Arts and culture

Arts and culture Shining a light on Barbadian arts

Known across the world for its vibrant culture and dedication to the arts, Barbados is home to a wide range of gifted practitioners in every field from music and dance to prose and poetry and from craftwork and painting to cookery.

These talented artists continue to add their shine to the nation’s rich cultural heritage. Their works can be appreciated not only in local art galleries but also live on stage at the island’s regular cultural festivals.

Perhaps the most internationally recognised homegrown talent is the pop music sensation Robyn ‘Rihanna’ Fenty, singer of the chart-topping hit ‘Diamonds’. Other popular musical artists include the four-piece band Cover Drive, the soca group Krosfyah, the singer Rupert ‘Rupee’ Clarke (famous for his single ‘I Am A Bajan’) and Alison Hinds, the ‘Queen of Soca’.

Irving Burgie, who wrote the words of the Barbados National Anthem, also produced the music and lyrics of the iconic ‘Banana Boat Song (Day-O)’, one of the Caribbean’s best-known melodies.

Notable Barbadian writers include columnist, editor and author John Wickham: novelist George Lamming; and poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite, winner of the 1994 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and a professor of Comparative Literature at New York University.

Festivals

Throughout the year, visitors to Barbados have an opportunity to enjoy the many festivals that reflect the island’s diverse and unique culture.

These include the Barbados Music Awards, held in January each year; the Holetown Festival in February; Oistins Fish Festival and Holders Season in March; the Barbados Reggae Festival in April; the Celtic Festival in May; and in November, two big events: the Food, Wine and Rum Festival and the month-long National Independence Festival of Cre-

ative Arts, showcasing Bajan culture and creativity through drama, dance, literature, visual arts and photography.

Highlight of the island’s festival calendar is undoubtedly the famous Crop Over season, which officially runs from July until the first Monday in August, although many Crop Over events are known to start as early as May. Historically, the festival was held to mark the end of the sugar cane harvest by slaves who had been brought over to Barbados from Africa. Today, these ties can still be seen in the folk songs, traditional calypsos, masquerades and revelry that characterise Crop Over as well as in the climatic all-day street party that is Grand Kadooment Day.

BPI promotes culture

In December 2016 the port commissioned eight murals by Barbadian artists to be painted on the doors of the home-port terminal at Shed 3. Inspired by the 50th anniversary of Barbadian independence, this project is designed to enhance the overall experience of cruise passengers as they disembark and embark.

David Jean-Marie, chief executive of BPI, said he was delighted to be part of such a special project to celebrate the island’s 50th year of independence and as part of the port’s continued plan to improve the visitor experience in Barbados. “This project has been 10 years in the making and we are excited to be able to give eight of our talented local artists the opportunity to tell the story of the social, economic and physical development of Barbados to our visitors,” he said.

The Hon Richard Sealy, Minister for Tourism and International Transport, applauded the initiative, saying it was an important project to celebrate the culture of Barbados and to showcase some of the more traditional elements of Barbadian life to a growing number of cruise visitors. “I am thrilled by this project on so many levels,” said Mr Sealy. “It is such a wonderful opportunity for our local artists to tell our story to visitors as well as to promote the high quality of visual arts we have here in Barbados. A great cross-section of artists have been chosen and I believe this will be another stepping stone to showing our visitors the importance of arts in Barbadian society as well as significantly improving the port customer experience.”

The eight artists commissioned to paint the murals are Fielding Babb, Tracey Williams, David Alleyne, Maurice Forde, Mark Maynard, Don Small, Omowale Stewart and Petra Toyin. Each of the murals will cover a door measuring 24 ft wide and 12 ft high and they are expected to be completed in February 2017. The works of art will be transportable so they can be integrated into any new developments as the port continues to grow and expand its infrastructure to offer the highest standard of home-porting services and passenger experience in the region.