Caribbean Beat — September/October 2023 (#178)

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A Message

from our CEO Welcome aboard!

As 2023 flies by, we can’t help but feel exhilarated by the incredible support from all of you and the dedication of our amazing teams. Together, we’ve been making our Welcome Home campaign a resounding success, and we’re just getting started!

One of the core elements that defines our Caribbean identity is our rich and vibrant culture. We take immense pride in showcasing and celebrating our unique heritage through the Welcome Home campaign.

So far, we’ve been proud supporters of iconic events like Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica, and several vibrant carnivals and gatherings across the region.

But that’s just the beginning! In the coming months, we’re putting Caribbean culture in the spotlight like never before.

Hold on to your seatbelts, because we’re taking the lead and becoming more involved with major cultural events — like mas, sizzling food festivals, soul-stirring music festivals, sporting activities, and electrifying carnivals.

By October this year, we’ll launch our involvement in “Carnival 2024” with

a dazzling kickstart event. Get ready to witness Caribbean Airlines directly executing several exciting activities across our network.

We are determined to leave an indelible mark with the Caribbean Airlines brand, resonating in the hearts of everyone who flies with us. Our story is one of evolution, fuelled by an unwavering passion for all things Caribbean, and a driving force to introduce the world to our rich culture and inimitable Caribbean brand.

At Caribbean Airlines, we’re not just about flying you to breath-taking destinations; we’re also celebrating the vibrant spirit of the Caribbean culture that binds us together.

You can stay tuned for all the excitement and revelry through our social media channels. We can’t wait to share every moment of the festivities with you!

And that’s not all! We’re introducing D’ Caribbean Shop at our duty-free store in Trinidad’s Piarco International Airport. At D’ Caribbean Shop, you’ll find an exclusive array of Caribbean Airlines branded items. From stylish hoodies, joggers, and tees for all (yes, including the little ones!) to pashminas, caps, passport holders, travel kits, and even model aircraft — there’s something for everyone.

Further, as part of our commitment to delivering more value to you, in the coming months we’ll unveil our enhanced loyalty programme. Get ready for renewed ways to earn miles, simplified redemption processes, and increased benefits. It’s our way of saying thank you for choosing to fly with us.

We’ve had a whirlwind year so far, and we’re loving every minute of it as we roll out all the elements of Welcome Home! It’s all thanks to your trust and support that we can continue to bring you closer to the heart of the Caribbean.

From the captivating cultural celebrations to the exclusive merchandise and enhanced loyalty benefits — it’s all designed with your satisfaction in mind.

Thank you for choosing Caribbean Airlines as your trusted travel companion.

Let’s soar together and discover the wonders of the Caribbean, one vibrant experience at a time. Welcome Home!

Regards, Garvin

CaribbeanAirlines

Contents No. 178 • September/October 2023

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20 10 Event & food buzz

Festivals and events around the region

18 Music & book buzz

Reviews by Nigel A Campbell and Shivanee N Ramlochan

20 Backstory

Dancing with Ganesh Ganesh Chaturthi is one of Trinidad’s least known but most fascinating festivals. Sharda Patasar reports on its origins, significance, and growth from humble observances in south Trinidad into a festival celebrated by Hindu communities across the island

24 Cookup

“All saltfish sweet” Once upon a time, it was what some only deigned to eat. Vaughn Stafford

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Gray explores how saltfish has since come to reign supreme as a savoury staple in Caribbean homes and restaurants

26 Bucket list

Love is all around From first dates to weddings and anniversaries, we look at some uniquely Caribbean ways to feel the love

36 Discover

An ocean of possibility Tiger sharks in The Bahamas helped scientists uncover the largest known expanse of seagrass in the world. Vast and valuable, they’ve become a secret weapon against climate change. Erline Andrews reports on the opportunities — and challenges

26 40 On this day

A mystery solved James Ferguson uncovers the story behind an intriguing work by MichelJean Cazabon, Trinidad’s first great painter — with a little unexpected help from Caribbean Beat

48 Parting Shot

Nevis’ colourful history

Caribbean Beat An MEP publication

Editor Caroline Taylor Designer Kevon Webster Editorial assistant Shelly-Ann Inniss Production manager Jacqueline Smith Finance director Joanne Mendes Publisher Jeremy Taylor Business development consultant Halcyon Salazar Cover St Lucia celebrates Creole Heritage Month and Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day) in October Photo Courtesy St Lucia Tourism Authority

Business Development Manager, Tobago and International Evelyn Chung T: (868) 684–4409 E: evelyn@meppublishers.com Business Development Representative, Trinidad Tracy Farrag T: (868) 318–1996 E: tracy@meppublishers.com

Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. 6 Prospect Avenue, Long Circular, Maraval 120111, Trinidad and Tobago T: (868) 622–3821/6138 E: caribbean-beat@meppublishers.com Websites: meppublishers.com • caribbean-beat.com

Printed in Trinidad & Tobago by

Caribbean Beat is published six times a year for Caribbean Airlines by Media & Editorial Projects Ltd. It is also available on subscription. Copyright © Caribbean Airlines 2023. All rights reserved. ISSN 1680–6158.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. MEP accepts no responsibility for content supplied by our advertisers. The views of the advertisers are theirs and do not represent MEP in any way.

Website: www.caribbean-airlines.com

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Towards aA Message sustainable future from our CEO Caribbean Airlines officially launched its Sustainability Program on 2 June. Derron Sandy, of The 2 Cents Movement, delivered a spoken-word piece at the event. Below is the text of the performance.

Welcome home Caribbean Airlines yeah, yeah!

Where here you can be equipped with wings Hovering far and above anything That can cause a region to be divided.

For the several ills of the world, Caribbean Airlines finds it Feasible to fly if There is an obstacle present.

Caribbean Airlines airborne to get a bird’s eye view Of how obstacles could be levelled.

This is the story of how this airline pedals The region to a medal for being a model of what a region could become.

This is not just an airline This is a beacon of hope.

Welcome home!

This is the airline that holds The region together.

A symbol of surviving through history’s heinous, This airline so clever That it feathers more than just Vacation goers and business dealers.

It provides a bridge from island to island So that the people can see that There is something that connects us.

And if the thing that connects us Connects dots Of how a corporation could incorporate some Care for our well-being, Then next time you look in the sky is more than an airline you are seeing.

Welcome home!

Where sustainability is the goal And direct flights set to score them.

#REcalibrated

Caribbean Airlines constantly supporting Young students across the Caribbean, escorted to their career paths Through virtual workshops, So not even the pandemic could part This airline from passing on spared time To steer minds into a limitless future.

50K plus students, that is 50K plus doing Things to make the future better.

Caribbean Airlines made sure their seatbelts fastened so they met the Turbulent days with the ability to navigate To their chosen destinations.

Welcome home!

Where this nation Receives full support in their charitable endeavours.

From first responders to living waters to survivors To folks who survive the Journey to receive medical support, Caribbean Airlines carried them across.

So the airport was a clear port That actually made sure That life became more Clear!

Caribbean Airlines cares.

Again and again and on the wings of the plane Came a refrain of hope.

