Guanaguanare: the laughing gull

INDEX TO WORKS POSTED

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Guanaguanare: the laughing gull bows low in gratitude to the following spirits, living in the here or hereafter, whose works are posted on this blog. They have felt and thought deeply enough about this nation of Trinidad and Tobago to use their time and effort and creative talents to give expression to various perspectives and opinions. Covering the gamut of approaches, from unfettered pride, thoughtful appraisal through concern and admonition to frustration, cynicism and alarm, what they all have in common is LOVE - conditional, unconditional, unrequited, serious tabanca, but love all the same, for this place we call home. Thank You All.

Alphanumeric Author/Title Index

3CANAL - Borderline
3CANAL - Piti Pata
3CANAL - Salt
3CANAL - Talk Yuh Talk

A--
Across The Dark Waters - Kobo Town
A.D.D Generation - Khristal Nicole Griffith
Alter-Native - TheGlassHermitage
At The Edge Of The City - Kobo Town
Ateeb0 - A Most Wanted Man
Ateebo - If Ah Dead, Ah Dead
Ateebo - La Trinity
Ateebo - Mr. Bobolee
Ateebo - The Limitations of Salt, Sticks and Incantations
Ateebo - Look Devil Dey!
Ateebo - Massa Day Will Never Done
Ateebo - The Secrets of Cane
Ateebo - There Is No Damn Cradle In The Bosom Of Abraham
Atilla The Hun - Graf Zeppelin (Included just for fun)
Atilla The Hun - Iere Now And Long Ago
Attempt Is As Good As The Act - Mighty Sparrow
Austin, King - Progress

B--
Back To My West India Home
Baker - God Bless Our Nation
Ballantyne, Gregory - Sumintra; performed by Rikki Jai
The Bandit Factory - Chalkdust
Baron - Caminante
Baron - Come Go
Batson, Nadia - One Family
Bedbug - Mighty Spoiler
Beloved - David Rudder
Black Stalin - Burn Dem
Black Stalin - New Portrait of Trinidad
Black Stalin - Nothing Ent Strange
Blackman, Sheldon - Revolution
Blakie - Doctor Ent Dey
Blowing In A Random Breeze - Amryl Johnson
Borderline - 3CANAL
Brother Marvin - Jahaji Bhai
BrotherValentino - Dis Place Nice
Brown, Lesley-Ann - Heroes ; Beats by Woody
Burn Dem - Black Stalin
The Bushmaster - Robber Talk

C--
Cah Nah Val - Gene Wilkes
Calypso Blues - Don George and Nathaniel "Nat King"
Caminante - Baron
Canada So Cold - Lord Melody
Caresser - Exploiting
Carnival Is Bacchanal - Lord Caresser
Cascadura - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Catahua People
Chalkdust - The Bandit Factory
Chief Hyarima mourns the oppression of his people - F.E.M. Hosein
Clark, Mary Alice - A Sketch Of Trinidad
Cole, Nathaniel "Nat King" and Don George - Calypso Blues
Collateral Damage - Kizzy Ruiz; composed by Dermotte Pierre
Collins, Carlton - Is Ah Long Time; performed by Manchild
Columbus Sights Trinidad - F.E.M.
Come Go - Baron
Coming Home - Terra B
Congo Bara
Cristo - No Nationality
Cross Country? - Gene Wilkes

D--
Dan, Maximus - Fighter
Desde La Tierra De Promesas Infinitas
Devine, Winston - Sailing; performed by The Mighty Trini
Dis Place Nice - Brother Valentino
Doctor Ent Dey - Blakie
Doggone Rubbitch - Gene Wilkes
Drink Ah Rum - Lord Kitchener
Dry Season - TheGlassHermitage

E--
Exploiting - Lord Caresser

F--
Fighter - Maximus Dan
The Flowering Rock - Eric Roach (1915-1974)
Forward Home - Andre Tanker (1941-2003)
Foster, Joanne - Which Bone?; composed by Christophe Grant
Funny - How Yuh Feel?

G--
The Ganges and The Nile - David Rudder
Gen X - Trinidad Is My Country
George, Don and Nathaniel "Nat King" Cole - Calypso Blues
George, Roger - My Land
Get To Hell Out - The Mighty Sparrow
TheGlassHermitage - Alter-Native
TheGlassHermitage - Keeping The Brothers
The GlassHermitage - Lord, Put A Hand
TheGlassHermitage - Rainy Season
TheGlassHermitage - Revelations
TheGlassHermitage - Trinidad: The Web
God Bless Our Nation - Baker
God Bless Our Nation - Marjorie Padmore
Good Citizen- the Mighty Sparrow
Graf Zeppelin - Atilla The Hun
Grant, Christophe - Joy Cometh In The Morning (composer)
Grant, Christophe - One Day of Prayer
Grant, Christophe - Which Bone?; performed by Joanne Foster
Griffith, Khristal Nicole - A.D.D Generation
Growling Tiger - Song Of Peace
Guanaguanare - Having Carelessly Made Tracks For 'Gouti To Run
Gypsy - Caminante
Gypsy - Sereno Say
Gypsy - Sinking Ship

