Trinidad's Marionettes Chorale readies Bizet's CARMEN

There's some overlap between MEP and the Marionettes. They both begin with the letter 'M'. They're both fierce proponents of Caribbean and Trinidad & Tobago's arts and culture. They also happen to share a few members, who moonlight as performers (and design the sexy poster) when off the media and editorial clock.
And since we already subject our coworkers (and perhaps the odd visitor to our offices) to strains from choruses, arias and ensembles from Bizet's iconic opera, Carmen (which the Marionettes is presenting in July), we figured we might share some of it with you as well!

We've just completed casting for this landmark production, and it's already becoming one of the most anticipated shows of the year (no pressure, right?). It's actually been a bumper year for theatre and performance in Trinidad & Tobago, with multiple shows going on each week in venues across the islands. They've included two full-length musicals; at least two original new plays; a number of recitals, shows and gigs in every genre; the regular gamut of satires and farces... and it's not even May yet! An arts-loving country in a year where performers and producers seem to be blossoming in abundance?

The Carmens: Candice Alcantara and Lesley
Lewis-Alleyne

“We received an overwhelming response to our unprecedented open auditions last month,” explains Marionettes Artistic & Musical Director Gretta Taylor (and, well, my mother). “The calibre of talent from artists based locally and those who have been working and studying abroad has been incredible. Too often we forget how talented and beautiful our people truly are.”

No joke. The breadth of talent at the auditions has produced two complete casts of singers, many of them multiple Championship winners at the Trinidad & Tobago Music Festival. In fact, there was enough talent to fill another cast or two – would that time and finances permitted.

The Don Josés: Marlon De Bique
and Nigel Floyd

The title role of Carmen will be performed by Candice Alcantara and Lesley Lewis-Alleyne, while Marlon De Bique and Nigel Floyd assume the role of love-sick corporal Don José. Arnold Phillip and Marvin Smith double as the bull-fighting toreador Escamillo, while the US-based Natalia Dopwell and Feryal Qudourah play the dutiful Micaëla.

The four leads are supported by a stellar cast of singers and actors: Nigel Pierre and Richard Pierre as Zuñiga; Arnold Phillip and Garfield Washington as Moralès; Jacqueline Smith and Ayrice Wilson as Frasquita; Patrice Quammie and Llettesha Sylvester as Mercédès; Kashif Dennis and Stephan Hernandez as Dancaïro; Raguel Gabriel and Errol James as Remendado; and, well, me as bawdy inkeeper Lillas Pastia (interestingly, Lillas can be played by a man or a woman...)

The Escamillos: Arnold Philip and
Marvin Smith

The award-winning vocalists and Marionettes chorus will be joined by an orchestra comprising both Trinidadian and British instrumentalists, fusing the best of traditional Western instruments with the steel pan. Indeed, it is the first production of Carmen to feature the island’s national instrument. This will be the second Trinidad performance for the British musicians who return to after joining the Marionettes for our 45th anniversary celebrations two years ago.

“There is a lot of excitement all round,” says the madre. “We had a wonderful experience with our visiting British string players in 2009. Our members learned so much from them, and they were completely stunned by the versatility of the steel pan and our musical traditions. We look forward to another cultural exchange with them, and to sharing the stage with the visiting vocalists as well.”

The Micaelas: Natalia Dopwell and
Feryal Qudourah

In addition to being the first production of Carmen featuring the national instrument, the steel pan, Carmen also introduces a new partnership between the Marionettes and the University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT). The Marionettes has been working closely with accomplished vocalist and educator, Dr. Vertrelle Mickens, on various aspects of the production.

The Marionettes is also partnering once again with its sponsor of 39 years, bpTT, as well as with the Noble Douglas Dance Company Inc (NDDCI), and a decorated production team including Celia Wells, Margaret Sheppard, Randy Halfhide, Frank Agarrat, Leslie Clement, Maureen Clement and Giselle Langton.

We're excited, for sure. And for better or worse, our MEP colleagues can't help but notice.

