. It was different. I felt like it could be something that would impact at the individual level, but also effectively build confidence, while connecting physically, emotionally and mentally."

In 2019 two trainers from Kaisokah’s workshop spent four weeks in Jamaica training the Walking Tall group.

On another occasion, former Carnival queens Shynelle Brizan (2022) and Stephanie Kanhai (2023), who both won the titles while walking on stilts, travelled to Jamaica to share knowledge of their craft.

Brizan made history by portraying her costume Olugbe-Rere Ko – The Spirit who Brings Good Things, on stilts while five months pregnant.

“We continued walking together as a community. Then covid hit and we have not been able to meet as much since,” Harris explained.

On receiving a travel grant from the UK group Black Curatorial, she made the trip to TT to begin the process.

“I am at Kaisokah camp. I have come to the master,because I am resetting my knowledge base of stilt-walking. I am immersing myself in the culture because it is a dying art in Jamaica. I am on a mission to reignite that in my own country. To do that, I had to come to the source, to the master.

“We don’t have the same level of skills (that are) present here, but our desire is to be part of a community that is strong.

"We have spent time connecting with different groups in the Grenada, Barbados, Cayman Island, the USA, in the UK through our Instagram page. We have not been able to manifest these engagements with the physical presence in terms of a cultural exchange yet, but they know we exist, and we know where they are.”

Harris also envisions seeing more women and girls get involved.

“They have an interest and so I want to empower them using this art form,” she said, noting the engagement of occupants of the all-female Mary Seacole Hall on the UWI Mona campus.
While they do not have a physical space, they practise on the ring road at Mona.

“It is important to have a presence. This is how people will see us and engage us in the sharing of knowledge and information about this cultural art form. We are building community.”

While stilt-walking is a passion for Harris, she said it ties in with her nine-to-five job as a certified project management professional.

“I am a tourism and cultural industries consultant, community organiser. The Tourism Linkages Network is the department I have worked in for the last eight years. Here we connect local suppliers of goods and services to the tourism industry as a key strategy to closing the leakage problem while retaining the dollar on the island.

“Tourism is huge to us and we understand the need for foreign direct investment, but also the need for investors to invest in our people. I spend my days building capacity, finding local manufacturers, people who can help to diversify our tourism product. That is how they link.

"Also, young people in particular feel they have no options. Not everyone wants to go into the BPO (business practicing outsourcing), which is practically call centres, which is big in Jamaica."

She believes stilt-walking can bring about economic benefits and opportunities for practitioners.

“While Jamaica is rich in arts and culture, this is not given the respect and support deserved. We have a lot of successes, but it is the individual thrust, not necessarily someone becoming successful in music, dance or sport because there is a framework to get you there. It is because of your individual will.

The distinctive thing about Jamaicans is that we can make something out of anything. We do that a lot.
"So I would love to see the young people who come into Walking Tall, find the benefits in terms of employment, getting involved in tourism and cultural heritage spaces using their skill.

“People just need an opportunity.”

Bisnath, a disciple of the late Leroy Calliste (Black Stalin), said, “Stalin sang about the Caribbean being one race, one place, one people, and it is manifesting itself through this cultural exchange we are working on.

"He said he was excited to impart his knowledge and skills to those who want to have a future in a viable, economic profession that was considered 'out of the box.'”