Now I can say, Welcome home, As Mother Earth was not left alone.

The major plane was changed into a craft That would burn less gas.

Less noise, more efficiency, when it flies past You may hardly even hear it,

As it tiptoes on the climate to leave a small footprint.

Welcome home!

Look at what Caribbean Airlines put in.

Take a look in And see the coastal clean ups, So when you look down from the air you feel welcomed and steamed up To the warmth of your destination.

Welcome home!

Where gender distribution Is above industry average in the workplace, Where the work face varies in ethnic composition, For emphasis is placed on equality when it comes to employee selection.

Welcome home!

A cross-section Of the company will reveal steady steps to sustainability.

Our airline is more than just a party plane, More than just a soca song sung by big names, More than a two-day season, This airline is an endless journey to the skies of perfection!

We are Caribbean.

So salute to the cerulean skies And next time you see our airline up high Know we soaring for a reason: Careers, community, medical assistance Man, we soar for our Caribbean people.

Welcome home!

Caribbean Airlines, yeah yeah.

Derron Sandy is a Trinbagonian spoken word poet and the artistic director of The 2 Cents Movement and the Quays Foundation. Sandy was listed for The Bocas Lit Fest Johnson & Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers Prize (2021).

CaribbeanAirlines

Courtesy Tobago Festivals Commission

Essential info about what’s happening across the region in September and October!

event buzz

Don’t miss At Tobago Carnival (27–29 October), free up to the pulsing rhythms of soca and calypso against the awe-inspiring backdrop of Tobago’s unique culture and postcard-perfect natural beauty. Just like mud and paint at J’Ouvert, word of this thrilling festival — just in its second year — has spread far and wide, attracting carnival lovers to enjoy the country’s last jump up for the year. As “soca king” Machel Montano and Tobagonian “calypso queen of the world” Calypso Rose once sang: Nobody can’t stop we / No, not at all! … I dancing!

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event buzz

That festival feeling Dubbed the biggest party in sport, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 cricket action continues through 24 September, with the final two weeks unfolding alongside the excitement of Guyana’s Cricket Carnival (12–26 September).

You can also enjoy mouth-watering traditional Guyanese dishes, including piwari and pepperpot, and traditional dances during Guyana’s Indigenous Month (September).

Crew? Check. Band? Check. Section?

Fire. Time to shell down the place!

Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Carnival & Parade (4 September) and Miami Carnival (30 September–8 October) close out the summer carnival season up north.

Further south, a fusion of African and Mayan music, dance, and street theatre traditions take centre stage at the Belize City Carnival (9 September), while other carnivals continue in Placencia, San Pedro, and Orange Walk Town through Belize’s Independence Day (21 September).

Courtesy Guyana Tourism Authority

Cinephiles and book lovers can take in great films from regional and Caribbean diaspora filmmakers at the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (6– 22 September) and the trinidad+tobago film festival (21–27 September); and join their favourite Caribbean authors and storytellers at the Brooklyn Caribbean Lit Festival (7–9 September) and Brooklyn Book Festival (24 September–2 October).

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event buzz

Courtesy St Lucia Tourism Authority

JC Cuellar/Shutterstock.com

St Lucia’s diverse and abundant marine life, dive sites, and shore activities are the stars at Dive Fest (16–23 September), while the invasive lionfish is the focus of Eradication Day, cooking demonstrations, and a special feast.

Courtesy Barbados Jazz Excursion

Freedom reigns on Maroon Heritage Day (10 October) in Suriname, as Maroons pay tribute to their victorious ancestors’ historic peace treaty with the colonial Dutch forces (1760). Still retaining their distinctive West African identity, the tribes showcase their traditions, food, and more.

The Barbados Jazz Excursion & Golf Weekend (12–15 October) continues to bring old and new friends together in unique musical and putting ecstasy…!

WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM

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event buzz

bekirevren/Shutterstock.com

The blue marlin is among the biggest and fastest fish in the sea, and at Jamaica’s Port Antonio International Marlin Tournament (18– 21 October), the excitement is palpable among anglers and spectators.

During National Warri Month (October), people of all ages enjoy this popular game (also known as mancala, oware, and the battle of wits) at the Antigua Open International Warri Tournament.

i_am_Zeus/Shutterstock.com

Meanwhile, Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival (27–29 October) offers a welcome musical escape with a star-studded line-up, showcasing indigenous Dominican music and a range of Caribbean and world genres.

Courtesy St Lucia Tourism Authority

Each October sees Creole cultural expressions — music, dance, cuisine, art, and more — celebrated on Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day). It’s observed the last Friday and last Sunday of the month in Dominica and St Lucia respectively. What’s more, St Lucia pays homage to its Creole heritage for the entire month.

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Karen Johnstone Courtesy COCO Dance Festival

The NGC Bocas Youth Fest (20–21 October) features the first of its kind expo-style programme at the University of the West Indies’ Department of Creative & Festival Arts in Trinidad. Prominent young people share how language and literature have enriched their lives and careers, while creating and performing their own work.

Celebrating 15 years as a collective, Trinidad’s COCO Dance Festival (28–29 October) returns with The Big 15. It features contemporary and postmodern forms of dance and choreography, plus community building programmes, and a collaboration with New York’s renowned Joffrey Ballet.

Courtesy Visit Barbados

event buzz

Barbados Food & Rum Festival 19–22 October Nominated in 2023 by the World Culinary Awards for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival prize, this is one of the most anticipated events on Barbados’ foodie calendar. From street food to fine dining, treat yourself to exceptional cuisine made using local ingredients and prepared with exciting modern twists. Barbados’ awardwinning rum producers also leave their marks on your tastebuds!

Courtesy Visit Barbados

Cayman Cocktail Week 20–27 October Incredible deals on high-end cocktails

by Cayman’s top bartenders add to the exciting and interactive events each day.

Can’t make it? Branded cocktail menus are available in bars and restaurants all month long.

Foodie favourites Caribbean culinary teams have made us proud with prestigious international awards and recognition, while foodies the world over bask in the flavours of our delicious regional cuisine. It’s no wonder visitors flock to Caribbean food festivals, eager to embark on a mouth-watering pilgrimage through our culinary heritage each September and October.

Jamaica Food & Drink Festival 25–29 October Recognised last year by the World Culinary Awards as the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival, and this year nominated for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Destination prize, this festival sees the island’s finest chefs delivering top-notch cuisine at various culinary-themed nights like Pork Palooza, Asian Fusion, and other events across Kingston.

Trinidad Restaurant Week 29 September–8 October Enjoy a flavour-filled opportunity to try new restaurants, with great deals and decadent dining experiences. How many menus will you sample?

Cayman Restaurant Month 1–31 October Experience authentic Cayman cuisine at preset prices with exceptionally curated multi-course menus.

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Tobago Blue Food Festival 15 October Dasheen is king here! Locals call it taro or blue food due to the shades it turns when cooked, and it’s the main ingredient in every dish at this gastronomical adventure — picked

by CNN as among the “World’s Best Food Festivals for Serious Food Fanatics”.

Courtesy Tobago Festivals Commission

Event previews by Shelly-Ann Inniss

screen buzz is the point of this? Why am I here?”

