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| Participants and facilitators pose after music workshop. |
Basseterre, St. Kitts (February 12, 2007): Persons from the Department of Culture joined cultural practitioners on Saturday to learn the many facets of musical accompaniment for the Masquerade.
A twelve-member party from St. Kitts journeyed to Nevis on Saturday for a half-day interactive session with veterans Joseph Brandy (kettle drummer), Ashton Freeman (bass drummer) and David Freeman (fifer). They reviewed the mechanics of music that accompanies the six dances of the Masquerade.
The session was organized by Ava Lorna Henry, Dance Specialist in the Department of Culture (St. Kitts). She told SKNIS that the workshop was part of her ministry's quest to ensure folk form and traditional music is carried on. Musicians from the Williams, Valon and Home Boys Masquerade Troupes as well as the Okolo Tegremantine Arts Theater participated in the forum. Ms. Henry, Music Specialist Nigel Williams and Drumming Specialist Royd Phipps also took part in the session.~~adz:Right~~
"This cultural exchange was very rewarding, particularly for the young fifers Tyrone Hutchinson and Askeo Farrell," Henry told SKNIS. She added that it was important for her colleagues to participate in order to share the techniques with locals on St. Kitts.
Ms. Henry also expressed profound appreciation to Antonio 'Abbernaty' Liburd, Chesly Davis (Nevis' Director of Culture) and Halstead Byron, Special Advisor to the Minister of Social Transformation (Nevis) for their assistance in coordinating the workshop.
The initiative is also testament to the efforts of greater collaboration between public and private sector agencies on St. Kitts and Nevis.
