Arts on Sunday

Rooplall Monar (Peepal Tree Press photo)
Rooplall Monar (Peepal Tree Press photo)

Interrogating plantation class structure in literature

Cent and Jill By Rooplall Monar Every time Christmas season approaching me does always remember one particular Friday gone back when me was a small boy going to estate two-storey white, red and colour pay office.

Whither Guyanese poetry?

pas de deux + UN               Breathe Stretch Contract Tips’ tingle as limbs Imitate the struggle From within Hands meet as Hearts Tremble, ever-evolving Our pairing Minds reach as bodies Open beyond limits We move Swept, we tremble as energies mingle Our life extended From within – Ayanna Waddell   mask   countenance set calm sits beneath still.

A Christmas masquerade band (Stabroek News file photo)

Christmas origins, traditions and myth

The festival of Christmas is usually celebrated or revered as sacred, but it is also a cultural phenomenon, particularly in the Caribbean, with history, sociology, structure and impact.

Schoolchildren performing at the National Drama Festival in 2016 (SN file photo)

Benefits of drama in secondary education

One of the subjects of study developed by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that has been slowly gaining ground is Drama, which is offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level as Theatre Arts and at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level as a part of the Performing Arts.

A scene from Woman-in-Law, a play written by Professor Ken Danns, directed by Sonia Yarde and presented at the National Drama Festival 2017 in the Open Full Length Category (Photo: NDF/Facebook)

Gun violence on stage is art mirroring society

St Lucian poet, editor and librarian John Robert Lee uses a continuing email thread to disseminate information about the arts in the Caribbean and, very importantly, sustain a dialogue among the range of West Indian writers, dramatists, artists, and critics.

Cheddi Jagan

Reminiscences of Cheddi Jagan

Cane · You were born of cane Not as the planters hoped – Barefooted, beggardly of mind – But hugely wise, a soul blown high By the incensed breath Of a cankered slave: Cane made you a vision of mankind.

Intricate Rangolis and lit diyas symbolise Diwali

In honour of Diwali

Sita and Jatayu                                      It was Jatayu who tried to pursue Rawan to save Sita, his treasured King’s wife, as she prayed to her Rama to free her from Rawan’s clutch, squeezing tight her spleen.

WB Yeats

Defining beautiful and enduring poetry

Among School Children                  I I walk through the long schoolroom questioning; A kind old nun in a white hood replies; The children learn to cipher and to sing, To study reading-books and history, To cut and sew, be neat in everything In the best modern way—the children’s eyes In momentary wonder stare upon A sixty-year-old smiling public man.

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Celebrating poet Linton Kwesi Johnson

Bass Culture                               (for Big Yout)   1 muzik of blood black reared pain rooted heart geared all tensed up in di bubbe an di bounce an di leap an di weight drop it is di beat of di heart this pulsing of blood that is a bubblin bass a bad bad beat pushin against di wall whey bar black blood an is a whole heappa passion a gather like a frightful form like a righteous harm giving off wild like is madness [.

Jean Breeze

An ode to dub poetry pioneer Jean Binta Breeze

Riddym Ravings (the mad woman’s poem) De fus time dem kar me go a Bellevue was fi di dactar an de lanlord aperate an tek de radio outa mi head troo dem sieze the bed weh did a gi mi cancer an mek mi talk to nobady ah di same night wen dem trow mi out fi no pay de rent mi haffi sleep outa door wid de Channel One riddym box an de DJ fly up eena mi head mi hear im a play seh   Eh, Eh, No feel no way Town is a place dat ah really kean stay Dem kudda – ribbit mi han Eh – ribbit mi toe Mi waan go a country go look mango   fah wen hungry mek King St pavement bubble an dally in front a mi yeye an mi foot start wanda falla fly to de garbage pan eena de chinaman backlat dem nearly chap aff mi hand eena de butcha shap fi de piece a ratten poke ah de same time de mawga gal in front a mi drap de laas piece a ripe banana an mi – ben dung – pick i up – an nyam i a dat time dem grab mi an kar mi back a Bellevue dis time de dactar an de landlord aperate an tek de radio plug outa mi head den sen mi out, seeh mi alright but – as ah ketch back outa street ah push een back de plug an ah hear mi DJ still a play, seh   Eh, Eh, no feel no way town is a place dat ah really kean stay dem kudda – ribbit me han eh – ribbit me toe mi waan go a country go look mango [.

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