I didn’t want to answer her, but she knew right away the minute she saw the finished film.

Camila Santana is a young actress set to play a pregnant teenager in Ramona, a film from the Dominican Republic directed by Victoria Linares. Camila suggests to her director that they interview young women who became teenage mothers, to better equip the actress to provide an authentic performance.

Yet as the young women speak candidly about their lives and give Camila feedback during rehearsals, the actress comes to a realisation and decides to give up her role, turning the script over to the young women in a gesture of creative empowerment.

Existing at the intersection between fiction and documentary, Ramona is an imaginative film exploring Caribbean social reality and the representation of that reality, asking: Who has the right to tell whose story? Linares’ second feature, which screens at this year’s T&T Film Festival, continues the filmmaker’s assured manipulation of artifice and performance — exposing cinema’s seductive lies — to arrive at deeper truths.

She spoke with Jonathan Ali about hybrid forms of filmmaking, the Eurocentric gaze in cinema, and more.

How did you find the “real” young women, and did they get what it was you were attempting to do from the outset?

We did a month of “casting”, searching for girls from different backgrounds. It was not hard. I believe we are the country in Latin America with the highest teen pregnancy rates. They knew that I was looking for inspiration for a fictional character that had had a similar story to them, and that they were later going to perform scenes of the fictional screenplay. They knew the narrative but not the ulterior motive.

Victoria Linares Villegas, courtesy Jonathan Ali

“It gave them a sense of being seen”

Where did the idea for Ramona come from?

Ramona started in 2019 when I was reading Light in August by William Faulkner. The image of a pregnant teenager running away from home struck a huge chord. Questions of representation emerged when I was writing the fictional screenplay. I even interviewed pregnant teenagers to better depict the character in development.

The opportunity to make the film finally came, but with a limited budget. I talked to my best friend, Diego Cepeda, about the possibility of making Ramona along the lines of my previous film, It Runs in the Family. A film about a film that couldn’t get made. Me and Diego, who became the co-writer in

the process, started spitballing about using the fictional screenplay to alternate reality with fiction by having real pregnant girls insert their own life stories into the film.

Had your professional actress ever worked on a film of this hybrid nature before?

She’d only worked in fiction films before Ramona. I made my first short fiction film with her, and then later she became the casting director for Ramona when it was fiction. When the film changed its point of view and format, she became my alter ego. The concerns you see in the film are hers as well. Every day of production she used to come up to me to ask, “What

One of the young women says at one point, “Knowing things doesn’t mean you lived them.” To what extent do you agree with this?

Agreeing fully would be to keep all actors from doing their work, which is not our point of view. We believe that the real girls could embody Ramona in ways that we couldn’t even imagine. It was so interesting to see them do the things they do on a day-to-day basis being transformed by the mere gesture of filming them. That brilliant statement delivered by Lesly [Aybar] made us think of ways that artists could think of new alternatives to representation, and for others to see themselves on the screen in a different light. We wanted to escape from a Eurocentric perspective of what teen pregnancy could look like in the Dominican Republic.

How did the experience of making Ramona affect the participants?

Seeing the film opened their eyes to new possibilities. It gave them a sense of being seen. Although not all, some of them are going to take up acting lessons quite soon. And we want to shoot another film with them in the future.

Ramona (2023) Director: Victoria Linares Villegas Dominican Republic 82 minutes WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM

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music buzz

This month’s listening picks from the Caribbean Reviews by Nigel A Campbell

Woods

Mario Canonge Trio

Fra Fra Sound

Sterling Gittens

The Lone Pilgrim (Jamwax)

Live (AZTEC Musique)

Kula Wroko Kibri (Pramisi Records)

Can’t Get Enough of You (self-released) • Single

Trinidadian Wilfred Trevor Woodley — “Woods” to his friends and associates — was a prolific composer, and innovative jazz musician, whose oeuvre was disappointingly never professionally recorded before his death in 2010. His life was one of pioneering creativity, and unfortunate personal tragedy. Beginning with his calypso jazz innovations in the early 1960s UK, he was shunned by media there.

And for his audacity to marry a white socialite, he was possibly framed for an uncommited crime. Aptly titled The Lone Pilgrim, this new three-song EP begins the worthy task of bringing his unique compositions, possibly in the hundreds, to the world. These songs retain the magic of surprise that is a hallmark of jazz, and centres the impetus around an Afro-Caribbean base of rhythm and instrumentation; Jason Baptiste plays steelpan here. This is a heritage keepsake and the start to a promised tribute collection by this international band of devoted musicians.

This live album by Martiniquan master pianist Mario Canonge and his fellow high-accolade Antillean musicians — Michel Alibo on bass and Arnaud Dolmen on drums — is a record of possibilities to make the Creole universal. Canonge is a singular icon in jazz circles here in the Caribbean and in France (where he is now based), who has the ability to incorporate the French Antillean rhythms and melodies into a jazz setting that is admirably effective in bringing the region’s music onto a global stage. This new album, his 17th, brings these talented, individual musicians into a collaboration that emphasises their ability to subtly make zouk, gwo ka, bélé, and other French-Caribbean grooves and genres a base for improvisation. Tackling some of his previous compositions alongside new ones in this trio format demands individual talent to shine, yet makes space for sublime musical conversation. One hour’s worth of Caribbean elegance.

Fra Fra Sound is an instrumental jazz big band — born in Suriname more than 40 years ago and now resident in the Netherlands — which utilises the native genre kaseko (a complex fusion of styles derived from Africa, Europe, and the Americas) to make its music a tangible tribute to the ethos of Caribbean celebration. The marketing blurb tells us that the album’s title “stands for the process of navigating, creating, documenting and continuation”.

Effectively, this new album touches on the musical range of the band over its history, and signifies that the music is still evolving, and still moving people here and there to dance. Songs sung in Surinamese Creole (Sranan Tongo) invite new listeners to discover the richness of Caribbean culture and language. At a deeper level, this album’s music, we are told, is a contemplation of 150 years since the abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Netherland Antilles and, inspiringly, a reflection of another Caribbean.

Trinidad-born singer-songwriter Sterling Gittens, for a long time “ex-isled” in the US, has made a return to the music business after many years away. His new song signifies a spiritual return, and a kind of completion — the metaphorical circle of life and family — while overcoming obstacles. The opening stanza gives notice that gratitude is paramount after a recognition that, in the end, it was all worth it: Looking at back at what you have done / And how you turned my world around / In spite of my circumstances, my heart is full of second chances / You’ve always been around. He is unashamedly talking to God. The bounce of the modern reggae beat centres Gittens in the Caribbean, while the contemporary production value places this song high among a plethora of praise songs from island souls everywhere. His voice commands and has a resonance that, with his more than 40-year career, is still a powerful tool. Hallelujah, indeed.