H--
Hang Dem High!
Having Carelessly Made Tracks For 'Gouti To Run - Guanaguanare
He Has God On His Side Now - Anonymous reader
The Heart Of A Man - Zan featuring Machel Montano
Hello People - Mighty Sparrow
Henry, David Emmanuel - Trinbago Will Be Nice Again
Heroes - Lesley-Ann Brown; beats by Woody
High Mas' I - David Rudder
Home, Sweet Home - The Mighty Terror
Hosein, F.E.M. - Columbus Sights Trinidad
Hosein, F.E.M. - Chief Hyarima Mourns the Oppression of His People
How Yuh Feel? - Funny
Hudson, Melanie - I Will Always Be There For You; composed by David Rudder

I--
I Still Love Trinbago- Anonymous
I Will Always Be There For You - Melanie Hudson; composed by David Rudder
Iere Now And Long Ago - Atilla the Hun
If Ah Dead, Ah Dead - Ateebo
Index Of A Nation - Lord Shorty
Is Ah Long Time - Manchild; composed by Carlton Collins

J--
Jahaji Bhai - Brother Marvin
Jai, Rikki - Sumintra; composed by Gregory Ballantyne
A Job For The Hangman - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Johnson, Amryl - Blowing In A Random Breeze
Joy Cometh In The Morning - Denyse Plummer; composed by Christophe Grant

K--
Keeping The Brothers - TheGlassHermitage
Kobo Town - Across The Dark Waters
Kobo Town -At The Edge Of The City
Kobo Town - Sing Out, Shout Out
Kobo Town - Trinity
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Cascadura
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - A Job For The Hangman
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Letter From Sea Lots
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Obeah Man
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Recess
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - So Pure
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Whether or Not

L--
Laziest Man - Mighty Dougla
Lend A Hand - The Mighty Sparrow
Letter From Sea Lots - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
The Limitations of Salt, Sticks and Incantations - Ateebo
Look Devil Dey - Ateebo
Lord, Put A Hand - TheGlassHermitage
Lord Caresser - Carnival Is Bacchanal
Lord Caresser - Exploiting
Lord Funny - Sweet, Sweet Trinidad
Lord Kitchener - Drink Ah Rum
Lord Kitchener - Too Much Holidays
Lord Kitchener - Your Own Comes First
Lord Melody - Canada So Cold
Lord Melody - Mama Look Ah Boo Boo!
Lord Nelson - One Family
Lord Nelson - We Like It
Lord Shorty - Index Of A Nation

M--
The Madman's Rant - David Rudder
Maestro - Mr. Trinidadian
Maestro - Yuh Foolin'
Magistrate Try Himself - Mighty Spoiler
Mama Look Ah Boo Boo! - Lord Melody
Manchild - Is Ah Long Time; composed by Carlton Collins
Massa Day Will Never Done - Ateebo
McCollin, Rocky - This Is My Flag
Mayers, Richard "Nappy" - Old Time Days
Mighty Dougla - Laziest Man
Mighty Dougla - Split Me In Two
The Mighty Sniper - Portrait of Trinidad
The Mighty Sniper - A Way To Success(Productivity)
The Mighty Sparrow - Attempt Is As Good As The Act
The Mighty Sparrow - Get To Hell Out!
The Mighty Sparow - Good Citizen
The Mighty Sparrow - Hello People
The Mighty Sparrow - Our Model Nation
The Mighty Sparrow - Lend A Hand
The Mighty Sparrow - Prophet of Doom
Mighty Spoiler - Bedbug
Mighty Spoiler - Magistrate Try Himself
Mighty Spoiler - Money In The Bank
The Mighty Terror - Home, Sweet Home
The Mighty Trini - Sailing; composed by Winston Devine
Money In The Bank - Mighty Spoiler
Mongrel - Gene Wilkes
A Most Wanted Man - Ateebo
Mr. Bobolee - Ateebo
Mr. Trinidadan - Maestro
Mulrain, Pearl Yvonne - Too Much Hurt and Frustration
My Land - Roger George

N--
Nah Leaving - - Denyse Plummer
A Nation New Is Born - G. Carlton Sampson
The National Anthem of Trinidad and Tobago - Patrick Castagne
New Portrait of Trinidad - Black Stalin
No Nationality - Cristo
Nothing Ent Strange - Black Stalin

O--
O' Trinidad...Love Again - The Merchant (Dennis Franklyn)
Obeah Man -Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Ode To Tobago - Lord Kitchener
Old Time Days - Richard "Nappy" Mayers
One Day - Natasha Wilson
One Day of Prayer - Singing Sandra; composed by Christophe Grant
One Family - Lord Nelson
One Family - Nadia Batson
Our Model Nation - The Mighty Sparrow
Our Nation's Dawning - G. Carlton Sampson
Ozymagic - Real Trini

