Beauty and the Beast | Panorama By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) T&T Carnival may be the world’s greatest street party, but among the glamourous bikini bands and shimmering sequins, some traditional masquerades offer a defiant take on the darker side of our history
Dennery Style | Backstory By Laura Dowrich-Phillips | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) If you have ears to listen at Carnival time, you’ve heard Dennery Segment, even if you don’t know the name. Laura Dowrich explores the roots of the soca genre originating in a small village in St Lucia
The Mighty Shadow | Icon By Attillah Springer | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) Attillah Springer writes a letter to T&T’s late calypsonian-philosopher
Adam Patterson: barbed beauty | Closeup By Shereen Ali | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) For Barbadian artist Adam Patterson, masquerade and performance are mediums for challenging Caribbean stereotypes, writes Shereen Ann Ali
Claire Adam: “I’ve always felt, ask me where I’m from!” | Own words By Nicholas Laughlin | Issue 155 (January/February 2019) Claire Adam, Trinidad-born novelist, on learning to observe, the usefulness of honest criticism, and the notion of “home” — as told to Nicholas Laughlin
The inimitable Grace Jones | Backstory By Nazma Muller | Issue 154 (November/December 2018) She’s an instantly recognisable icon of music and fashion, with a forty-year career in the limelight. And the inimitable Grace Jones is Jamaican to the core, says Nazma Muller
Kevin Jared Hosein: a writer with a plan | Closeup By Shivanee Ramlochan | Issue 154 (November/December 2018) His recent win of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize affirms that Kevin Jared Hosein is a rising literary star. But his success didn’t come from nowhere, Shivanee Ramlochan discovers — rather, it’s the achievent of a patient devotion to writing, despite the odds
Jeanine De Bique: “It doesn’t matter where you come from” | Own words By Caroline Taylor | Issue 154 (November/December 2018) Jeanine De Bique, Trinidad-born classical singer, on the influence of her upbringing, and why Trinis “could do anything” — as told to Caroline Taylor
Remembering Windrush By Caribbean Beat | Issue 153 (September/October 2018) When the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in 1948, its West Indian passengers didn’t know their arrival would become a historical watershed. A new exhibition at the British Library explains how the Windrush generation changed Britain for good
Michele Henderson: “I woke up with an entire song in my head” By Paul Crask | Issue 153 (September/October 2018) Singer-songwriter Michele Henderson, performing at October’s World Creole Music Festival, on her musical childhood and her transition to the international stage — as told to Paul Crask, at her home in Grand Bay, Dominica
Turn of the tide | Panorama By Caribbean Beat | Issue 152 (July/August 2018) A new exhibition of contemporary artists explores the “submarine” links among the islands of the Caribbean archipelago. A portfolio of artworks from Relational Undercurrents, now on view in New York City
Nailah Blackman: welcome to the evolution | Snapshot By Laura Dowrich-Phillips | Issue 152 (July/August 2018) With music in her bloodline, T&T’s Nailah Blackman was almost destined for a career behind the microphone. She was the breakthrough performer of Carnival 2017, still a teenager — but, as she tells Laura Dowrich-Phillips, her ambitions go beyond soca, to another stage of musical evolution
Tessa Mars: full free | Closeup By Shereen Ali | Issue 151 (May/June 2018) Haitian artist Tessa Mars is influenced by her country’s revolutionary history as much as her own family’s intellectual tradition, and her lifelong fascination with riddles. Her colourful paintings often feature a semi-autobiographical character named Tessalines — and deal in complex ideas about identity and freedom. Shereen Ali finds out more
FIFA World Cup: Caribbean footballers by proxy | Snapshot By James Ferguson | Issue 151 (May/June 2018) For sports fans around the world, the arrival of June means the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. No Caribbean team qualified this year, James Ferguson writes, but that doesn’t mean our region won’t be represented
Port of Spain: the story of a city | Backstory By Judy Raymond | Issue 151 (May/June 2018) A childhood encounter with a touring steelband began Stephen Stuempfle’s connection with Trinidad. Now the US scholar has written an illuminating history of Port of Spain in the era before Independence. As Judy Raymond learns, Stuempfle’s research has only deepened his love for T&T’s capital
André Alexis: the puzzle of “home” | Closeup By Donna Yawching | Issue 150 (March/April 2018) Born in Trinidad, brought up in Canada, writer André Alexis is a “Nowherian” — and that complicated identity, along with his passion for exploring big ideas, drives his philosophical and deeply literary novels. A recent string of awards has raised his international profile, but as Donna Yawching learns, it was no overnight success for one of the most original writers in both Caribbean and Canadian literature
Skip Marley: “I’m not trying to fill his shoes” | Own words By Nazma Muller | Issue 150 (March/April 2018) Twenty-one-year-old Skip Marley, grandson of the legendary Bob, on growing up in Jamaica’s musical royal family, his hopes for stardom, and the message of his songs, for his own and every other generation — as told to Nazma Muller
Miriam | Showcase By Michelene Adams | Issue 150 (March/April 2018) “Every Saturday is the same story.” A tale of a woman and her four persistent suitors — fiction by Michelene Adams
Winston Duke: “I’m unfinished” | Own words By Caroline Taylor | Issue 149 (January/February 2018) Tobago-born actor Winston Duke, appearing in the eagerly awaited Black Panther movie, on his love of stories and magical realism, how his village childhood shaped his ethos, and his love of soca music — as told to Caroline Taylor
Ten for the Road By Caribbean Beat, Philip Sander and Attillah Springer | Issue 149 (January/February 2018) Of the eighty-plus songs that have won the official Road March title, some are little remembered, some have become “back-in-times” favourites, and a few are considered landmarks — whether for their musical qualities or for trends they ushered in. Here are all the recorded Road March winners up to 2017 — and our picks for an all-time Road March top ten
Walk tall, moko jumbie | Closeup By Ray Funk | Issue 149 (January/February 2018) It’s one of the oldest masquerades in T&T’s Carnival, brought across the Atlantic from West Africa. The moko jumbie tradition once seemed to be dying away, but in recent years a handful of enthusiasts have created a moko jumbie revival, training hundreds of young people in the art of stilt-walking. Ray Funk investigates, and explains the power of these towering figures
How to win the road (march) | Backstory By Mark Lyndersay | Issue 149 (January/February 2018) T&T’s Carnival is full of rivalries and competitions, and none is more fierce than the annual Road March battle. Mark Lyndersay traces the history of the musical title that reflects the will of masqueraders on the street — and we dare to share our picks for the top ten Road March songs from the 1930s to the present day
