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He describes the situation as a “grumbling volcano”.
And he has also prescribed a role for Carnival in the changing process.
“Although Carnival has become a shadow of its real meaning,
this festival is still a theatre without walls and has a distinct
social and political potential, even though controlled by the bandleader’s
frivolous messages through the masquerade,” said Watts.
“Having fallen into the hands of the bourgeois, Carnival has
lost its character as a source of resistance and has more or less
become a mere reflection of bohemian culture.
“The modern version of the celebration is a fusion of the
Trinidad French Creole Mardi Gras and the Afro Creole working class
procession.”
He added: “Much has been written on Canboulay and one should
be careful with the responsibility of explaining it.
“In French patois it means burning cane that came to later
be associated with celebrations by the former slaves to mark the
observance of the end of slavery now known as Emancipation Day.
“The Mardi Gras on the other hand was a European version of
Carnival, dating back to early Greece.
“Today the Mardi Gras underscores the Trinidad Carnival’s
competition that has been converted from the culture of resistance
to that of near passivity.
“Stick fighting was the highlight of Canboulay as African
people felt it necessary to protect the honour of their village
with a king.
“The accompanying music and rhythm of the Kalinda or lavuile
is the soul of the ‘Carnaval’ and is a forerunner of
Kaiso or Calypso, Tamboo Bamboo and the steelband.
“Kalinda and the ‘Gayel’ or stick fighting ring
go together and though some folklorists tend to portray it as folk
art, it is, in fact, a traditional artform.
“The Kalinda is the battle hymn of the rebellious poor.
“Because of its rural working class character, Kalinda is
still looked upon as undignifed and suffers from similar negative
attitudes comparable to that which the steelbands and Calypso experienced
in their early development.
“True to form, the middle class bandleaders have commercialised
and pacified this great street theatre almost in its entirety with
vagueness, personal power abstractions and narcissism.”
Watts suggested: “Institutions such as the Best Village Folk
Theatre, the Steelbands, the Centre for Developing Arts, the field
of journalism and Carnival or street theatre can act as cultural
conduits to transfer knowledge in favour of revolution and freedom
from protectorate status and poverty and debt.”
He continued: “The attainment of a high level of political
consciousness would incorporate the masses into combating misinformation
and would strengthen their resolve against capitalist ideas.
“The steelband movement could act as the bedrock for such
a struggle and has a lot to offer the population in terms of discipline,
theory, organisation, history and revolutionary struggle.
“It must be remembered that the steel orchestras represent
the players, tuners, arrangers, as we know them today, who were
born from the struggle against poverty.
“People such as Ellie Mannette, George Goddard, Emanuel Riley,
Spree Simon, Oscar Pile, the Bonaparte brothers, Tony Williams,
Theo Stevens and the Hart brothers, to name just a few, were all
from the poor working-class.
“Curtis Pierre, Hamil Achim, Kimloy Wong and Junior Puchette
constitute an important fraction of a list that travels into infinity.
“The time for the wedding of the steelbands to a liberation
movement, supported by the trade unions, the Kalinda and the laveuile
with nurses and teachers and dockworkers, sugar and oil workers
and others will not come too soon.
“Teaching people how to broaden their creativity, similar
to the artform that emanated from the 45 gallon oil drum and the
steelband, can create fertile space to maneuver in the modest origins
of the grass roots.
“The pan would play just as important a role and become an
important part of a revolutionary organisation as was done in the
days of Cannes Brueeles and tamboo bamboo, the precursor of the
modern steel orchestra.”
He added: “From the Kalinda or laveuile came the Calypso,
and from the rhythm of the combination of the boullah, the foullah
and the cutter came the steelband rhythm.
“What these artforms have most in common was that they were
all working class and like the Calypsonian, the steelband, the stickman
and Kalinda Chanteule for a long while experienced social ostracism.
“The fear of socialism today is the same as when the bravery
of the stickman and the drums and the Kalinda unnerved the ruling
classes because of the resistance symbolised in both the Kalinda
and the drums.
“That was to be expected because after all, the whole of Port
of Spain were wooden structures, the flambeaux were ablaze and there
was always enough reason to settle political scores with the Planter
class.
“Funny enough, Port of Spain was razed many times but it was
not by the Canboulay.
“In 1881, considering what the Whites had done to the people
of Colour, one could understand the apprehension that they would
have derived form this cause for cultural mistrust.
“Today, the steelband has become the corner stone of the nation
and can serve as a vehicle for revolution because of its very existence
in a constant revolutionary process in music, yet we remember the
days when to play pan was unsociable to do.
“Thanks to the organised relationship between the steelband
members and the tuners, the arrangers, the captains and vice-captains,
the secretary and the treasurers etc. for giving us a better understanding
of how to maintain the movement as a revolutionary arm of the working
class.
“The steelband has become a tax shelter for the business community
and it is in this culture that it will develop in the future; from
his stand point the future does not appear to be totally dependent
on hand-outs from the business community.”
He noted: “Many steelbands have disappeared, leaving only
those with deep roots in their community like All Stars, Invaders,
Tokyo and Desperadoes, just to name a few revolutionary bands.
“To win the confidence of the working class, one could learn
from the tedious struggle of the conscious steelband tuners and
arrangers and trade union leaders.
“These workers can act as vehicles to train the people in
the theory of revolution.”
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