P--
Penguin - What Sweet In Goat Mouth
Pierre, Dermotte - Collateral Damage (composer)
Piti Pata - 3Canal
Play Mas', Doh Play De Ass - Gene Wilkes
Plummer, Denyse - Joy Cometh in the Morning; composed by David Rudder
Plummer, Denyse - Nah Leaving
Plummer, Denyse - They Reach; composed by David Rudder
Portrait of Trinidad - The Mighty Sniper
Poverty Is Hell - Shadow
Progress - King Austin
Prophet of Doom - The Mighty Sparrow
Protector - We Talking Change

Q--

R--
Real Trini - Ozymagic
Recess - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
The Returned
Revelations - TheGlassHermitage
Revolution - Sheldon Blackman
Roach, Eric - The Flowering Rock
The Roaring Lion - Trinidad, The Land Of Calypso
Robber Talk - The Bushmaster
Robbery Under De Trees - Gene Wilkes
Rudder, David - Beloved
Rudder, David - The Ganges and the Nile
Rudder, David - High Mas' I
Rudder, David - I Will Always Be There For You; performed by Melanie Hudson
Rudder, David - The Madman's Rant
Rudder, David - The Savagery(The Scent Has Returned)
Rudder, David - Song For A Lonely Soul
Rudder, David - They Reach
Rudder, David - Trini To De Bone
Ruiz, Kizzy - Collateral Damage; composed by Dermotte Pierre

S--
Sailing - The Mighty Trini; composed by Winston Devine
Salt - 3CANAL
Sampson, G. Carlton - A Nation New Is Born
Sampson, G. Carlton - Our Nation's Dawning
Sando City Still Stink - Gene Wilkes
Sando City Weak- Gene Wilkes
The Savagery (The Scent Has Returned) - David Rudder
The Secrets of Cane - Ateebo
Sereno Say - Gypsy
Sex In De City - Gene Wilkes
Shadow - Poverty Is Hell
Sing Out, Shout Out - Kobo Town
Singing Sandra - One Day of Prayer; composed by Christophe Grant
Sinking Ship - Gypsy
A Sketch Of Trinidad - Mary Alice Clark
So Pure - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Song For A Lonely Soul - David Rudder
Song Of Peace - Growling Tiger
Split Me In Two - Mighty Dougla
Spoiler's Return - Derek Walcott
Sumintra - Composed by Gregory Ballantyne; performed by Rikki Jai
Sweet, Sweet Trinidad - Lord Funny
Sweet T&T - Natasha Wilson
Sweet Trinidad -

T--
Talk Yuh Talk - 3CANAL
Tanker, Andre - Forward Home
Terra B - Coming Home
There Is No Damn Cradle In The Bosom Of Abraham - Ateebo
They Reach - David Rudder (composer)
Thirty Pieces Of Silver: #1
This Is My Flag - Rocky McCollin
Till All My People Are One
Too Much Holidays - Lord Kitchener
Too Much Hurt and Frustration - Pearl Yvonne Mulrain
Trinbago Will Be Nice Again - David Emmanuel Henry
Trini To The Bone - David Rudder & Carl Jacobs
Trinidad" Iere, Land Of The Humming Bird
Trinidad, The Land Of Calypso - The Roaring Lion
Trinidad: The Web - TheGlassHermitage
Trinidad Is My Country - Gen X
La Trinity - Ateebo
Trinity - Kobo Town

U--

V--
Valentino See Brother Valentino

W--
Wake Up, People
Walcott, Derek - Spoiler's Return
A Way To Success(Productivity) - Mighty Sniper
We Like It - Lord Nelson
We Talking Change - Protector
What Sweet In Goat Mouth - Penguin
Which Bone? - Joanne Foster; composed by Christophe Grant
Whether Or Not - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Wilkes, Gene - Cah Nah Val
Wilkes, Gene - Cross Country?
Wilkes, Gene - Doggone Rubbitch
Wilkes, Gene - Mongrel
Wilkes, Gene - Play Mas', Doh Play De Ass
Wilkes Gene - Robbery Under De Trees
Wilkes, Gene - Sando City Still Stink
Wilkes, Gene - Sando City Weak
Wilkes, Gene - Sex In De City
Wilson, Natasha - One Day
Wilson, Natasha - Sweet T&T

X--

Y--
Your Own Comes First - Lord Kitchener
Yuh Foolin' - Maestro

Z--

Zan - Heart Of A Man; featuring Machel Montano

Photos
Last, but not least, thanks to photographers Gary Gibson and Maximilian Forte for kindly permitting the use of some of their images on this blog.

