Culture

Carnival Documentary Premieres in Brooklyn

Reading Time 2 minsCaribbean Awareness Committee (NY) Presents: “Our Soul Turned  Inside Out!”  a NY premiere film screening “Our Soul Turned Inside Out,” a documentary film that examines traditional Carnival characters created in the 19th century crucible of slavery and emancipation and the psychic impulses behind them, will have its New York premiere on Friday, October 30, 7 pm at Medgar Evers College auditorium, 1650 Bedford Av. Brooklyn.  The film, which runs approximately one hour, focuses on traditional carnival characters – the Pierrot Granade, blue devils, stick-fighters and jab jabs – highlighting the depth of conflict, physical and verbal aggression, inherent in these contested… Read More »Carnival Documentary Premieres in Brooklyn

THE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865

Reading Time 1 minsTHE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865 War down a Monkland! War down a Morant! The two lines from a Jamaican folk song [cited above] recall the “war” – the so-called “Morant Bay Rebellion” which opened on 11 October 1865. The rebellion came just three decades following the Abolition of Slavery in Jamaica and the British West Indies. The Abolition brought an end to chattel slavery and inaugurated “wage slavery”. The Jamaican people sought “full free”; the island’s colonial Governor Edward John Eyre and his British overlords in London were militantly opposed. The Colonial Administration was very… Read More »THE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865

BDN Interviews Sunshine Awards Founder Gil Figaro

Reading Time 2 minsBDN Interviews Sunshine Awards Founder Gil Figaro   The SUNSHINE Awards will usher in its 27th annual event October 3, 2015 at the AXA Equitable Center , NYC. Founded and produced by Gilman Theophilus Figaro (Sr.), this Caribbean institution is endorsed by the (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the organization that produces the Grammy Awards, and the United Nations. The New York Carib News regards the initiative as a “cultural bridge from the Caribbean to the world for the 21st century.” Big Drum Nation sat down with Mr. Figaro on the eve of this… Read More »BDN Interviews Sunshine Awards Founder Gil Figaro

Producer Dalton Narine’s Black Stalin Moment

Reading Time 1 minsProducer Dalton Narine’s Black Stalin Moment  By Dalton Narine First published September 24, 2015. I was working on the Mac several weeks ago when an email from a friend in Cayman [Islands] flew in. “Pan on D Avenue Live on TV,” it said. So I clicked the link, and the remainder of the night enthralled me like no other in recent memory. Each band played two songs, one of choice and a Black Stalin composition. So I figured the pan-affair was a huge hug and big-up to the resident bard. Well, I took it all in till 1.30 a.m.,… Read More »Producer Dalton Narine’s Black Stalin Moment