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Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Ballet dancers perform at the “Culture Pot” event. Photo by Nelson A. King
Caribbean Life, A BQ ug. 16-23, 2019 33
By Nelson A. King
Vincentian and other Caribbean
nationals on Saturday joined members
of the Garifuna Diaspora in
New York in participating in the
annual “Culture Pot” hosted by the
Brooklyn-based Garifuna Indigenous
People of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Inc. (GIPSVG) at the Friends
of Crown Heights Educational Center
in Brooklyn.
Patrons feasted on and drank local
Vincentian food and drinks, purchased
handicrafts, swayed to rhythmic
Garifuna drumming and singing,
and danced to Garifuna music.
The drumming and singing were
provided primarily by the Bronxbased
Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna
Ballet, whose members are predominantly
natives of Honduras.
“GIPSVG’s ‘Culture Pot’ is not your
typical summer barbecue event,”
GIPSVG president Marsena Ballantyne
told Caribbean Life. “It’s an
event aimed at promoting our Garifuna
heritage and the flavors of
Yurumein (the Garifuna name for St.
Vincent and the Grenadines).
“It involves a lot of preparation
and hard work,” she added. “But,
being the indigenous people of St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, we try
to harness our ingenuity and provide
our audience with authentic Vincentian
food, drink, handicraft, etc.”
Items on sale included cassava
bread and madungo dumplings, prepared
on the spot, as well as roast
breadfruit, fried fish, saltfish, smoked
herring, tri-tri cake, dukuna, sweet
Continued on Page 34
Jalyne Jones portrays “Corals of the
Undersea”, designed by Trinidadian
Skye, of Elegant Chaos.
Photo by Nelson A. King
By Nelson A. King
The newly-formed Syrai Carnival
Creations will be “Submerged under
the Sea” this Labor Day.
“I was motivated by Halle Bailey,
who is casting as Ariel in ‘The Little
Mermaid,’” said band leader, Andrina
Alexander, who founded Syrai Carnival
Creations just this summer, in an exclusive
Caribbean Life interview.
“It was abundantly clear that Halle
possesses that rare combination of
Continued on Page 34
By Nelson A. King
Grenadian-born Derek Noel, the
co-band leader of the Brooklyn-based
Resilience Mas, plans to make a “Crazy
Mess” with the band’s presentation in
this year’s West Indian American Day
Carnival Parade on Brooklyn’s Eastern
Parkway.
“The concept is to celebrate the resilience
of the Dominican people who
suffered a devastating hurricane in
September 2017,” Noel told Caribbean
Life in an exclusive interview Monday
night. “Our costumes are designed to
reflect the support we received from the
entire Caribbean and south and Central
America.”
Noel, who with Hillary Thomas and
Curtis Jn-Baptist, produces “Crazy
Mess,” said about 500 masqueraders,
Continued on Page 34
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Syrai Carnival
Creations
‘Crazy Mess’
CULTURE
POT
Garifuna Diaspora keeps culture alive
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