Poems Of Protest

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:46:00 +0000

Alphanumeric Author/Title Index

A--
A.D.D Generation - Khristal Nicole Griffith
Alter-Native - TheGlassHermitage
Ateeb0 - A Most Wanted Man
Ateebo - If Ah Dead, Ah Dead
Ateebo - La Trinity
Ateebo - Mr. Bobolee
Ateebo - The Limitations of Salt, Sticks and Incantations
Ateebo - Look Devil Dey!
Ateebo - Massa Day Will Never Done
Ateebo - The Secrets of Cane
Ateebo - There Is No Damn Cradle In The Bosom Of Abraham

B--
Blowing In A Random Breeze - Amryl Johnson
The Bushmaster - Robber Talk

C--
Cah Nah Val - Gene Wilkes
Chief Hyarima mourns the oppression of his people - F.E.M. Hosein
Congo Bara
Cross Country? - Gene Wilkes

D--
Desde La Tierra De Promesas Infinitas
Doggone Rubbitch - Gene Wilkes
Dry Season - TheGlassHermitage

E--

F--
The Flowering Rock - Eric Roach (1915-1974)

G--
TheGlassHermitage - Alter-Native
TheGlassHermitage - Keeping The Brothers
The GlassHermitage - Lord, Put A Hand
TheGlassHermitage - Rainy Season
TheGlassHermitage - Revelations
TheGlassHermitage - Trinidad: The Web
Griffith, Khristal Nicole - A.D.D Generation
Guanaguanare - Having Carelessly Made Tracks For 'Gouti To Run

H--
Having Carelessly Made Tracks For 'Gouti To Run - Guanaguanare
Henry, David Emmanuel - Trinbago Will Be Nice Again
Heroes - Lesley-Ann Brown; beats by Woody
Hosein, F.E.M. - Chief Hyarima Mourns the Oppression of His People

I--
I Still Love Trinbago- Anonymous
If Ah Dead, Ah Dead - Ateebo

J--
A Job For The Hangman - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Johnson, Amryl - Blowing In A Random Breeze

K--
Keeping The Brothers - TheGlassHermitage
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - A Job For The Hangman
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Letter From Sea Lots
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Obeah Man
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Recess
Kwabena, Roi Guanapo Ankhkara - Whether or Not

L--
Letter From Sea Lots - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
The Limitations of Salt, Sticks and Incantations - Ateebo
Look Devil Dey - Ateebo
Lord, Put A Hand - TheGlassHermitage

M--
Massa Day Will Never Done - Ateebo
Mongrel - Gene Wilkes
A Most Wanted Man - Ateebo
Mr. Bobolee - Ateebo

N--

O--
O' Trinidad...Love Again - The Merchant (Dennis Franklyn)
Obeah Man -Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena

P--
Play Mas', Doh Play De Ass - Gene Wilkes

Q--

R--
Recess - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
The Returned
Revelations - TheGlassHermitage
Roach, Eric - The Flowering Rock
Robber Talk - The Bushmaster
Robbery Under De Trees - Gene Wilkes

S--
Sando City Still Stink - Gene Wilkes
Sando City Weak- Gene Wilkes
The Secrets of Cane - Ateebo
Sex In De City - Gene Wilkes
So Pure - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena

T--
There Is No Damn Cradle In The Bosom Of Abraham - Ateebo
Trinidad: The Web - TheGlassHermitage
La Trinity - Ateebo

U--

V--

W--
Wake Up, People
Whether Or Not - Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Wilkes, Gene - Cah Nah Val
Wilkes, Gene - Cross Country?
Wilkes, Gene - Doggone Rubbitch
Wilkes, Gene - Mongrel
Wilkes, Gene - Play Mas', Doh Play De Ass
Wilkes Gene - Robbery Under De Trees
Wilkes, Gene - Sando City Still Stink
Wilkes, Gene - Sando City Weak
Wilkes, Gene - Sex In De City

X--

Y--

Z--

Photos
Last, but not least, thanks to photographers Gary Gibson and Maximilian Forte for kindly permitting the use of some of their images on this blog.

Thank you .

"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

I Fought The Battle Of Trinidad And Tobago

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:22:00 +0000

I Fought The Battle Of Trinidad and Tobago
By Loney, Dear

I've been watching you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been listening to your voice from the other side, I know you so well
I've been watching you from the other side, I know you so well
I've longed for your voice from the other side, I know you so well.

I've been to heaven and I've been to hell over you
I've been to heaven and I've been to hell over you
I've been a loser and I've been a fool over you
I've been a loser and I've been a fool over you.

I've been dreaming of you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been wanting you so from the other side, I know you so well
I've been dreaming of you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been wanting you so from the other side, I know you so well.

I've been to heaven and I've been to hell over you
I've been to heaven and I've been to hell over you
I've been a loser and I've been a fool over you
I've been a loser and I've been a fool over you

I've been dreaming of you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been dreaming of you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been watching you from the other side, I know you so well
I've been listening to your voice from the other side, I know you so well.
.............................................................................................

Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime...

"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

Blogging The Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:20:00 +0000

I am wondering if the time has come for me to give this blog a rest. I had a dream last night that I was blogging a dead body. The dream persisted with its maddening reiterations as I tossed and turned in misery. This dead body, which at one point, I felt was someone's father, was requiring respectful disposal. I, however, contrary to everything that I would wish for the deceased, was instead finding myself compelled to blog it.

