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| Flyer for Ananse Sound Splash 2013 |
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| Amina Blackwood Meeks with her peas soup |
After opening remarks by the energetic Philip Clarke, Amina
Blackwood Meeks got the evening off to a rollicking start with us all skipping
around to the born-in-the-month song. The MBCC Band gave a lively
rendition of “Evening Time”, Tashelle O’Connor entertained us with Rolling
Calf, and the drama group gave us an Ananse story.
I read an excerpt from “Flash”, my short story which won a
silver medal in the JCDC Creative Writing Contest 2010. I picked out a quarter
of it, which I hope gave the gist of the story about a boy inspired by Usain
Bolt. If you want to read the whole story, you can download it free from
Smashwords
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| Marline Stephenson Daley |
With Marline Stephenson Dalley’s side-splitting jokes, we
had our laugh and were rewarded with peas soup, made by Andrea Nelson. After Eric
Daley recited Easton Lee’s poem “My Mother”, Amina took the stage again with “Her
Story”, challenging the audience with questions about customs of bygone days. She
also plied us with riddles: “Riddle me dis, riddle me dat, guess this riddle
and perhaps not”, or “parrats snap”, as she heard it, as a child. I was
reminded of hearing the same phrase on the radio, in an advertisement for Grace
products, when I first came to Jamaica. I wondered at the time what a “parapsnat”
was! Amina rewarded those who guessed riddles correctly with pens from one of
the sponsors.
Then she introduced the guest of the evening, Kenyan storyteller
Mara Menzies. Mara maintains that stories should not be read but be told, eye
to eye, mind to mind and heart to heart. She supported her theory with demonstrations of how
to tell stories, with energy, with mime and movement, with variation in facial expression, and in
pitch and rhythm of her voice. In her first story, a noisy bird, a banana tree and
a turtle met their demise, while the little bug was able to get a good night’s
sleep. Her second story, about how the cat came to live in houses, was applauded
by all the women in the audience.
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| Mara telling a story |
The remainder of the programme consisted of more performances
by the band, another poem Eric Daley, two pieces by the Performing Arts Society,
and “Peep Inna Mi Pot” by the MBCC Choir.
This most enjoyable evening demonstrated that we don’t have
to go to technology for entertainment. A similar activity could take place in
our own homes and communities. Thanks to Philip Clarke for organizing the
event.
In attendance were Dr. Angela Samuels Harris, Principal of
MBCC with her husband, Glendon Harris, Mayor of Montego Bay, Dr. Maureen
Nelson, Vice-Principal of the college and Mrs. Barbara Nelson, recently
inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the college, for her years of service to
MBCC.
Anansi Sound Splash 2013 was endorsed by JCDC and The
Institute of Jamaica. Supporters included Scotiabank, First Global Bank, RBC,
British High Commission, The Gleaner and Irie FM. Mara Menzies was sponsored by
the British Council.
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| Mara and Amina |
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| A member of the band |
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| The MBCC Choir |
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