A “cultural extravaganza,” organised to highlight the rich culture of the Indigenous Peoples, is on display at the Indigenous Village at the Sophia Exhibition Centre as part of this year’s Indigenous Heritage Month activities.
Organised by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, the daily event, which will conclude tomorrow, features cultural displays by several Indigenous groups that have travelled to the capital city to participate in this year’s activities.
Dexter Glasgow, the coordinator of the event, told Stabroek News the nightly presentation is the ministry’s way of sharing the culture of the Indigenous Peoples with the rest of the country.
This year’s event will see the participation of 11 cultural groups originating from the 10 administrative regions. Glasgow revealed that it was the ministry’s aim to recruit as many groups representative of the country’s nine indigenous nations and it has managed to have representatives of seven of the nine nations.
According to Glasgow, patrons could look forward to performances from the veteran groups, like Surama and Sand Creek from Region Nine as well as newcomers like Jowalla and Parima villages in Region Seven.
Other groups include the Kwebana Culture Group from Region One, Lake Mainstay from Region Two, Kuru Kuru from Region Four, Bashville Ya Wong from Region Eight, and Kumu, Nappi, and Aishalton from Region Nine.
According to Glasgow, the ministry strives to incorporate the talents of new groups, however, there are some groups that can’t be kept away from the stage since they are always consistent in their performances and have become crowd favourites.
Glendon Allicock, of the popular Surama Culture Group, told Stabroek News that it is his passion for his culture that pushes him and his group to remain consistent in what they do.
Commenting on his group’s composition, Allicock was pleased to say it consisted mainly high school students from the area, with the youngest participant being only eight-years-old.
“Our culture and our language is our identity. Over the years, it has been a struggle for us… coming from the Rupununi, we have been so privileged to be on this year heritage celebrations again,” he said.
He also registered his appreciation of the fact that more cultural groups have joined this year’s show, saying, “I have been here for many years and this year it’s different because I saw more culture groups coming out. This is what we are looking for, new talent. I hope it continues to grow in the future.”
Meanwhile, O’delia Francis and Beverly Anderson, of the Kumu Culture Group, pointed out that although this is their first year participating in the city, displaying their culture in front of an audience is nothing strange to them since they have done several shows in neighbouring Brazil.
Others like Amedia Chambers, of the Parima Culture Group, encouraged persons to come out to see the talents of the Arecunas from her group, who she said travelled from the only village in the country where the Arecunas can be found to be a part of the activities.
In brief, Glasgow explained that patrons can look forward to experiencing a gamut of cultural presentations from the indigenous groups, inclusive of song, dance, storytelling, and skits.
The cultural extravaganza, he said, began on Thursday during the ceremonial launching of Indigenous Heritage Month and will continue until tomorrow. It begins at 7pm and admission is free of cost.