I could actually see the posts going up day after day with images of the stiff body lying on the floor, or the body chopped up like souse in a big, iron pot, or the body morphing into a tree trunk that had been sawed in half... This madness went as far as my debating whether the wrongness of my actions would be lessened by the addition of sauce or parsley to the presentations of the body.

Through all of this, I could hear the persistent whimpering ("gweeking" is the word I usually use to describe the sound) of my dog who sleeps at the side of my bed. He usually makes these complaints when he is uncomfortable or upset by something. His fussing entered the dream and I concluded that he was aware of the cadaver and was disturbed by its presence and scent. Tonnerre!!

When I finally wrested myself from that dream and the bed, I came straight to the computer to write my farewell post and found that overnight, the monitor display had mysteriously become rotated ninety degrees to the left. I had to rest my head on my left shoulder to go on the Internet and find the solution (ctrl-alt-up arrow did the trick). Additional proof, I concluded, that I should put some distance between myself and bloggery.

Can anyone out there interpret dreams? I've had some messed up dreams in my life but this one was too disturbing and I am wondering why it would target the blog.

"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

Those Gifts That Keep On Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Dedicated to Lesley-Ann Brown and Maximilian Forte

Long after Christmas is over, or maybe the wedding or the birthday party or any occasion where many gifts are brought, hasn’t it happened at least once that you picked up one of the offerings and realized that you had no idea who gave it to you? In the thick of things, you had neglected to save the gift tag thinking that you could rely on your memory. Maybe the gift, although well made and useful had not been unusual and had not made as great an impact on you at first glance. Maybe you had been distracted while opening it. Maybe the tag had been deliberately removed or never attached to render the giver anonymous. Whatever the reason, you had taken that gift for granted and by extension, also the one who gave it.

Isn’t our culture sometimes like that? Even at the level of human individuals, at our conceptions, weren't we the result of the offerings that the ancestors had each dropped into the common pot of genetic material. And while we lay growing in our mothers’ wombs, through interaction with our mothers’ flesh and spirit and her interaction with the world outside, we absorbed many more cultural gifts, both harmful and benign. We entered the world that is Trinidad and Tobago, already natives by virtue of having been carried by a Trinbagonian for nine months and as we began the lifelong task of self definition, we would try to find the answer to the question of who we are by asking the question, “From whom did this gift come?”

The trails are complicated enough if both your parents have lived in the same culture in which their great grandparents lived. The trails are complicated enough if you come from a culture that is fiercely proud of its origins and equipped to hand down to you the memories recorded of the past. But what of Trinbagonians who are the products of many cultures which (despite the clearly exaggerated reports of fusion) are still jostling with each other? What of Trinidadians who had often been made to denigrate themselves and their histories. In this (s)melting pot as we struggle towards accommodation, it is easy to forget that there was human life before culture. Our cultures/our inheritances can sometimes seem to get in the way of our getting on with things. On the other hand it would be a facile solution to simply agree that our individual cultures are not important and should subduct rather than continue to clash with or try to override the oncoming push for nationalist homogenisation. Trinbagonians have been expected to do with a smile what other cultures have gone to war to prevent. They are being asked to forget, not only the givers, but also the gifts manifested in themselves. And I use the word gift to mean anything that is given, whether positive or negative.

The token/symbolic recognition given to various cultural groupings and even that often only after intensive lobbying/pressure by these groups, does little to address the ongoing attrition caused by the expectation that people can simply put aside the past.

If you think that what is happening today in our country is just part of some global trend, you’d be right because the deliberate attempt to erase memory, to avoid mediation of the ongoing impasse between obscured givers and their questing receivers is not a situation restricted to our nation. Always, always there seems to be this silent agreement to sidestep first causes.

Being who I am, and a Trinbagonian, has been a revelation. Over the years I have travelled to and lived in different countries and when I speak, having never let go of my Trinbagonian accent, people would often ask me if I am French. I say that I am not, that I am Trinbagonian. Reflecting on this question I remembered that my parents both had French ancestors. Was it possible that somehow my great grandparents had sent me this gift down through my grandparents and parents, a way of speaking or pronouncing words that certain people recognized as similar to a French accent. Later when I lived among people of French origin, simple gestures, facial features triggered flashes of recognition that were startling and frequent. They people were so familiar! I reflected on this and remembered that our French ancestors in Trinidad must have left these gifts also with us as a nation. In the accents of natives of India speaking English I have heard how our East Indian ancestors have contributed to the Trinidadian accent. These observations are not informed by academic texts but are derived from being part of our culture and being sensitised to a wide spectrum of influences.

