Issue 77 (January/February 2006)

We meet some of the young performers shaping the sounds and rhythms of Trinidadian popular music today; look at the groundbreaking work of artist Irenee Shaw; hear about the history of Guyana’s Karanambo ranch; plus all our regular departments and a whole lot more.

Culture

By Lisa Allen-Agostini

Wining words: a Trinidad Carnival wining dictionary | Classic | Last word

Carnival time — get ready to wine. Lisa Allen-Agostini offers a vocabulary lesson. Originally published in 2006, this Beat classic was reproduced in the January/February 2019 issue

Culture

Diane McTurk. Photograph by Abigail Hadeed

By Philip Sander

Diane McTurk: “Karanambo was twice accursed”

Diane McTurk, doyenne of Guyana’s Rupununi Savannah, on the founding of her family’s ranch, the old balata industry, and the legends of Karanambo

Culture

By Richard Costas

Fuelling growth

“Oil is the lifeblood of our world,” says Richard Costas, and furthermore the Caribbean’s mass tourism isn’t possible without fuel. A look at how rising oil prices affect island economies

Culture

By James Ferguson

Doctor say: Eric Williams’ history lessons

Eric Williams’s history From Columbus to Castro is 35 years old, but James Ferguson says its insights and lessons are still fresh

Culture

By Garry Steckles

St Kitts: Small island, big music

Garry Steckles is already looking forward to the highlight of his musical year, the St Kitts Music Festival

Culture

By Mark Meredith

Volcano is boss: Montserrat after the Soufrière Hills eruption

When the Soufrière Hills Volcano erupted in July 1995, the people of Montserrat didn’t know their whole way of life was about to change forever. A decade later, Mark Meredith visits Montserrat and finds a still-rumbling mountain, an island rebuilding itself- and volcano tourism

Culture

Alison Hinds. Photograph by Andrea De Silva

By Robert Edison Sandiford

Alison Hinds: on her own, and on a roll

Bajan soca superstar Alison Hinds is flying solo — but not going it alone

Literature

By Lisa Allen-Agostini, Jeremy Taylor and Edward Baugh

Caribbean bookshelf – January/February 2006

Classic poetry by Cuban Nicolás Guillén and Martiniquan Édouard Glissant, and new novels by Jamaican Marlon James and Trinidadian Rabindranath Maharaj

Music

By Various Contributors

Rhythm roundup (January/February 2006)

New albums by Trinidad’s Orange Sky and jointpop, Jamaica’s Maytals, Sean Paul, and Sizzla, and the latest from Cuba and Curaçao

Culture

Puerto Rican percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo at the 2005 Barbados Jazz Festival. Photograph by Andrea De Silva

By Lisa Allen-Agostini

Riffing in Barbados

The Barbados Jazz Festival brings cool rhythms and hot performers to laid-back Bimshire

Music

Quweina Roberts, sitting, and Conrad Parris in the Indiana State production of Lucky Diamond. Photograph by Jeffery Chock

By Tracy Assing

Tonight at the Diamond: David Rudder & Tony Hall’s Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club

David Rudder’s play-in-a-song “The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club” brings old-time Port of Spain back to life on stage

Arts and Architecture

Maroon Mandala, by and courtesy Charles Campbell

By Various Contributors

Art Buzz (January/Febraury 2006)

Jamaica’s National Gallery looks at new artists through the Curator’s Eye • Che Lovelace explores the mysteries of Carnival and freedom

Culture

By Kellie Magnus

Going the distance

Run, swim, cycle: endurance events like the triathlon and the marathon are taking off across the Caribbean

Festivals and Events

By Caribbean Beat

Island hopper – Janurary/February 2006

What’s happening in the Caribbean in January and February, and where

Culture

By Various Contributors

Butter must come

Does anyone still churn butter at home? How about Anu Lakhan? • Plus Debbie Jacob on the delights of roadside peanuts, and much more...

Arts and Architecture

Irénée Shaw. Photograph by Michelle Jorsling

By Annie Paul

Irénée Shaw: gazing at herself

What should Caribbean art look like? Trinidadian artist Irénée Shaw defies convention with her masterful — and often nude — self-portraits, which argue that all art should start from the personal, says Annie Paul

Culture

Machel Montano. Photograph by Mark Lyndersay

By Various Contributors

New wave of Trinidad music

The rhythm of Trinidad Carnival is always changing. The sounds of today — loud, fast, saucy — are rooted in the past, but reflect life as it is in 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Beat looks at four major trends in today's music - rapso, chutney, ragga soca, and "groovy soca"- and some of the artists riding this musical wave

Issue 77 (January/February 2006)

Subscribe to our newsletter