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book buzz

This month’s reading picks from the Caribbean Reviews by Shivanee Ramlochan, Book Review Editor

A Fierce Green Place: New and Selected Poems

by Pamela Mordecai (New Directions, 232 pp, ISBN 9780811231046) What do 30-plus years of Pamela Mordecai’s poems present to us? A constellation of islands, interlocked by radical imaginings. Whether she resurrects the most timeless of biblical origin stories in the language of Jamaican Patois, or reaches into the everyday lives of girlchildren, summoning their secrets with an aching tenderness, Mordecai’s poems have been speaking to us — rapturously sure-footed — for decades. A Fierce Green Place assembles curations from her earliest collection to her newest, and demands we listen closer, with ensuing gratitude for the legacies of feminism, womanism, revolt, and sensuality embedded in each verse. “Yarn Spinner”, from the poet’s fifth collection, Subversive Sonnets, ends with an exhortation to a timeless weaver: What if / you die spinning a thread?

Die, yes, but never dead …

Such bounteous undying is on triumphant display herein.

Tobago Son

by John Arnold (Nibbles & Nooks, 216 pp, ISBN 9781958288030) The piano has been my life. So begins the candid, contemplative memoir by Tobagonian musician, selfprofessed “eventologist”, and choral master John Arnold. Narrated by Arnold to Trinidadian writer Lisa Allen-Agostini, Tobago Son deftly and sensitively plays out an existence consecrated to music, particularly to music’s infinite capacity for community building. Cofounder of the renowned Signal Hill Alumni Choir, Arnold’s galvanic work in the trenches of Caribbean musical education has been nothing short of a careerdefining, door-opening legacy: so what of the man responsible for making so many voices move in harmonious synchronicity? Here is a quintessential Tobagonian, hallmarked by industry, spiritual fervour, and a salt of the earth determination to be of service. That ethical marriage makes Tobago Son a joy to read; there are no glib self-aggrandisements here: only the sound, pealing so beautifully, of an icon.

No One Will Come Back For Us

by Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications, 286 pp, ISBN 9781988964423) Premee Mohamed already understands that the abyss stares back at us; she’s down there trussed up in rappelling gear, taking notes from the monsters in the chthonic darkness. No One Will Come Back For Us gathers short stories that blur the lines between genre horror and unheimlich suspense, not so much retelling Lovecraftian staples as defying them openly, armed with postcolonial ire. An Indo-Caribbean scientist of Guyanese heritage, Mohamed’s worldbuilding functions with primordial satisfaction because it comprehends the innate instabilities of power within both our real and speculative societies.

These tellings are attuned to outsiders, underdogs, and peripheral dwellers of civilisation — disenfranchised researchers, sleep-deprived soldiers, journalists pursuing leads past their breaking points. Such stories aren’t survival manuals so much as precautions: proof that we inhabit our realities marginally and with danger.

King of Soca

by Elizabeth Montano (EESM, 332 pp, ISBN 9789769674905) How do you chronicle the life’s work of a superstar whose path is still blazing with promise? If the luminary in question is Machel Montano, look no further than his mother for true archival integrity. In King of Soca, Elizabeth Montano’s biography of a soca titan without parallel, facts are as plentiful as glitter on the Carnival stage. But look more closely than the book’s handsome presentation — its full-colour photographs, its obvious physical cachet.

Those admirable distinctions shine as they do because of the storytelling heart of this endeavour: tracing the creative, often literal footsteps of a musical savant, a record-breaking performer, a beloved son. Each pristine newspaper clipping, every album cover, each critical and congratulatory citation — Montano proffers them all with a biographer’s pristine eye for detail, presenting a living legend in the sum of his larger-than-life parts.

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backstory

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of Trinidad’s least known but most fascinating festivals. Sharda Patasar learns more about its origins, its significance, and its growth from humble observances in south Trinidad some 180 years ago into a full-fledged festival celebrated by Hindu communities across the island

Nyla Singh Photography

Dancing with Ganesh

G

Nyla Singh Photography

anesh! Elephant-headed. Keeper of thresholds. Remover of obstacles.

Quick-witted. Patron of the arts and sciences. Born from the sandal paste of his mother Parvati’s body — or, in other stories, from the dirt of her body mixed with the local soil, or simply of clay. Whichever form these stories take, Ganesh remains closely linked to soil and water — a divinity born of elements that now define the festival.

A lthough Hindus in Tr inidad have a lways observed Ganesh Chaturthi, the transformation of the observance into a full-fledged festival — with a public procession and the immersion (visarjan) ceremony at a water source — is relatively new to the wider Hindu community in Trinidad.

For over a century, the festival practices have been a part of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations within select communities in south Trinidad. And in areas of north, central, and east Trinidad, the public procession and visarjan has only been practised since the 1990s.

My curiosity about this observance-turned-festival naturally led me to the Suchit Trace Temple in Penal, where I’m told it all started.

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Opposite page Milk, signifying consciousness, is offered to Lord Ganesha on the final day of Ganesh Utsav Left Flowers, rice, coconut, jaggery, coins, and 108 “ladoo” sweets (considered his favourite) are offered to Lord Ganesha by devotees at Manzanilla Beach on the final day of Ganesh Utsav

G

anesh Utsav is the term used to describe the festivities associated with the Ganesh Chaturthi observances, which are all dedicated to Ganesh — the elephant-headed god.

And, according to oral accounts, a famine in the early 1900s led to the first observances of Ganesh Utsav at Suchit Trace.

One of the holy men of the village advised that a Ganesh yagya (an event defined by ritual and feasting) and submergence of the murti (the idol or image of the deity) were necessary to end the famine. And so it came to be known as a farmer’s festival.

The evolution of Ganesh Utsav in Trinidad, however, is a sociopolitical one. Traces like Ramai and Suchit were part of a cluster of little streets in the Penal/Debe area. In a period before the inception of the Sanathan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) in the 1930s, these communities united to host their celebrations. Eventually, they separated, and some chose to integrate themselves under organisations like the SDMS (the largest Hindu organisation in the country). Others, like the Suchit Trace Ganesh Mandir, remained community-based temples.

A combination of disagreements among Hindu leaders about the visarjan ceremony and possibly wider socio-political factors accounted for an approximately 70-year interval before public celebrations of the festival began in other parts of Trinidad.

But the festival continued, with the visarjan mainly taking place in these southern Trinidad temples. And this year, the

Suchit Trace Mandir celebrates 180 years of the Ganesh Utsav.

Part of what makes the history of the festival here so alluring is that it is considered a shared sacred space. Suchit Trace is a low-lying area, with the exception of the hill on which the original temple was built. It was once called Puzzle Island — a name given by colonial officers who had to make their way through a maze of mangroves and river water.

The community elders told of people who had occupied the land before the East Indians. They were described as “strange people [who] would come by boat for a few months, and then leave by boat”.

No-one was able to ascertain the origins of these strangers — supposedly Venezuelan or Indigenous tribes coming to the hill as a place of worship. So, in the imagination of the East Indians who settled there in the early 20th century, because of the Indigenous tribes’ use of the hill and the land, the space was revered as sacred ground.

T

he festival itself begins on the fourth day of the first fortnight of the month of Bhadrapad (around August or September), and usually lasts 10 days. On the 11th day (Anant Chaturdashi), the Ganesh murti made for the festival is taken in a public procession to a natural water source (usually a river or the sea), and immersed.

