– the festival’s grandeur as witnessed by Francis Quamina Farrier

By Ravina Gildharie
WHEN Guyana staged the first Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) in 1972, Francis Quamina Farrier was a young film producer recruited to capture in motion picture, the cultural splendour. Seven years later, he journeyed to Spanish-speaking Cuba as part of Guyana’s delegation at Carifesta 1979. But, it was at Carifesta 2000, when the cultural icon got the chance to lead and direct his country’s artistic spectacle on stage in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Preserved in his mind like on a reel of film, Farrier harbours a deep connection to the 45-year-old festival, which will have its 13th showing in Barbados next month.
“Drumming was one of the main features of Guyana’s performance at Carifesta that year in St. Kitts…and when the drummers took to the stage, we had a fusion of African, Indian and Amerindian drummers,” Farrier recalled of Carifesta VII.
“Imagine the show,” he posited, as he explained how the drummers represented each cultural group with their traditional instruments and with which they continuously exchanged during the performance, in sync and undisrupted.

“So, at the start if we had African drummers beating African drums and Indian drummers using their drums, we had at the end, the Indians beating the African drums, and the Africans were using the Amerindian drums…man, it was just beautiful,” said Farrier, a veteran journalist and man of many talents including script-writing, film production.
Back in 2000, Farrier had already retired and said he was surprised when then Culture Minister Gail Teixeira asked him to lead Guyana’s 25-man delegation at Carifesta VII.

The Guyanese showcase included a choreographed dance to ‘Beautiful Guyana’ performed by Jerusha De Santos, ‘Old Higue’ portrayed by Lavern Fredericks, ‘Dance of the Peoples’ with several traditional indigenous dancers and Farrier’s song, ‘Me Caffee in the Marning.’
As Guyana’s Carifesta VII Coordinator, Farrier was heartened by the audience’s reception in

St. Kitts and the Guyana delegation was also invited to perform in Nevis.

“For the closing ceremony, we had all of the Guyanese performers on stage in a Masquerade-style show with Dave Martins, who had just released ‘Guyana Coming Back’ and we were all there dancing and the Guyanese in the audience jumped to their feet and started dancing too. We knew they were Guyanese because they were singing ‘Guyana Coming Back’ and some were waving Guyana Flags. We had a ball,” Farrier reminisced, with Carifesta VII forever etched in his mind alongside memories of the 1972 and 1979 festivals.

‘World of the Caribbean’
During the first Carifesta, staged in Guyana during August 1972, Farrier was among a group of talented local film makers who produced a documentary titled ‘World of the Caribbean’ and which captured the entire regional cultural experience before, during and after the festival. At the time, Farrier was employed with the Ministry of Education and Information.

The one-hour documentary included features of each participating country as some of the Guyanese producers travelled to various states to capture content for the film, under the direction of Brian Stuart-Younge. There were dozens of cameramen too.
Noting that “Guyana had a lot of money then and there was a big, big budget for Carifesta,” Farrier said there were three film teams and each was allocated its own Land Rover vehicle and facilitated on travels countrywide, including via Guyana Airways, to produce the documentary.

“From Mabaruma, to Pomeroon, to Crabwood Creek, Bartica and Aishalton in the deep South Rupununi, we were able to get to the most remote parts of the interior,” Farrier indicated. The films compiled in Guyana were subsequently sent to England to be manually edited and the documentary was released during the latter part of 1972.
“There has never been a Carifesta more grand than 1972,” expressed Farrier, noting that “No Caribbean country was left out of the first Carifesta. Plus, we had people from all over Latin America; Belize, Columbia, Cuba and Brazil…There were spectators from Africa, Asia and even a small group that participated from New Orleans.”

Through the eyes of a now senior Farrier, the festival’s opening ceremony at the National Park was nothing short of magnificent with a gigantic crowd, as the late Prime Minister Forbes Burnham ensured citizens were brought from across the country to witness the show in Georgetown. There were visitors from the diaspora too.
Some members of the audience along with regional and international participants were accommodated in Festival City, developed specifically for Carifesta 1972.

Cultural highlights
Reflecting on the performances as if it were yesterday, Farrier highlighted the showings of The Woodside Choir, the National Dance Company, Nappi Amerindian Dancers and the Masquerade Band of Boysie Sage.
“I remember Boysie Sage from the West Bank Demerara, the best stilt dancer I’ve ever seen to this day. He would dance on one stilt and pick up a tricycle and a child and continue to dance,” said Farrier.

He pointed out the presentation of Lavina Williams, a U.S.-born citizen who adopted Haiti as her home. After Carifesta 1972, she returned to Guyana and pioneered establishment of the Guyana National School of Dance the following year. The Dance School has since participated in Carifesta across the region, including 1979, when it was held in Cuba.

Farrier was an administrator for the Guyanese participants that year, and noted that since the festival was in a Spanish- speaking country, Guyana showcased only the visual arts with songs, dances, skits and fashion. Performing alongside the best of the Caribbean entertainers, actors, dancers and singers, the Guyanese again pulled off a grand show that was well received by many including the late Cuban President Fidel Castro, who personally congratulated the Guyanese.