Still, we are not the homogeneous 21st century product of our collective history. The threads may be interwoven but they are still unique. We may have borrowed extensively from each other but many lines still continue uninterrupted over the generations. My grandmother, I believe had a wonderfully "African" (for lack of a more accurate word) way of laughing that I have recognised in many others. She herself knew nothing about her ancestral tribe or it's location on the African continent. Call me prejudiced or guilty of stereotying, but I count that "African" smile and laughter among God's gifts to this world. Sadly, I do not have it's infectious joy. I had been given something else and I eventually found the word to describe it when I heard in a Venezuelan song, the singer describing the duality of his morena's character. He said that she had “la sonrisa del negro y la tristeza del indio” - the "smile" of the negro and the "sadness" of the Amerindian. The tristeza. Yes, maybe this is what I got undiluted from my Amerindian ancestors...and it is not sadness in the sense of despair but I believe a moroseness caused by a too clear, some might say fatalistic understanding of the human condition and of reality. I have wondered about this "pessimism" this quiet summary shrug, this aptitude for forbearance from a people who have suffered so much loss and from whom one might more readily expect anger and resentment. I have wondered how much of the Amerindian's "tristeza" has come down to us as Trinbagonians in our ability to shake our heads and smile in the face of all the 'gouti continuing to take advantage of the tracks we have cleared.

My Portuguese great-grandfather’s people were Roman Catholic-coated Jews (forced conversos). How had this fact and the reason for its initial and continuing concealment affected the lives of his ancestors and how had it determined which gifts would be given to or withheld from me?

Every single one of them had left their countries of origin and had been thrown together here. Every single one of them, whether forcibly, impulsively, deliberately or with trepidation, had crossed national, ethnic, social, class, religious and generational borders to be in me today.

My gifts surround me and are a part of me. Even those yet unopened and unacknowledged have been persistently influencing my life, and by extension, the lives of those with whom I interact. Even if I cannot remember the names of the gods of my ancestors, I carry within me the persistent characteristics of those who first worshipped and invoked them. Even if I cannot articulate memories of the lives and experiences of my ancestors, science today has proven that the events of the past, especially traumatic events leave their markers on the genetic material and influence the well being of generations to come. Even if the historians say that my tribe is extinct and that my culture is lost, I know that because I am alive, they also continue to live.

What is memory if not the ability to communicate with the past? And if the past is our ancestor and very much part of who we are today, why would we not want to continue to communicate with it? Why would we allow the muscle of memory to atrophy when it is the only one which we can use to find the givers of our many and mysterious gifts? It is good manners when you can identify the giver, to say thanks, not once, but over and over again. It is sometimes a matter of preserving one’s sanity to persistently hunt until you find the one who replies, “Yes” in answer to your question, “Did you give me this gift?” The relief of long-awaited answers, this acknowledgment, is sometimes all that is needed and can be more important than even the gratitude or complaints which can now follow.

Who are we? Why are we so different, so undefinable, so heavy and intractable on the one hand yet so mercurial and bristling with potential that no one system has yet found a way to completely harness and domesticate us? Why is it always a catastrophe when a single one of us is allowed to fall unrealized, unrecognised by the wayside?

Q. Who and what brings us here today, Trinbagonians?
A. All of time and space and creation. We are the world and the world is in us.

Give thanks.

N.B. I want to thank again and always, my friend, Dr. Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena for the inspiration that I find always in his beautiful poetry and his sincere respect for the ancestors.

"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

The True Heroes Of This Situation

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:50:00 +0000

Some time ago, thanks to the generousity of Lesley-Ann Brown, I posted a piece titled "Heroes". We offered it to all the people in Trinidad and Tobago who continue to let their lights shine in word and deed.

Recently, two of these Trinbagonian heroes were brought into the spotlight. You know them as Veronica Joseph and Winfield Aleong. I won't repeat the details of the story here and the extent of their generousity, as those facts have been published elsewhere, but, to summarise, they came like good soldiers to the aid of a mother and her two children in their time of need. These are the true heroes of this situation.

They did not seek this spotlight. They did not advertise themselves as benefactors. As far as I know, they hadn't descended from any public platform where they had been preaching at length about right and wrong or the need for punishment or repentance. Apparently, they are just two ordinary citizens who did something that seems out of the ordinary in these times.

Jessica, on her blog "Alien in the Caribbean" brought to the table a while back, another post which, among other messages, urged us to try starving negativity/evil by not continuing the self-defeating habit of sustaining it with our own negative outlooks/attitudes. This was followed by another post which identified our service standards as being the poorest in the world and went on to urge a change in attitude, both with the providers and recipients of service, the former needing to improve delivery and the latter to expect and demand better service. The ideas are useful building blocks, but what would be revolutionary in these times of urgent need, is the courage to translate thoughts into action, to make the words become flesh as it were. Heroes are the ones who graduate beyond positive visualization and the cultivation of the right attitudes and actually open their hearts and extend their hands to their fellow men.

I also want to thank the writers Richard Charan and Adrian Boodan who covered this story for us in their newspapers. We are seeing that the good news that was proclaimed is having a ripple effect. Others are coming forward to help. I think that what gets people demoralized is not so much the reporting of bad news but more so the feeling of helplessness that we entertain along with the disasters. The question that we should be asking is whether this feeling of impotence is justified or just an excuse to do nothing. Our heroes did not throw up their hands or make a decision to avoid the front pages of the newspapers. They simply stepped out of their bubbles of helplessness, of self-medication into oblivion via the usual "Lord, put ah hand" mantra/prayer-popping binges and extended their own hands in solidarity.