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The crafting of the murti, made exclusively from biodegradable materials — a core feature of Hindu ritual practice — is one of the main traditions of the festival. The ritual dirt-digging, referred to as matkor, takes place at the confluence of three river trails — the Dodge, Bhagmania (as it is locally named), and the Cut Channel in Suchit Trace. This area is also regarded as sacred, and likened to India’s Prayag in Allahabad where the rivers Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati meet.

In the imagination of the East Indians who settled there in the early 20th century, because of the Indigenous tribes’ use of the hill and the land, the space was revered as sacred ground Sadly, over the years, the natural water courses in which the Ganesh visarjan took place in Suchit Trace have been polluted by human activity, driving the villagers to construct a man-made pond specifically for the festival.

The Dodge River contains the ideal sticky dirt for murtimaking; it’s known locally as sapatey (also sapatay). As a dirt that does not crack easily, it ensures that the murti will be well preserved for the 10-day festival.

The bank of the river is transformed into a ritual space during the dirt-digging ceremony. A hole is dug in the earth to create the ceremonial fire pit, and the ceremonial altar is marked by

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Sharda Patasar

On the final day, known as the visarjan (immersion), the Ganesha depictions are immersed in a river, sea or body of water

drawing the shape of a box in the mud.

A century-old tradition of celibate boys diving and digging the dirt from the riverbed is the final ritual here. Two modern twists have been adopted at Suchit Trace, however. The crafting of the murti remains a male affair, but now sometimes women are allowed to witness it — a strong nod to inclusion. A procession of cars, with horns blaring, announces the arrival of the dirt to the temple, which marks the beginning of the festivities.

The concept of darshan, or seeing, is important in Hinduism, for the eyes are the medium through which blessings are bestowed on the devotee. The eyes are also believed to have destructive power, which must be first appeased by prayer. In keeping with this, the completed murti is blindfolded, then awaits the opening night of the yagya.

For 10 days and nights, the temple is open to the community, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to devotees and wellwishers. Here, I had my first doubles made of urad dal (a rarity in Trinidad), served with a tamarind chutney.

The final night of the festival is an all-night vigil of singing and dancing, with visarjan taking place before dawn. In the darkness of morning, devotees make their way through the village to the man-made pond. As day breaks, on the last steps towards the water, the final prayer is made, marking an emotional farewell.

“Ganapati Bappa!” someone shouts. An echo of voices follows with variations of “Jai Ganesha!” as the murti is gently lowered into the water — its ceremonial return home. As it’s submerged, the crowd stands in silent observance.

They will wait another moon cycle until Ganesha’s return. n

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cookup

“All saltfish sweet”

Vaughn Stafford Gray explores the Caribbean’s love affair with saltfish — tracing its journey from a dish some only deigned to eat, to something that now reigns supreme as a staple in regional homes, and even gourmet restaurants

I

Photography by JustRocky09/Shutterstock.com

was nine when the Mighty Sparrow — the “calypso king of the world” — released “Saltfish”. I vividly remember singing the lyrics with my whole prepubescent chest whilst wiggling my likkle waist. The innuendos were clearly lost on me.

Thirty-one years later, the lyrics popped back into my mind as I thought of how to begin this Cookup story.

Blushing aside, the song’s lyrics (masterful poetry, by the way) reflect the many ways in which saltfish is vital to the Caribbean. The refrain — Saltfish / Big money does run behind it / Saltfish — contains some of the most accurate words ever written and sung.

The Caribbean imports over 52 million pounds of saltfish

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from Norway annually. The Dominican Republic takes more than half of that to feed their roughly 11 million nationals.

Jamaica is the second highest consumer of saltfish per capita globally, second only to Portugal.

A quantitative study of how Jamaicans consume saltfish, conducted by the Norwegian Seafood Council in 2022, revealed that the average Jamaican household eats saltfish about nine times a month — a little more than twice a week.

But how did we get here? How does a product where the main ingredient doesn’t swim in our waters, and the majority of which the Caribbean imports from Europe, become such an integral part of our culinary history, culture, and diets? We all know the answer. Say it with me — colonisation.

The plantocracy used saltfish as a cheap way to feed the enslaved. Ships, mainly from Canada, would trade cod in America for Caribbean rum, sugar, molasses, and salt.

“Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are the two Canadian provinces from which saltfish first came to Jamaica,” wrote notable Jamaican literary scholar Carolyn Cooper in 2017 (a pivotal year to discuss the future of saltfish in the region). “Like breadfruit, it was cheap food for enslaved Africans in the early days.”

Zucchini flowers with saltfish Ingredients For the zucchini flowers 15g of butter, melted 50g of Grana Padano, grated Black Pepper For the ackee 250g of ackee 30g of butter 15g of mixed organic herbs (thyme, oregano, chives) 25g red onion, diced For the saltfish 500g of salt cod fillet 2 garlic cloves 1 bay leaf 1L milk 1L water 100ml of sunflower oil For the salad 1 radicchio, leaves separated Organic arugula 200ml of extra virgin olive oil 1 lemon, juiced Salt Organic edible flowers to garnish

Courtesy Chef Andrea Jolly, Executive Chef, The Tryall Club (Jamaica)

Method • Place the saltfish in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for three days, changing the water daily until tender.

• Cut the softened saltfish into small pieces and add to a large pan with the bay leaf and a garlic clove. Cover with the milk and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for two hours.

• Meanwhile, place 25ml of sunflower oil in a small pan with the remaining garlic clove.

Cook over low heat for a few minutes without colouring to allow the oil to infuse.

• Strain through a sieve to remove the garlic, and set the oil aside to cool.

• Once cooked, strain the cod mixture through a sieve, reserving the cooking liquid.

Discard the garlic and bay leaf.

• Place the cod and reserved liquid in a mixing bowl and mash together. Mix in the garlic-infused oil and enough of the remaining sunflower oil to make a soft, creamy mixture. Reserve the saltfish mixture until needed.

• Blanch the ackee until tender. Rinse in cold water and put aside.

• Preheat the oven broiler to medium-high heat.

• Carefully open the zucchini flowers and fill them with the saltfish mixture, spooning it into the central cavity. Close the petals around the filling, then place them on a baking tray.

• Brush the flowers liberally with melted butter and sprinkle over the grated Grana Padano.

• Cook under the broiler until the cheese has melted and is lightly golden in colour.

• Rinse the radicchio and arugula under cold water. Gently pat dry with paper towels.

• Toss, season with a little salt, and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.

• Sautée the ackee with butter, herbs, and onion.

• Divide the salads between serving plates and add a grilled zucchini flower. Garnish with a mixture of edible flowers and the sautéed ackee.

• Serve immediately.

On the plantations, those who it fed had to figure out how to use the product to sustain and nourish themselves. But those recipes (stew saltfish, saltfish and breadfruit, ackee and saltfish, buljol, etc), borne out of necessity, endured after Emancipation.

But that survival, too, had a salty past.

I

remember when folks regarded saltfish as “poor people’s food”.

I was born in the early eighties, and research shows that this sentiment predates the independence of each Caribbean nation.

