Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Carnival, Trinidad and Tobago | Wish you were here (Jan/Feb 2019)

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Postcards from the Caribbean’s most extraordinary places

In the lead-up to Carnival, one of the best places to experience T&T’s mas traditions is The Old Yard, a popular performance showcase hosted annually by the University of the West Indies’ Department of Creative and Festival Arts. There you'll find Midnight Robbers, fancy sailors, Dame Lorraines, and enough troops of devils to set your heart racing with their bloodcurdling cries and menacing dance — like these young members of the Jab-A-Mien devil band. Photo by Jason Audain

Need to know | Events calendar (Jan/Feb 2019)

By David Katz and Shelly-Ann Inniss | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Essential info to help you make the most of January and February across the Caribbean — from jazz in Haiti to reggae month in Jamaica to a film festival in Barbados

Warpaint and feathers: a traditional fancy Indian, one of the characteristic masquerades of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. Photo by Jason Audain

Bookshelf (Jan/Feb 2019) | Book reviews

By Shivanee Ramlochan | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

This month’s reading picks, with reviews of High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture; Giant; Black Dogs and the Colour Yellow; A View of the Empire at Sunset; and Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean

Playlist (Jan/Feb 2019) | Music reviews

By Nigel Campbell | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

This month’s listening picks, with reviews of the latest by Keba; 5OH8 + KVL; and Tebby

Q&A with Ian Harnarine | Screenshots (Jan/Feb 2019)

By Jonathan Ali | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Filmmaker Ian Harnarine talks about his new short, Caroni

Coco Loco | Cookup

By Franka Philip | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

A longtime traditional ingredient in Caribbean cuisine, coconut is enjoying a new popularity, thanks to health trends. Franka Philip considers the potential for culinary innovations. Coconut flour, anyone? Coconut vinegar?

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

The young revellers of Kiddies’ Carnival portray some of the festival’s most elaborate visual fantasies with innocent enthusiasm. Photo by Jason Audain

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

Lashley “Motto” Winter. Photo courtesy Motto

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

Buchibushi, a performance work by Adam Patterson (2018, Oranjestad, Aruba). Photo by Sharelly Emanuelson, courtesy Adam Patterson

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

Photo by Tricia Keracher-Summerfield, courtesy Claire Adam

All about blue | Round trip

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Is any colour more distinctive of the Caribbean? Take a tour of the region through our many hues and shades of blue

Dean’s Blue Hole, the Bahamas The limestone landscape of Long Island is dotted with caves and sinkholes, eroded over many centuries — the latter forming distinctive “blue holes,” flooded with fresh or sea water, almost perfectly circular, and eerily deep. Most impressive of all is Dean’s Blue Hole, in a bay west of Clarence Town, with a depth measured at 663 feet — the perfect location for the celebrated Vertical Blue freediving competition, running annually since 2008. Photo by Shane Pinder / Alamy Stock Photo

Road Town, Tortola | Neighbourhood

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

A year and a half after the devastation of Hurricane Irma, the capital of the British Virgin Islands is back in the business of welcoming visitors

Photo by Danita Delimont / Alamy Stock Photo

Little Tobago | Bucket list

By Caribbean Beat | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

A wildlife sanctuary off Tobago’s northeast coast, this tiny island has an unlikely history — and numerous seabirds

Little Tobago in the distance, behind Goat Island, off Tobago’s northeast coast. Photo by courtesy the Tobago House of Assembly

The plastic wars | Green

By Erline Andrews | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Plastic pollution is a growing danger to the environment, to wildlife, and to ourselves. As Jamaica implements the first major plastics ban in the Caribbean, Erline Andrews learns about its possible impact — and pitfalls

Washed into the ocean, plastic bags can be mistaken by sea turtles for jellyfish, part of their regular diet. Photo by Rich Carey / Shutterstock.com

Saved by microbes | Discover

By Raymond Ramcharitar | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Trinidadian microbiologist Adesh Ramsubhag is a pioneer in researching potentially revolutionary uses of the Caribbean’s native microorganisms, writes Raymond Ramcharitar

“Papa Doc” Duvalier: When the bogeyman is real | On this day

By James Ferguson | Issue 155 (January/February 2019)

Sixty years ago, Haitian dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier set up a fearsome paramilitary corps to dispatch political opposition. James Ferguson looks back at the sinister history of the Tontons Macoutes