If you want more, visit:

• The Carmen Eventbrite page
• The Carmen Facebook event page
• The Marionettes' Facebook page
• The Marionettes' website

Bocas LitFest: the Trinidad & Tobago Literary Festival

Tomorrow, the first Bocas Lit Fest – Trinidad & Tobago Literary Festival kicks off! And Discover Trinidad & Tobago and Caribbean Beat are proud to be a part of it as media sponsors. 

The Festival was founded by the dynamic Marina Salandy-Brown, and among the organisers are Caribbean Review of Books editor Nicholas Laughlin and co-founder and Managing Director of MEP, Jeremy Taylor.

From left to right: Edwidge Danticat; Derek Walcott;
and Tiphanie Yanique

The inaugural festival is packed with some 50 events over four days, running from Thursday 28 April until Sunday 1 May. 

Some of the highlights include:

• The announcement of the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the first major regional award recognising Caribbean writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. The short list includes White Egrets, by Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) in the poetry category; How to Escape from a Leper Colony, by Tiphanie Yanique (US Virgin Islands) in the fiction category; and Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti/USA) in the non-fiction category
• A celebration of the 25th anniversary of Peepal Tree Press, a leading publisher of Caribbean fiction and poetry, featuring founder Jeremy Poynting, the launch of new Peepal Tree titles, and readings by Peepal Tree authors 
• A Friday-night "poetry crawl" in Woodbrook, taking poetry off the page and the podium and into some of Port of Spain’s most popular nightspots.  
• Tributes to Trinidadian Keith Smith and Martiniquan Édouard Glissant, two beloved and recently deceased writers — one a master of the newspaper column, the other a champion of the Caribbean’s unique hybrid culture. 
• The Bocas Debate: first in an annual series of a high-level discussions of burning public-interest topics. This year’s subject: "Press vs. Government: the freedom to print what?"
• "The lives of others", a conversation about the privileges and perils of biography, featuring the prizewinning biographers of V.S. Naipaul, Ralph Ellison, and Frank Collymore, which includes Caribbean Beat editor Judy Raymond among the panellists
• Readings by celebrated Caribbean authors, discussion panels, workshops, performance poetry and open mic sessions, film screenings, music, a full programme of events for children, and more.

So find your niche and dive in! Here are the details of the jam-packed schedule:

• Wednesday 27 April (festival warm-up): programme
• Thursday 28 April: programme
• Friday 29 April: programme
• Saturday 30 April: programme
• Sunday 1 May: programme 

Caribbean Beat editor Judy Raymond to speak at UTT's Distinguished Lecture Series

One of the most interesting and rewarding things about MEP's staff is just how diverse their interests are after hours. Some are rally/race car enthusiasts. Some feature local music and theatre stages. And tomorrow, author and Caribbean Beat editor Judy Raymond will give a lecture at the University of Trinidad & Tobago on the artist Richard Bridgens, as part of their Distinguished Lecture Series.

The English artist Richard Bridgens lived and worked in Trinidad in the 1830s, and drew and commented on what he observed. He took both an artistic and an anthropological interest in the sugar estates and the people who worked on them.

Despite his work often being overlooked or dismissed as pro-slavery polemic, it is now increasingly being recognised by historians and art historians as an important visual record of the last years of slavery. Judy currently is researching Bridgens’s life and work in an attempt to discover more about the meaning of his drawings and resolve these contradictions.

Judy has a BA in Literae Humaniores (Classics) from Hertford College, Oxford, and an MA in Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She has worked as a journalist for over 20 years, and both edits Caribbean Beat magazine and writes a parliamentary column for the Sunday Express. She has written biographical studies of the Trinidadian jeweler Barbara Jardine and fashion designer Meiling, and has recently published an essay on the nineteenth-century painter Michel Jean Cazabon in the December 2010 issue of the Caribbean Review of Books.

For reservations or more information: (868) 642-8888 x 27108 / 27126 or theacademy@utt.edu.tt

Trinidad's Fort Abercromby

Attempting to find a different view of Las Cuevas Beach on Trinidad's north coast, we ventured along a road in Las Cuevas village unaware of the treasure that lay ahead of us.

The treasure was a derelict fort and park that was tucked away around a corner. We arrived at what seemed to be the end of the road and I got out the car in order to photograph some sorrel growing on a small slope. I have seen sorrel before of course – at Christmas time the fruit is a constant sight being sold in heaps by roadside vendors – but I have never seen it actually on the plant. Close to the sorrel was a sign with information about the Fort Abercromby but we were perplexed as it looked like there wasn’t much beyond that point.