To all the other unsung heroes, to the heroes who do not see or reap the harvests from the seeds which they have quietly sown, to the heroes who do not even recognise themselves as such, the universe records the flight of each hummingbird and your legacy will reverberate.

"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

Deep Obeah

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:23:00 +0000

Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena

Listen to Roi Kwabena's "Deep Obeah" among others by Dr. Kwabena on the Indigenous Caribbean Network player on the bottom right of this blog's page.

I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man

I wish I was an obeah man
to light a big mauve candle
and throw light on evils throughout the global village

I wish I was an obeah man
to right the wrongs but
not for a nobel prize
only to feed the hungry children
and poor people.

I wish, I wish I was an obeah man
to enable sight through the lies
and chase away the flies of broken promises.

I wish, I wish I was an obeah man
to decide an end to austerity measures
establish a real world order
destroying racism
and political debauchery.

I wish, I wish I was an obeah man
and run them foreign conglomerates
who exact profits in a new wave of deception.

I wish I was an obeah man
to obliterate nepotism
I wish I was an obeah man
to manifest and distribute spirit blows.

I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man

I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man
I wish I was an obeah man
to light a big mauve candle
and throw light on evils throughout the global village
I wish I was an obeah man
and wuk some true, true obeah.

I wish I was an obeah man
to right the wrongs
I wish I was an obeah man
destroying racism,
I wish I was an obeah man
to feed the hungry children and poor people
I wish I was an obeah man
and wuk some true, true obeah...

See text-only version of this piece
Source: Reprinted with kind permission of the author
.............................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

For those needing to purchase Dr. Kwabena's works, please visit his storefront at Lulu.com.

"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

"Oh, How Ah Love Up Mih Country"

noreply@blogger.com (Guanaguanare) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Thanks to the ubiquitous Irish priests and nuns who accompanied my passage through primary and secondary Roman Catholic schools, it was not surprising that I developed an interest in Irish music. When I first heard “Sliabh Gallion Braes” I was a teenager and very susceptible to expressions of deep passion and fidelity and also the things or events that could inspire the same. Lying on my bed in the balmy warmth of my much taken for granted tropical island, headphones cupped over my eager ears, I could lose myself for hours in songs about that other, more magical island - the Emerald Isle.

Sliabh (Pronounced “Sleeve”) Gallion Braes was just one of the many that I memorized effortlessly:

"As I went a walking one morning in May
To view yon fair valleys and mountains so gay,
I was thinking of the flowers all doomed to decay
That bloom around you, bonny, bonny Sliabh Gallion Braes."

or, The Cliffs of Doneen

"Its a nice place to be on a fine summer's day
Watching all the wild flowers that ne'er do decay
Oh the hares and lofty pheasants are plain to be seen
Making homes for their young round the cliffs of Doneen."

or, The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee

"…And then in the springtime of laughter and song
Can I ever forget the sweet hours?
With the friends of my youth as we rambled along
'Mongst the green mossy banks and wild flowers
Then too, when the evening sun's sinking to rest
Sheds its golden light over the sea
The maid with her lover the wild daisies pressed
On the banks of my own lovely Lee
The maid with her lover the wild daisies pressed
On the banks of my own lovely Lee."

Don't get me wrong, I was not sold on all things Irish. I found many of the instrumentals (reels and jigs) maddening. I found nothing in their legends and styles of dancing to which I could respond and the actual nationals with whom I interacted were not always as... ehmm... bonny as their ballads. But those songs had me by the heart, those sentimental, nostalgic, longingly and lovingly delivered songs about their native land.

Of course, what followed was the inevitable comparison. I began to pay more attention to our Trinbagonian songs, trying to find parallels. By that time, I was very familiar with songs like The National Anthem, God Bless Our Nation, Our Nation’s Dawning and Sniper’s “Portrait of Trinidad”. I don't know but I had the impression that a few of those might have been commissioned, unlike Sniper's song which I felt had sprung spontaneously from the heart of a native. There was also a beautiful song about the Bocas and the sound of a bell chiming which we were taught and I've always remembered it as a Pat Castagne composition (I may be wrong). My memory saves only these lines:

"In the air there is a chiming,
stealing far from out the West,
where the crimson sun is sinking,
o'er the mountains to its rest.
Oft at eve I hear that chiming,
solemn, silvery dying fast, dying fast
Tis as if some castle hidden
Mid these Bocas wide and vast."

I could be completely wrong about this song and maybe the word Bocas is not even in there. I have a history of hearing wrong words and rewriting songs. If anyone has the lyrics or more information about the song, I'd be very grateful if you would share.

