ISSUE 1/MAY 2014
Adam Walters may very well be the most adored of all the foreign lecturers here at the Academy for the Performing Arts. Always wearing a smile and exhibiting a willingness to help, he exudes a sincere desire to understand Trinidad and Tobago and its people. Last year he began practicing the djembe with student Shannon Lewis and can often be heard working on his technique in various corners of the campus. He has also been attending Spiritual Baptist services, visiting Orisa shrines and even participated in this year’s Panorama competition, playing tenor bass with The Neal & Massy All Stars. His commitment to earning his honorary Trini badge is evident and genuine.
An avid composer and observer, Walters had a desire to express his response to our characters of traditional mas as an outsider. More interestingly, he wanted to know how this response would resonate with locals and from this, ‘The Old Yard – Portraits of Carnival’ was born. ‘Portraits’ incorporates the poetry of literary wunderkind, Muhammad Muwakil, and the elegantly evocative photography of Maria Nunes amidst a classical sonic landscape supported by a few West Indian implements such as the steel pan, biscuit tin, whistle and djembe.
The suite starts off with ‘The Carnival Bat’, which incorporates a both jarring and majestic string arrangement summoning images of the nocturnal creature in flight. The next movement was ‘Dame Lorraine’, prefaced by a poem which would garner the most impassioned response of all of Muwakil’s clever offerings for the evening. In the piece, a female house slave was mocking her mistress, defiantly explaining to her that the master of the house had chosen to impregnate her. The composition involved the juxtaposition of the traditional Dame Lorraine motif with a European-styled waltz cleverly simulating a struggle between colonial pomp and rebellious abandon. This piece then paved the way for the magniloquence of the midnight robber, who was voiced by APA’s own Krisson Joseph.
‘The Midnight Robber’ piece, for me, represented the most controversial interpretation of the evening. The string arrangement was slow and almost tragic in feel. The steel pan melody seemed too sparse, compositionally speaking, making the pan sound almost bell like and artificial. The music was very uncharacteristic of the robber that I’d grown up revering. However when I glanced at Nunes’ ‘Robber’ images projected on the wall, the creative approach became more apparent. This was the eulogy of the Midnight Robber. Walters’ appeared to be making an observation of the static generational portrayal of the robber, possibly suggesting that if the tradition was not passed on, its demise was imminent.
‘The Moko Jumbie’ followed with an air of drama about it. The flute melody, triangle and pizzicato conjured images of hordes of the imposing, stilted character marching into Port of Spain as staccato strings signaled impending doom for the residents of the city. The final movement of the suite revolved around the blue devil. Traditional musical elements such as the biscuit tin and whistles laid the foundation for the closing piece as the taunting strings and an ominous trombone glissando tied it all together creating a menacing feel for one of our most feared traditional mas characters. Texturally speaking, the percussive elements were used to great effect but their rhythm seemed too predictable and rigid.
‘Portraits’ is a brave attempt at holding a polished mirror up to the oil, mud and madness of Trinidad Carnival. Walters, through ‘Portraits’, takes a slightly contrived and sometimes overly academic approach to representing something, which at its core, is totally transcendent of any delimitation. But what he loses in translation he makes up in honesty. The work doesn’t attempt to be Trinidadian but rather it tries to say, “This is what Trinidad looks like too a classically trained musician from North East London”. If nothing else, that honesty is what Carnival represents: the freedom to express one’s self, in any form or fashion, regardless of what society may think. STAMP! Honorary Trini Badge approved.
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UNDERSTANDING CARNIVAL
BY LAMAR POLARD