CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater, Georgetown, Guyana) Nostalgic recollections of the first Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) in 1972, and cultural presentations from a number of contingents, were the highlights Saturday evening at the opening of the Community Festivals in Festival City, Georgetown, Guyana.
Festival City, built by `self-help’, was constructed to house the contingents from more than 30 Caribbean countries which came to Guyana for CARIFESTA 36 years ago.
Saturday evening, Saint Lucian masqueraders electrified the crowd, and along with performers from St. Kitts and Nevis, and Guyana, provided a prelude of what is expected at the Community Festivals over the period of CARIFESTA X.
Deputy Mayor of Georgetown, Mr. Robert Williams said that the cultural presentation was indicative of the desire of the residents of Festival City to remember CARIFESTA 72.
“The fact that CARIFESTA X was coming to Guyana, we considered it very important to host this activity,” he said.
Indelible in his mind from that first CARIFESTA were the stellar performances by the Yoruba Singers of Guyana, who, he recalled, enlivened the atmosphere with their box guitar and bamboo flute.
Derrick Johnson of the Festival City Triveldt Community Development Association – which organized the event – said that the idea of the cultural presentation was an attempt to recreate the kind of atmosphere that had enveloped the area each night of the 20-day Festival in 1972.
Chairman of the Association, Randolph Gordon, said CARIFESTA X was expected to bridge the gap between what existed at the first Caribbean Festival of Arts and the transformations that have taken place over the years. He recalled the spirit of camaraderie that existed even before the contingents arrived in Georgetown, as Guyanese worked feverishly towards the completion of the city for the first ever celebration of Caribbean culture of that magnitude in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Gordon recalled that persons were encouraged to work 25 to 30 hours per week, voluntarily, with the expectation of becoming owners of those houses through an affordable repayment arrangement at the conclusion of the Festival.
The venue of Saturday’s presentation was used in 1972 as the main dining hall for the contingents. According to Saint Lucian born Writer and Broadcaster, John Lee, who was at the premier event, the dining hall was an area that came alive with the cultures of the Caribbean each evening over the 20 days of the Festival. He said that the convergence of Caribbean artistes in one place created the opportunity for interaction among prolific Caribbean novelists and playwrights, singers and drummers. That enriching experience, he said, played an invaluable role in fashioning his career as a writer.
Community Festivals will not be held only at Festival City, but at various venues throughout the country.