The 2022 Dublin Gastronomy Symposium had the theme “food and movement”. Trinibagonian Shrinagar Francis is a London-based food anthropologist who presented at the conference. In her presentation about the journey of saltfish across the Atlantic to the West Indies, she noted that saltfish that was once “grudgingly fed to the enslaved now offers a destigmatised consumption experience”.

Over the past 20 years, especially in the last decade, saltfish has evolved into five-star Caribbean cuisine. As Cooper commented, “The expression ‘saltfish fi shingle house’ confirms how inexpensive it used to be. Not so these days. Saltfish is gourmet

food, more costly than fresh fish.” What a journey!

At The Tryall Club — one of Jamaica’s toniest and most exclusive resorts, which uses some 40 pounds of saltfish per week — Executive Chef Andrea Jolly uses saltfish in excitingly creative ways. One of his popular dishes is zucchini flowers stuffed with saltfish, served with ackee and organic greens. He kindly shared the recipe with Cookup.

“What sets this dish apart and makes it atypical is the combination of unique ingredients,” said Jolly, “[creating] a captivating and unexpected culinary experience.”

Human culture and development are inextricably linked to foodways. Our dishes have travelled and evolved across geography and generations. In fact, there’s a term for it — “edible genealogy”.

From the palms of the enslaved to the tables of the poor, from market stalls to supermarket shelves, from stovetops in homes to five-star kitchens, the journey of saltfish is indeed epic. And it proves that our Caribbean culinary legacies have always fuelled the incomes of faraway lands.

But whenever the price tag of saltfish stings, remember that one pound of saltfish can stretch and feed many mouths when cooked. Moreover, as Sparrow sang, All saltfish sweet. n

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bucket list

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Love is all around

Courtesy Visit Barbados

From breathtaking landscapes to sensual music, few places in the world are better suited than the Caribbean to set the stage for your very own love story. From first dates to golden anniversaries, there’s a place in Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, St Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago for every chapter ...

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Courtesy Visit Barbados

The Animal Flower Cave on Barbados’ north coast Below Shirley Heights, Antigua

M Watkins Multimedia, courtesy Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority

eeting for coffee, dressing up for dinner and a show or movie — all classic standbys for first dates, proposals, anniversaries, and even vacationing honeymooners (when not luxuriating in their bridal suites).

The Caribbean’s top-class restaurants and rich cultural and entertainment scenes will leave you stumped for choice. (Make sure to check out our coverage of food festivals and events in Barbados, Trinidad and beyond on page 16).

But perhaps you’re thinking of something a bit less conventional — yet equally special. Maybe something outdoors … unforgettable memories you can make by experiencing it together …

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The view from here Nothing can make you appreciate where you are and fill you with possibilities like a aweinspiring view. And goodness, has the Caribbean region got that in spades.

One of the most memorable ocean views in Barbados is from the Animal Flower Cave up north — the island’s only sea cave. Here, sealevel openings in the cliff face bring you close to the powerful breakers a few feet away. And conveniently, there’s a restaurant just nearby.

Historical sites (including forts and military lookouts) are purpose-built to offer tremendous views, which never fail to take your breath away. Think Farley Hill in Barbados, Fort King George in Tobago, the similarly named Fort George in neighbouring Trinidad, and Shirley Heights in Antigua.

But that view on land is nothing quite like the view from the air. If you’re feeling to spring for something unforgettable, consider a helicopter tour in Antigua (which can even take you to Montserrat) or St Lucia.

plants and trees in the western hemisphere. You’ll also find lush botanical gardens in Tobago and Antigua.

For a more dramatic experience, you can “take the waters” at St Lucia’s Diamond Gardens. The warm mineral springs here are set among the abundant foliage and blooms of the island’s oldest botanical garden. Nearby Diamond Falls cascades nearly 60 feet down a rock face stained green, ochre, and pink by the minerals in the water.

Speaking of sulphur springs — the pools of mud here are the main attractions at St Lucia’s “drive-in volcano”. They’re among the remnants of a huge, long-collapsed volcanic crater. But today, the mud — full of minerals — reportedly rejuvenates the skin and alleviates various ailments.

Left Hunte’s Garden, Barbados in full bloom Below View from the cannon at Fort King George, Tobago

Courtesy Tobago Beyond

Snapvision/Shutterstock.com

Closer to the ground, the islands’ gardens are often a wonderful opportunity to take a romantic stroll. There are two extraordinary ones in Barbados — Hunte’s Garden, where classical music plays through the paths; and the Andromeda Gardens, with a collection of over 600 tropical plants.

Trinidad’s Botanical Gardens — established in 1820 and a favourite for picnics and walks — are home to one of the oldest collections of exotic

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Watkins Multimedia, courtesy Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority

Zip to it Opposite page A unique wedding at Antigua Rainforest Canopy Zipline Tours Below Adventures on horseback at Buccoo Beach, Tobago Bottom A young couple enjoys a ride along Barbados’ east cost

Courtesy Tobago Beyond

If all that is too low-key for you, perhaps you’d like to get the adrenalin pumping? Well, then, ziplines might just hit the spot. Antigua’s southwest offers thrilling rainforest canopy tours, where courses reach up to 300 feet long and 300 feet above the ground! Over in St Lucia, you can enjoy a course with 12 lines some 150 feet high; while in Trinidad, a zipline near Macqueripe Bay offers lines up to 1,000 feet long and 175 feet high.

Courtesy Visit Barbados

Saddle up One experience both locals and visitors to the islands love is experiencing the beaches and trails by horseback.

You can enjoy sunset riding tours along the beach at Rendezvous Bay, Antigua, which depart near Falmouth; unforgettable rides both on the beach and in the water at Buccoo Bay, Tobago; and popular tours at Honeymoon Beach in St Lucia.

Barbados’ well-developed riding trails — inland and along the coasts — offer wonderful views, and chances to see the island from a completely different vantage point than you would on other tours. At Pebbles Beach, you can even actually swim with horses at sunrise!

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Visual Echo, courtesy Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority

A catamaran in Five Islands Harbour, Antigua

… and in it!

Speaking of the water: there’s nothing quite like a sailing into the sunset on the Caribbean Sea. Private catamaran cruises and boat charters are an unforgettable way to escape the world, to connect, and reconnect. On many of the Caribbean islands, you can enjoy both day cruises and romantic sunset cruises — particularly along the gentler leeward coasts. If you’re lucky, you can spot dolphins and even whales.

Many day cruises will anchor along coves and beaches that may only be accessible by sea, ensuring that the experience is intimate and magical. In Barbados, top Caribbean chefs are even known to whip up delicious meals on these stops. And in Tobago, one special spot is the aptly named Lovers’ Bay.

Maybe you want to share in the beauty and enchantment of the underwater worlds offshore.

In Barbados, you could explore the wonders of Carlisle Bay (including multiple shipwrecks) via clear-bottom kayaks. Or in Tobago, you could marvel at the beautiful Angel Reef, off the island’s northeast coast, via a glass-bottom boat.

Popular (though consequently less intimate) glass-bottom boat tours in Tobago’s southwest take you to Buccoo Reef and the unique Nylon Pool where, local lore holds, young couples are destined for long-lasting love once they kiss in the pool’s waters.

