A SLICE OF BAJAN LIFE: St Philip heritage on show

The venue was appropriately chosen as it reflected heritage by name and acclaim. Heritage Park in Foursquare, St Philip – with its rich plantation, sugar and rum industry history – came alive last Saturday evening as the St Philip Parish Independence Committee sought to highlight the cultural heritage of the parish.There was as much life on stage in their presentation of Griots Of The East as there was offstage. The spoken word was dominant, with veteran calypsonian Peter Adonijah Alleyne, a son of the St Philip soil, presenting some of his popular renditions in poetry. These included Woman and Princess, which both evoked great audience response.Poet Jah Ipaul (Allan Kirton) lamented that some youths who were schooled even at some of the most prestigious educational institutions were “writing nothing but rubbish and disrespecting women” so many years after Adonijah had penned his song/poem Woman.Adonijah’s rejoinder was simply: “True, true.”The performances on stage were great but we found most of the interesting discussion, which took place during the break, quite revealing. Maria Walters was another of the “Philippine” poets on show. We learnt that she was a bronze medal winner in NIFCA 2009 with a piece penned by Carl Alff Padmore, the evening’s master of ceremonies and a St Philip celebrity himself, having won THE NATION’s Man Of Merit in 2008. The versatile Walters, a finalist in the recent Powerade Island Fitness Pageant and reigning Miss Single & Progressive, will be graduating with Upper Second Class honours in accounting from the University of the West Indies in October.Backstage we met the two St Philip ambassadors who were busy assisting with stage management while adorned in garbs to represent heritage plantation characters. Down-to-earth, friendly, helpful and exuding much charm, these ambassadors were both impressive, and our brief chat with them during the break revealed two young people who were enthusiastic about their role in this programme.Love for the artsThe female ambassador, Andree Hunte, expressed her love for the arts, particularly congo drumming – though she had distinguished herself in the culinary arts at NIFCA by earning two silver medals.Her partner, Sheldon Marshall, also expressed his interest in community activities. He told us he was the creative director of Sixteen modelling agency and marketing officer for Attitude magazine. He is a second-year computer science student at the University of the West Indies.The ambassadors mixed freely with the mature cultural icons of the parish. These included Peter PJ Lovell, Ronald Ronnie D Davis, and Addington Addy Forde, who have all made unique stamps on the cultural landscape. PJ’s calypso Rice Gone Up is still so well remembered that the audience requested that he render this selection of over 20 years’ vintage.Ronnie D’s calypso It’s A Paradise of 1983, still held dearly in the hearts of so many, had to be sung twice by this minstrel, who impeccably strummed his guitar in accompaniment to his vocals.     Addy, himself a former member of Conquerors Calypso Tent, but who has distinguished himself as a writer of several works including De Mortar Pestle: A Collection Of Barbadian Proverbs, obliged by singing one of his calypsos which featured local proverbs.      The ambassadors’ attendant, Judy Holder-Babb, who was quite visible in her rootsy attire, also played a role as a poet for the night. She admitted that she was passionate about the activities being promoted by the parish’s Independence Committee and vowed to remain committed after her stint as attendant was over.This heritage theme was also manifested in the food and beverage on offer, namely fish cakes, bakes, shark and bake, fish cutters, cheese cutters, lemonade, coconut punch, mauby and mango punch.    At the end of the evening, the members of the committee, headed by Deborah Lorde, were beaming. They had brought St Philip’s heritage alive. (WC)