Trinidad and Tobago Association: Sharing a culture of tolerance and harmony................................................................................................................................
Written by Karen Kovacs Dydzuhn
The Bridgeport News.com | Wednesday, 03 August 2011 11:02[Top left, Michael Gittens, Sharon Brown-Stewart, Michael Capasso, Gita Capasso; and bottom left, Cornelius Medas and Denis Granado, gather at Seaside Park, where they hold the Trinidad and Tobago national flag. (Photo by Ria Ari)]
"Tucked away in the Caribbean, just 15 miles from South America, sits Trinidad and Tobago, small islands whose beaches, culture and annual Carnival attract visitors from around the world.
Until recently, immigrants from these two countries didn’t realize how many of their fellow countrymen lived in Fairfield County, particularly in Bridgeport and Stratford.
“There’s a whole lot of people living here in Bridgeport alone, but no one knows each other,” said Michael Gittens, who hails from the islands.
Gittens said that he and a group of close friends often discussed hosting a party for Trinidadian and Tobagonians, but no one actually did anything about it until last summer.
After spearheading last August’s “Days in the Park” outdoor party at Seaside Park, Gittens said he was surprised to learn that Trinidadians often lived in the same neighborhoods without knowing one another.
The successful beach party drew 200 people and served as the inspiration for founding the Trinidad-Tobego Association, a group that endeavors to share awareness about its tropical homeland with the community.
The second “Days in the Park” event will take place on Saturday, Aug. 13, from 2:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Gita Capasso emigrated from Trinidad to Stratford in 2001. She said her husband, Mike, whom she met in the United States shortly after she moved her, saw a flyer for last year’s party.
The couple, their three grown children and friends had a great time consuming traditional luncheon fare, listening to calypso music and meeting new friends. “It was very relaxing,” Capasso said.
This year, Capasso said the association invite the entire community to attend.
“You do not have to be from Trinidad or Tobago,” she said. “We want to share our culture with people. I think it will be a lot of fun.”
Traditional food will be served, along with snow cones and popcorn, all available for purchase. Proceeds will be used to support a college scholarship for a Bridgeport student.
Entertainment includes live Calypso singers, steel pan music, Tassa music, and chutney music. For the children, face painting, arts and crafts projects and kite making will be available.
Cadet Roach is the steel drum band set to perform. A popular Trinidadian game, marble pitching, will also take place. Members of the Bridgeport Fire Department will be on hand to offer safety tips.
“It’s a huge undertaking because we’re still such a small group, but we wanted to do something for the community,” Capasso said. “The idea is to create some awareness about the islands in this part of the world.”
She explained that she left last year’s event feeling like she wanted to continue to meet with Gittens and help him organize a more formal gathering for this year. Like Gittens, she felt like “something was missing.”
Gittens said that people hailing from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago often participate in festivals and parades sponsored by other Caribbean countries because — until now — they didn’t have one that they could call their own.
The closest in feel to the Carnival that takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago occurs on Labor Day Weekend in Brooklyn.
Gittens said that people often mistake him for being Jamaican, African American or Haitian. “People don’t even know where Trinidad and Tobago are located,” he said.
Denis Granado, formerly of Trinidad, describes 116-square foot Tobago as “paradise” and said it is even smaller than Connecticut.
With its French, West African, Indian, Creole and European influences, Granado describes the countries as the “original melting pot.”
Granado said that 45% of its population is African, 45% is East Indian and the remaining 10% of the people descend from Asian, Lebanese, Syrian and European countries.
The three members of the association said that although the country was ethnically diverse, its inhabitants are tolerant of each other’s differences and live in harmony despite those differences.
Gittens said Trinidadians and Tobagonians truly live out their country’s motto of “Many Faces, One People.”
“Everyone adopts the holidays and traditions of their neighbors,” Capasso said.
In forming the association, the group hopes to encourage that kind of unity in their respective American communities.
“We are used to coming together as a people,” Capasso said.
The founders of the Trinidad and Tobago Association hope that people “young and old, big and small” come out to experience a taste of their beloved country.
“We thank the mayor of Bridgeport and his team for helping to make this happen,” Capasso said. “We’re excited to relax, listen to music and have some good, clean fun.”
For more information, e-mail ttassocofbpt@gmail.com or twitter @ttassocofbpt2 or call 203-257-7006. The Trinidad and Tobago Association is also on Facebook." SOURCE
Calypso de El CallaoListening to the song below, "Calipso del Callao" performed by the Venezuelan group Serenata Guayanesa, I am hearing our music. If I had better knowledge of our older songs, I would try to identify from exactly which songs they have transported English lyrics into their music. Look out for the clues, the words, the rhythms, the patois brought from T&T and the Caribbean to Venezuela. I am definitely hearing, "Zandolee find yuh hole!!" Look at us in their Carnival! Wow! This impresses me more than our Carnival diaspora in English speaking countries. I have always said that Venezuelans have more in common with us than we know and this music is proof because despite a difference in language they have incorporated more easily the gifts brought to them by the Caribbean immigrants.