Have you ever gone snorkelling by sea scooter?

That’s one way you can explore the waters near Antigua’s Pillars of Hercules, a rock formation close to Galleon Beach. Here, turtles, rays, and a maddeningly beautiful array of tropical fish dart between corals and emerge from shipwrecks!

If you’re both divers, or want to share the journey of learning to enjoy this incredible experience together, reach out to PADI-registered dive operators who can arrange to help you take the plunge …!

Sinesp/Shutterstock.com

Magic on the water …

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discover

Rob Atherton/Shutterstock.com

An ocean of possibility

Earlier this year, tiger sharks in The Bahamas helped scientists uncover what appears to be the largest expanse of seagrass in the world — increasing known global seagrass coverage by over 40%, and becoming the most significant blue carbon sink on the planet. Vast and valuable, these meadows have become a secret weapon in the fight against climate change. Erline Andrews reports on the opportunities — and the challenges 36

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T

hey might not look as pretty as coral reefs or as lush as rainforests, but seagrass meadows are just as important and deserve as much attention and protection. Despite its nondescript appearance, seagrass supports an abundance of wildlife, which in turn sustains human livelihoods.

As major carbon stores, they play a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and holding it in their dense root system and the surrounding sediment for centuries.

They’re better at sequestration, as it’s called, than land-based forests. A hectare of seagrass sequesters as much carbon as 15 hectares of Amazon rainforest.

Now The Bahamas — site of one of the

A vast expanse of seagrass near south Bimini, The Bahamas

affected by hurricanes, which have become more frequent and powerful because of global warming, and Davis has become one of the Caribbean’s leading voices on climate change.

“The goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees is on life support. This is a hard truth for many to admit,” he said last year as he addressed world leaders at COP27, the United Nations’ annual climate change conference. “Even the best-case scenarios,” he said, involve “almost unimaginable upheaval and tragedy.”

“Let’s get real,” he intoned. “It’s only going to get worse.”

His movie trailer baritone and his speech’s knack for sound bites help make him a very effective communicator.

Davis’ government passed two pieces of legislation to facilitate the sale of blue carbon credits.

It would be the first time a country has entered the blue carbon credit market.

largest expanses of seagrass in the world, a fact recently confirmed by researchers — plans to use their seagrass and other climate change-fighting aquatic treasures like mangroves to help earn the income necessary to conserve them and deal with the increasingly harsh effects of the climate crisis.

“Even small countries like ours have a role to play in helping our planet move towards net zero,” said Phillip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, in his budget communication speech last May.

N

et zero is a projected state of equilibrium, where as much carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere as is being emitted. Carbon sinks like seagrass meadows and forests are an important part of getting to net zero.

The Bahamas has been severely

triumphant language Davis and members of his administration employ when talking about the project.

But despite the high-f lying words, Davis himself has been honest about the fact that the benefits of the seagrass won’t come quickly and easily.

“There are always inherent unknowns and risks to being the first to do something,” he warned during debate on the Carbon Credit Trading Bill last year.

He admitted that there is “a certain degree of uncertainty” involved in the venture.

The seagrass meadows have to be mapped and their value verified in a process that could take between five and seven years, he said.

“It is a complex and detailed process, and we can initially map and verify about three to four plots a year,” he said.

The mapping and verification process is estimated to cost US$50–$60 million.

They’re better at sequestration, as it’s called, than land-based forests. A hectare of seagrass sequesters as much carbon as 15 hectares of Amazon rainforest These credits are purchased by countries and companies to help compensate for their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. “Blue” carbon credits come from marine sources.

As do-or-die deadlines to lower or offset emissions approach, carbon credits have become a billion-dollar market.

“We as Bahamians should be proud of this piece of legislation. We are international trailblazers, setting the pace, leading the charge,” said Attorney General Ryan Pinder, laying the Climate Change & Carbon Markets Initiatives Bill before the senate last year, and using the

The company Carbon Management Ltd has been set up to raise the funds and manage the project. It’s a partnership between the Bahamian government and Beneath the Waves, the NGO behind the country’s seagrass research.

At a town hall organised by the Office of the Prime Minister and posted on its YouTube channel, Rochelle Newbold — referred to by the moderator as the administration’s climate change czar — was asked whether The Bahamas, new to the market, can really expect to earn the high level of revenue being suggested is possible. Newbold was blunt.

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“In the act, it talks about the validation and verification. Until we do that, all we are doing is speculating,” she said. The government, she said, wants to keep things above board.

“And we wish not to speculate because when we come before the Bahamian people and we say it’s X dollars, we’re going to tell you why it’s X dollars, and you’re going to be able to track those X dollars,” she said.

Addressing concerns about “greenwashing” — companies’ buying carbon credits to claim that they’re doing something about global warming while not trying to lower their emissions — she said: “The Bahamas will not sell credits to individuals who are not doing their part to

ing the most to climate change to financially support the protection of seagrass beds in other countries, such as The Bahamas,” said Shayka via email.

Newbold suggested that putting a dollar value on parts of the environment may help people better appreciate them.

“If we don’t put a value on things, we then don’t have respect for that resource,” she said. “Now that we can put a value on something, that seems to resonate, and lights go off in the heads of everybody globally.”

B

eneath the Waves team member Carlos Duarte, who Davis lauded in his bill debate speech as “the leading seagrass scientist in the world”, thinks the

tal protection track record. Duarte’s team surveyed the seagrass meadows off the Bahama Banks by affixing cameras to the fins of tiger sharks. Their study, published last year in the journal Nature Communication, has gotten widespread media attention — not least since the use of sharks was possible because of The Bahamas’ commitment to protecting the environment, including its shark population.

“Bahamas has a thriving shark population as an outcome of the sanctuary established some time ago,” said Duarte.

“Tiger sharks are key custodians of healthy seagrass meadows, as their demise can lead to overgrazing by sea turtles and other herbivores, otherwise kept under controlled population levels

Rebuilding shark populations across Caribbean nations will go a long way into protecting its marine resources nicolasvoisin44/Shutterstock.com

A tiger shark swims at Tiger Beach in The Bahamas

implement an agenda towards net zero.”

This is a mandate in the new Climate Change & Carbon Markets Initiatives Act, which also mandates the documentation of the emission reductions coming out of every “offset scheme” it facilitates.

Bridget Shayka — co-author of a recently published study that found seagrass in the Caribbean could be worth as much as US$88.3 billion as carbon sinks and US$255 billion a year in “total ecosystem services” — suggested blue carbon credits are a way to make polluters pay.

“This may be a great opportunity for nations or companies that are contribut-

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risk and uncertainty are to be expected.

He, of course, supports the project and the Davis administration’s approach.

“The Bahamians have been sleeping on their seagrass assets since the independence of their nation, and if they have to wait one or a few years, not more, to see their value monetised to the benefit of the country, this should not lead to despair,” he said via email. “In fact, avoiding a gold rush behaviour is fundamental to ensure the project will deliver wealth, not for a few years, but for decades to come and multiple generations of Bahamians.”

