Masquerade - courtesy Bacchanal Jamaica Spring is in the air, the foliage of the tropics blooming spreading innumerable colours of Mother Nature, from trees to flowers to mango trees laden with succulent, juicy fruits sweetening in the crisp Caribbean sunshine. As the monochrome rays of the sun refract into spectral colours at the Mas Camp in Kingston, in a quiet corner, Earl 'Fuzzy' Franklin sits surrounded by glue, stapler guns, pliers and scissors - unlikely tools one may think that transform mundane, raw material into sensuous, colourful carnival costumes. "I am not a designer," Fuzzy says, "I know how to put the costumes together." Fuzzy, who has been with Bacchanal Jamaica since its inception, says that initially the costumes were bought from Trinidad. "While we were out there (in Trinidad), I would watch them (the designers) at work, and I picked up the traits," he said. "After three years, we started making our own ...
Hues of the yellow light dispersed on the hollow eyes of the Zemi, standing like a warrior enclosed in a glass frame, the large eye sockets of the mahogany figurine holds centuries of Jamaica's history buried in them. The Zemi, which were worshipped by the Taino, are part of the selection of the rich heritage housed in the Art in Jamaica, c. 1000-c. 1900 section at National Gallery of Jamaica in downtown Kingston. "These (artefacts) are priceless and (are a) deep-rooted representation of Jamaica's history," said Monique Barnett-Davidson, curatorial assistant in the education department at the National Gallery. The diversity of the exhibits - like the country's motto 'Out of Many, One People' is a confluence of cultures - commencing from the early Taino artefacts made of wood, chiselled into the early Spanish-Persian influence in limestone, dissipating on to canvas in geometrical perfection and symmetrical symphony. This artistic journey ...
Carl Lauder started working when he was a teenager and has since kept going Carl Lauder gently pulls out a record from its cover, dusts it and places it on the turntable, gently placing the needle on the groove, and lets the player turn out the sounds of music. Lauder is not a fancy disc jockey, in Randy's Record Mart in Parade, downtown Kingston - a melting pot of the city - he is striving to preserve and keep a musical tradition alive. "I have been working here (at Randy's) since I was a teenager," said Lauder, as he meticulously wiped traces of dust from an LP (long play) record. "I love what I am doing and this gives me the motivation to carry on." Lauder is a lone soldier, treading the path to keep the romance of analogue tones alive in the 21st-century digital world. Randy's is testimonial to the crests of the island's musical history. Sounds of silence: A stack of vinyl in the recording studio Established by Vincent 'Randy...
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