For the third consecutive year, the Idakeda Group is educating people, opening their eyes to the history, spirituality and importance of TT Carnival, via the Kambule Spirit of Carnival Festival.
Event founder and managing director of the Idakeda Group Dara Healy, a Newsday columnist, said the festival was created to expand the education opportunities of experiencing and delving into Carnival.
“Some of our objectives include emphasising the educational aspect of Carnival in terms of showcasing young artists and sustainability within Carnival and showcasing it to a wider range of people, age groups and demographics.”
She said each year the organisation looks at a controversial or topical subject it’s necessary to address, and this year’s theme is Africa in the Carnival.
Launched on January 17 at The Shop at Lakou Wi, 12 Warner Street, Newtown, Port of Spain, the festival schedule began with a lecture and performance, and will end on March 9 with a new offering, the Hidden History of Carnival Tour. Lakou Wi is patois for We Yard.
The schedule includes Kambule school shows, stickfighting for women, lectures, mas-making workshops for both children and adults, and performances.
The main highlight of the festival is Kambule, a play written and directed by Healy’s mother, poet and playwright Eintou Pearl Springer. Idakeda and its Kambule Performing Arts Collective have been staging the play since 2004. It’s a ritual early-morning re-enactment of the 1881 Canboulay riots, at the Piccadilly Greens in East Port of Spain on Carnival Friday. This year’s performance is on February 28 at 4 am
The Canboulay riots took place between 1881 and 1884 in response to the efforts of colonial police, led by Captain Baker, to restrict certain aspects of the Carnival celebrations. Many people were injured or killed as result of the riots. Canboulay comes from the French "cannes brulees," meaning "burnt cane". It was originally a harvest festival for the enslaved Africans.
Healy’s sister Attillah Springer, also an Idakeda director and producer of Kambule, said when the cast arrived at the staging area at midnight or 1 am, they often found people already in the stands because they wanted a good seat.
[caption id="attachment_1134985" align="alignnone" width="736"] Sisters Dara Healy, left, and Attillah Springer at The Shop @Lakou.WI on Warner Street, Newstown, Port of Spain. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
She has also heard about students sleeping at their schools so they would be ready when a maxi or bus comes to pick them up to attend the performance.
“When we hear all of the different stories people have, it says to us what we’re doing has an impact.”
Healy added that TT was the only place a Carnival-related play starts at 4 am at a place where usually, people were afraid to go, yet there has never been a negative incident at the event.
“It is about reclaiming these spaces that were, historically, of oppression and resistance, and re-framing them in a particular way that tells people, ‘This is ours and we hav