The Bahamas has a good environmen-

by tiger sharks,” he said. “Rebuilding shark populations across Caribbean nations will go a long way into protecting its marine resources.”

Duarte thinks ocean stocks depleted by human activity can be replenished by 2050, and that will go a long way towards mitigating the effects of climate change.

Efforts like The Bahamas’ would be a key part of this.

“We need more successful projects that can be used as exemplars for other projects, particularly for small island states … more media attention, as that you are bringing through this article, and also governance systems that are ready to support seagrass as a component of the solution to climate change.” n

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on this day

A mystery solved Michel-Jean Cazabon, Trinidad’s first great painter, was born 210 years ago and is treasured for his delicate portrayals of the island’s 19th-century life and people. James Ferguson uncovers the story of one such painting — a print he bought in London in the 1990s — with a little unexpected help from Caribbean Beat

I

n our house in Oxford hangs a reproduction of a 19th-century oil painting. It depicts in great detail a view of Trinidad’s capital city — taking in hills, the port and a placid seascape that stretches away to the horizon. A Black man dressed in white robes and a red fez is pointing into the distance, explaining something to his white companion who sports a top hat and dark tailcoat. The latter is clearly someone of high socioeconomic status, and the two look down on a scene where landmarks of colonial Port of Spain — the cathedral, the lighthouse and so on — are clearly visible among exuberant tropical vegetation.

I bought this reproduction in the 1990s at an exhibition in London, liked it enough to have it properly framed, and look at it most days. But it gives little away as regards its backstory, and I have searched with limited success for more substantial information. All that is obvious is the painter’s signature — Cazabon, scrawled at the bottom right.

Michel-Jean Cazabon, of course, is by no means unknown — especially in his native Trinidad, where he was born 210 years ago in September 1813.

His life has been well documented, and many of his works are accessible in galleries and online. But my print remains elusive, even if it is clearly one of his characteristic landscapes.

C

azabon (the name is Basque) was born near the southern town of San Fernando into a mixed-race, “free coloured” family that had migrated from Martinique after the Spanish colonial rulers of Trinidad encouraged European migration from 1783. They were prosperous people, and Michel-Jean was sent to school in England and then to Paris to study medicine.

He soon gave this up and studied art, travelling around Europe and learning from the various schools of art that had proliferated in the early 19th century. Landscapes became his speciality — mostly watercolours — but he was adept at portraits too, and he worked in various media including lithographs.

When he returned to Trinidad from France in 1852, accompanied by

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his French wife and daughter, he mixed in the wealthier echelons of colonial society, receiving commissions from officials, landowners, and merchants, who wanted a European-influenced landscape depiction of the island.

As Judy Raymond (well-known to Caribbean Beat readers as a writer and former editor) perceptively points out, his paintings were highly picturesque, idealised images of tropical nature and architecture, with little of the squalor and poverty of post-slavery plantation life. His subjects were often mixed-race or Indian-descended people — graceful and happy-looking, far from the impoverished former slave communities in and around Port of Spain. His real forte, though, was the flora of Trinidad — gorgeously lush immortelle trees, giant clumps of bamboo, towering palm trees.

Cazabon was successful. His work was published in Europe, and he produced multiple lithographs of everyday — and sanitised — Caribbean life, including agriculture, fishing and market scenes.

But he was dissatisfied and in 1862 decided to move to Martinique, settling in Saint Pierre, then one of the most vibrant cultural centres in the Caribbean.

Known as the “Paris of the West Indies”, it promised the bohemian thrill of Michel-Jean’s youth and a ready audience of wealthy patrons.

Yet the reality was less exciting, and Cazabon seems to have become quite quickly disillusioned with a society which was as limited as the one he had abandoned. His work up until his return to Trinidad in 1870 is less extensive and impressive, and it appears that he somehow lost his enthusiasm for the distinctive style he had previously developed. When he came back to Trinidad, he reportedly drank too much, had fewer high society contacts than before, and lived in relative poverty until his death in 1888.

M

uch of this rather tortured life is splendidly reimagined in Lawrence Scott’s novel Light Falling on Bamboo, which reveals the artist as struggling with a harsh colonial system that insisted that his work remain politically inoffensive and romanticised. Scott also emphasises the role of one individual in Cazabon’s life and career — namely Lord George Francis Robert Harris, who was Governor of Trinidad from 1846 to 1854.

Harris was, by the standards of the time, a relative liberal and reformer. He married the daughter of Port of Spain’s archdeacon, revamped the colonial education system, and encouraged the importation of indentured plantation workers from India in the wake of abolition.

In his heyday, Cazabon met and apparently befriended Governor Harris, who commissioned

Harris Collection, courtesy Geoffrey MacLean

Michel-Jean Cazabon’s View of Port of Spain from Laventille Hill

various works, recording his life in the colony. And one of these works, I have come to realise, is the landscape whose reproduction I frequently look at, and whose top-hatted human subject is in fact Governor Harris.

This explains a great deal about the picture in question. In a rare online reference (the blog of cultural organisation Alice Yard, co-founded by another of Caribbean Beat’s writers and editors, Nicholas Laughlin), it appears entitled View of Port of Spain from Laventille Hill. Elsewhere a date is given: 1850. It therefore seems to show the Governor of Trinidad, accompanied by a guide, surveying his colony from one of the hills that encircle the city.

One of these works, I have come to realise, is the landscape whose reproduction I frequently look at, and whose top-hatted human subject is in fact Governor Harris Looking at the painting more closely, the guide is pointing towards an almost imperceptible detail on the horizon: a ship — with smoke pouring from a funnel and sails set — is resplendent with flags and ensign. Flanked by other ships, it is firing what are presumably celebratory cannon shots. The governor, then, is looking at a powerful symbol of British imperial might from his vantage point.

But this is by no means a simple expression of patriotic pride. Other details suggest that Cazabon was not celebrating British rule in Trinidad (Britain had taken over from Spain in 1797), but was hinting at more ambiguous perceptions. A mysterious woman lurks in the woods, while below in and near the city we see people strolling in the street, a cart moving along

a thoroughfare, fishermen in a small boat, and smoke rising from a hillside fire — all the insignificant details of everyday life. The imperial display is almost incidental, of little interest, and pushed into a minor detail.

Governor Harris must have liked the picture since he took 34 Cazabon paintings with him when he left office in 1854. After a stint in Madras, he settled in the 18th century family seat of Belmont House in Kent, England, where Cazabon’s works can now be viewed alongside a tour of the elegant house and gardens. The Belmont website features six beautiful paintings — picturesque tropical scenes with great houses and charming peasant cottages — but no reference to “my” picture.

Of course, it was Caribbean Beat (Spring 1994) that finally helped solve the mystery. Here, Geoffrey Maclean, author of an acclaimed book on Cazabon, described how he had visited Belmont House in 1991 — before the pictures were exhibited — and found, in an attic, several paintings: “Several were on a scale not seen before in Cazabon’s work; one of them, the largest I have seen, shows a view of Port of Spain from Laventille Hill, with the Governor in a top-hat surveying the city with his guide.”

I am most grateful to Mr Maclean. I will go to Belmont shortly to view the original. n

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