– ‘Guyana Night’ at CARIFESTA XIV showcases the country’s diverse culture through its festivals and observances

THE ‘Guyana Night’ feature of CARIFESTA XIV was a compact performance that showcased Guyana’s diverse culture by presenting some of the country’s festivals and observances on Sunday Night at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Trinidad and Tobago.

Suitably named “Guyana: A Year in a Day”, the performance presented a chronological sequence of those Guyanese holidays observed throughout the year.

The diverse culture of the country’s many ethnic groups was what underpinned the entire performance, which sought to show that there may be many different people in Guyana, but they all come together as one.

In fact, member of the National Drama Company, Keon Heywood, who was the orator that strung the entire performance together, highlighted: “All ah we does celebrate in unity.”
The performance began with a rendition of the National Anthem and one of Guyana’s National songs, Oh Beautiful Guyana. That was simply a euphonious introduction to the actual performance that would come right after.

‘Big Red’, with her powerful voice singing folk tunes, made her way into the Stabroek square on Trinidad’s Savannah Grand stage. She was soon met by a newspaper vendor plying her trade, belting: “Guyana is the #1 Eco-Tourism destination in the World” and “Exxon strikes more oil offshore”. More persons came on stage in this manner, re-enacting the everyday hustle and bustle at the Stabroek. It was only after all of the actors had made their way on stage, and the National Dance Company whetted the audience’s appetites with a short dance, did Heywood take to the stage and carried the spectators on a year-long journey in Guyana.

The performances went from New Year’s to Mashramani, Phagwah to Easter, Emancipation to Indigenous People’s Heritage month, and then from Eid to Diwali before finally ending at Christmas time. Each observance was backed with their own little dramatization, dance, song or a combination of those genres.

As the performance winded down at Christmas time, members of the National Steel Orchestra played Slingshot’s Christmas in Guyana, which was a melodious but gentle precursor to energetic masqueraders that followed. The drums and the energy of the masqueraders were enough to get patrons clapping their hands and tapping their feet, but it was local designer, Maxi Wiliams, who stole their attention. Maxi came out as a ‘tall man’ with the masqueraders, and as he towered over everyone else, his elaborately designed costume replicating the Golden Arrowhead added that finesse and touch of class to the Stabroek Market kaleidoscope. That year-long performance culminated with another dance from the National Dance Company. They danced to Vanilla’s ‘One Voice’ which served to reaffirm the social cohesion message of the Guyana Night performance.