During the 19th century, Trinidadians and other Caribbean islanders began migration to Venezuela, particularly to the city of El Callao to work in the gold mines. They brought the music of Calypso with them, which later became very popular in the city. The folk music is a mixture of Venezuelan and Caribbean genres and is sung in Spanish and/or Caribbean English. It is closely associated with the Carnival festival, a tradition also brought by the West Indian people.
Performance
On the carnival months of February and March, Calypso is performed with competitions, where the winners are crowned Calypso King and Queen. Calypso or as the town's people call it "Calipso" is one of the most likeable cultural tradition that the city is well known for by the rest of the country. Popular instruments used in the performance of the music are the drums, cuatro, maracas, guitar, bandolin, violin and the steel drum. SOURCE
Tan - Singing Of Trinidad And Guyana
Produced by Peter Manuel, 2000
Narrated by Pritha Singh
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2.1
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Uploaded by steelhead522
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A Note From The Gull
Jameer Hosein: "Don't kill one part of a culture for another part." [Part 8, 2:22] Although Jameer is referring to the struggle of the classical forms in the face of the increasingly popular chutney or chutney soca, his comment echoes the concerns of calypsonians and their fans who regret what they see as the demise of traditional calypso. Brother Valentino in his "No Replacements" shares a similar dismay.
Thank you, Peter Manuel, for producing this informative documentary. We take so much for granted, I think precisely because in this wonderfully blessed land and culture we have become jaded by a surfeit of riches. It is only when the well runs dry that we will take stock of the extinctions, those that occurred quietly or with many warning bangs.
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
"When someone says "calypso," one naturally thinks of Trinidad. But hidden here and there in the Caribbean are little pockets of the old calypso tradition, somewhat static, but still vibrant. This album looks at the virtually unknown English-speaking calypso community of Spanish-speaking Costa Rica. While these artists have a "frozen in time" sound to them, the music is nonetheless wonderful. In solo settings and small ensembles of percussion, guitars and voices, the older generation of Puerto Limon sets out a rootsy, gritty music with a generous dose of enthusiasm. The pop-influenced New Revelation offer pleasant tunes; the gritty Charo de Limon performs some good social commentary, accompanying himself with one of the rawest guitar sounds this side of Joseph Spence. The best of the lot is Cahuita Calypso: with a banjo and rhythm box courting the call and response of the vocals, they offer the most African-rooted sound.Also on the same page another reviewer reveals that the performers of the CD were not even aware that the music was going to be sold and did not receive any payment for their music...
--Louis Gibson
"This is one of the greatest original calypso cds available. The BIG problem is that I personaly met and know these men when i lived in Cahuita, Costa Rica, and found out that a visitor recorded them without telling them he was going to produce a Cd to sell. SO NONE of the musicians recieved 1 penny. This label is also doing this to a lot of other poor people from 3rd world countries!"Long live Trinbagonians, at the source and wherever they find themselves in this world!
---realrootsd
The term diaspora comes from διασπορά in the Ancient Greek language - prefix dia=through, followed by the verb sperein=to sow or to scatter. Literally it means a scattering or sowing of seeds. We use it today most commonly to refer to the dispersal of a country's people or ethnic populations throughout the world. Trinbagonians, being themselves the products of forced and voluntary relocations, have in many instances found themselves continuing this dispersal, with Trinbago having been just a stopover along the way.
Luckily, this is often after remaining long enough to add more uniquely Trinbagonian footprints to our cultural landscape. After departure from these islands and arrival at new destinations all over the world, some Trinbagonians are faced with some choices. Culturally, they can continue to identify as Trinbagonians or they can revert to pre-diasporic identities - Amerindian, Chinese, Indian, African, or they can choose assimilation into the host culture and through their children merge even more completely.
Catáhua is an Andean Amerindian name for the Sandbox Tree. Also known as Hura crepitans, the tree has an unusual method of seed dispersal which is described as mechanical or self-dispersal. Unlike methods used by other plants which employ the conveyances of gravity, wind, water or animals, the dispersal method used by the Catáhua seems more deliberate, less passive. The seed pods ripen on the tree and when they attain the required dryness, the seed capsule ruptures suddenly, exploding with a loud cracking sound which has been likened to a gun shot. With this eruption, pod material as well as the flat round seeds are propelled far and wide.