Heading back down the road we ran into another sign that mentioned the development of the Fort Abercromby site into a historical park in 1994:

We invite you to fish on the rock, sight see from the magnificent lookout points, relax on the benches, enjoy local dishes from the cafeteria…

Our interest was now piqued and we stopped a man to ask him if the fort really did still exist. With an enthusiastic yes he also informed of us that from the lookout was a terrific view of Las Cuevas. We turned the car around excitedly, parked by the sorrel plants, and started trekking down the bumpy dirt road.

We soon saw a sign to the lookouts, and we ascended the concrete steps, walking through shrubs, evergreen trees and tall grass. After the main set of steps there were two landings surrounded by trees through which you could glimpse Las Cuevas in the distance. We could not see uninterrupted views from up there as the whole area was over grown. I wondered if perhaps when the park was created the view was clearer. However, the landings were so peaceful and a great spot to sit and read. Once you are careful about not going too close to the edge, as one side was a cliff, this would make a great liming spot for a group of friends. I could even see a view of ‘The Rock’ from up there, and a few men were fishing from it. 

Back down we continued along the dirt road and soon encountered the cannon. There were only two and the rusted remains were poised on a wall, pointing to a large expanse of ocean. From here I could see parts of Las Cuevas’ long stretch of beach again through some trees and low brush. We continued on, as we were eager to find 'The Rock', and after descending a few partly hidden steep steps we were on it. Saying a quick greeting to the men we sat and marveled at the waves crashing onto the surrounding cliffs.

This tranquil site is a beauty to behold and the description of the refurbishment in 1994 makes it seem like the perfect weekend retreat. I can imagine poets to sunbathers to nature lovers enjoying the ambience of this site. How did they let the premises get run down? One of the fishermen said they loved coming there and were surprised more Trinis did not know about it. Even though the attractions listed on the sign are not intact, I would still suggest coming to visit, but definitely in a group as it probably is lonely most of the time. This site was a great adventure to discover, and is just another reminder that beauty lies just around the corner. 

Sorrel growing on the slope

To the lookouts

View from the lookouts

The cannon

Las Cueavas beach in the distance

Looking down onto 'The Rock'

Different views from 'The Rock'

All images are Copyright 2010 MEP Publishers/Ariann M Thompson

Ariann is ready to reacquaint herself with and in some cases ‘meet’ Trinidad and Tobago. Follow as she travels to different places and interacts with a multitude of faces while ‘Discovering T&T’.

Soca stars JW & Blaze and KES the Band fly Trini colours high

JW & Blaze

Trinidad & Tobago soca stars and popular DJs Jason "JW" Williams and Ancil "Blaze" Isaaz Jr – who were Road March and International Soca Monarch winners at the 2010 Trinidad & Tobago Carnival with their hit "Palance" – have received three nominations for the 30th annual International Reggae & World Music Awards (IRAWMA).

Their nominations come in the Best Male Calypso/Soca Entertainer; Best Song; and Best Music Video categories. It comes as no surprise as their stellar 2010 success at Carnival led to international tours with acts such as Trinidad-born hip-hop star Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yo, Jamaica's Movado, and fellow soca star Machel Montano.

This year's IRAWMA ceremony is scheduled to take place in T&T at the new National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain on 28 May, 2011.

KES the Band

Meanwhile, fellow IRAWMA nominee KES the Band will be headlining a concert on Easter weekend in New York City.

On 24 April, the band will present KES 360, an event showcasing the band's fusion of calypso, soca, rock, pop, soul and house music. Audiences will be treated to the band's hits including "Right Dey", "Thunder", "Where Yuh From", and the 2011 International Groovy Soca Monarch-winning soca anthem, "Wotless".

In recent years, the band has toured extensively, sharing stages with international icons like Maroon 5, John Legend and Rihanna. The band's frontman, Kees Dieffenthaller, guarantees an evening of energy, love, and of course "wotlessness".

The action takes place at Amnesia NYC (609 West 29th Street, Manhattan) from 4pm to 10pm.