As time went by, more songs in the "catalogue" style of Portrait and Index of A Nation began to appear. These did not touch me. Listings of natural resources and especially with that tinge of betty goatee triumph left me cold. Where was the spontaneous love of things that could not be converted into lures for tourists and foreign exchange? Where was the loving veneration?

Later on, other songs appeared extolling this love of country and I might have been mistaken but I felt that they were in direct response to a negativity which was continuing to cloud our sense of worth. Songs like Sweet T&T, I Love My Country, Nah Leaving, Sailing seemed to me to be a reaction to those who thought the opposite. There was a uneasy tension underlying all these songs (maybe the tension was only in my own head) and I found them too predictable. What I was hoping to find were songs which were being produced without the need to prove something, songs which are not in reaction to some threat or created as nostalgic embellishments to exile.

I am not even going to include the "in-time-for-Carnival-Trinidad-is-de bes-place-in-de-world-Carib-Beer-puh-yuh-han-in-de-air-callaloo-crab-roti-round-de-Savannah-Ah-home" songs. Why don’t we feel moved to compose many more songs about the warmth of our climate, about the truly beautiful faces of our people, about the tree frog, the Christmas fern, chip chip hiding in the sand? I have heard songs like these being sung by people from other countries. And so these questions led to more questions which led to more questions and I have not yet to this day answered to my satisfaction. In fact, my dissatisfaction grew even more when I discovered the songs of the Venezuelan, Luis Mariano Rivera. You could scoop the "love of place" out of those songs with a big pot spoon.

Here you find in his "Canchunchu Florido":

Canchunchú florido,(Bis)
campo de armonía, (Bis)
le trae en tus versos toda la alegría,
le trae en tus versos toda la alegría.(Bis)
Allá en nuestro campo,(Bis)
la blanca azucena, (Bis)
el aire perfuma en noche serena,
el aire perfuma en noche serena...

or, "La Cerecita"

Cerecita de mi monte
frutica sabrosa y pura,
acidito de mi cielo
y de mi tierra dulzura.
Cerecita, cerecita,
silvestre frutica mía,
eres juguito de amor
en corazón de alegría.

or, "Florecita"

Florecita yo te canto
porque florecita mía
la pureza de tu encanto
pone en mi tierra alegría
la pureza de tu encanto
pone en mi tierra alegría (Bis)
Eres luz, eres amor,
eres canto y poesía
Eres luz, eres amor,
eres canto y poesía (Bis)
Florecita de mi campo
linda florecita mía (Bis)
Florecita de mi campo
linda florecita mía.

I should mention that many of these Irish songs were being written by persons who had been forced to leave Ireland, who were now looking back and remembering with rose-tinted hindsight, the beauty of Ireland. What were our Trinbagonian emigrants writing? Were they thinking. “London is the place for me.” Or were they just happy to be in the Mother country drinking rum and "puncha crema"? These are just questions because I know very little about this subject and would like to explore it further. Do Trinbagonians abroad feel differently for Trinbago or have Trinbagonians in the main been happy to escape into "Foreign’s" embrace without a backward glance?

Like many of the Irish nationals who composed their paens after exile from their native land, I feel that some of the works of Dennyse Plummer, Andre Tanker, David Rudder, Kobo Town and Roi Kwabena are informed by this intimation of loss. I am not saying that a person has to physically leave his country before he can truly appreciate it. I am saying that the act of loving itself sensitizes the lover to the possibility of loss. When a songwriter sits in his own country and reflects deeply on the beauty around him that others might take for granted - in the common wildflower like the "Edelweiss" or Rivera's "Florecita" or Cherry's "The Dear Little Shamrock", he is appreciating its worth and it is the measure of its loss that is reflected also in the description of its treasured existence.

More recently I listened to what I assumed are original compositions by Los Tocadores. If I am wrong then I will be very disappointed but their songs "La Vida Es Buena" and "Gente Del Caribe" convey very gently without too much protestation or in-your-face boasting, a sense of well-being and contentment with place and people.

I want to talk about the artists who have produced some of the songs/poems which come closest in sincerity and purity to distilling and expressing some of what constitutes the essence of Trinidad and Tobago. It may be that I am biased in associating sincerity with gentleness. It could also be that I am not very receptive to these declarations of love and pride when they are blared out with driving beats in shouting soca. Perhaps it is a symptom of my cultural brainwashing that I have this notion of a right way to present emotions and experiences and that these should be reflected upon with a sensitivity and reverence before being offered to us and the world as public expressions or what our country means to us.

What does this all mean? Well, as an impressionable youngster, after exposure to the Irish emigrant’s poetic and nostalgaic laments, I came to the conclusion that either Trinbagonians were not capable of such love, or, that there was nothing here in T&T that could inspire such love. I've known for a very long time now that neither is true.

If you feel moved to share with me the Trinbagonian songs which you feel have attempted to work through and express a sincere love of homeland, I'd be very happy to receive your submissions. Many of them have probably already been posted on this blog but together, we can compile a more comprehensive listing and discuss this topic further in the future.

"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