By Hudson George From Caribbean News Now

Carnival and emancipation celebrations in Grenada! Well as a Grenadian myself, I think the both celebrations are good. And not to forget the Big Drum Festival in Carriacou and Petite Martinique too. For sure, August is the month when residents of Carriacou and Petite Martinique gather together to pay respect towards their ancestors and spend time with their family.

However, it is one of my plans in the future to experience the Big Drum Festival Celebration.

The emancipation celebration is the most historical for us. As we Grenadian will say, there will be no carnival if was not for emancipation. The other beautiful thing is that one of Malcolm X daughters was present at the emancipation celebration. Her presence is spiritual because her ancestors will be also happy.

In addition, one of Eric Gairy’s sons was also present at the celebration. His presence was a good thing too. I am sure his ancestors were happy with his presence too because Eric Gairy was a liberator for poor working class Grenadians. Regardless of his politics years after, but he did play his part in making Grenada a sovereign country.

However, not forgetting Marcus Garvey’s son was also present at the celebration. I saw video clips of the celebration in Grenville, St Andrew. The crowd was massive and the Rastafarians were enjoying themselves and I know why. The Rastafarians think Marcus Garvey was some kind of prophet and they link him back to the Ethiopia myth with King Halle Selassie, former emperor of Ethiopia.

Unfortunately, those Rastafarians are misinterpreting Marcus Garvey’s philosophy. Garvey never said that King Selassie of Ethiopia was the king of all black people. And I know that his son is a Pan Africans and not a Rasta man. In addition, those Rasta do not know that slavery ended in Ethiopia in August 1942. They do not know that the Afro-Asiatic Ethiopian like King Selassie’s people were enslaving black folks like us in Ethiopia and after the end of the Second World War, the powers in Europe who put back King Sellassie on his throne after he came back from exile in Britain, forced him to end the enslavement of black sub-Saharan Africans.

In addition, with carnival in the air and everywhere in Grenada, I personally wish that those critics of our carnival would shut their mouths and stop criticising others, who are participating in the celebration. The critics should understand that carnival celebration is the closest thing to true democracy. They should stop saying negative things about persons who sing calypso, soca and jab jab music. They must understand that carnival celebration is the time for people to come out in the public and express themselves in whatever way they chose.

It is very important for them to know that people who always quick to criticise others never make a good contribution towards society because they waste all their time criticising people who are doing positive things.

For example, a young man called Mya from the little village of Laka Baycaye, in St Andrew has a popular song on a jab jab rhythm called “Ray Tay Tay” and, although carnival lovers are enjoying the song, they think it is just a simple humorous song, that they can dance to, without realising that the song is a protest against the injustice of ordinary people.

The song lyrics expose the suffering of poor people in some rural areas in the big parish of St Andrew, where praedial larceny is very common and sometimes innocent people are accused and prosecuted for committing the crime, that they do not know anything. However, a master of ceremonies in a soca show asked the young man what “Ray Tay Tay” means and he said that it means when someone scandalises another person name for mischief and without fact. This is the song. Readers can listen to it.

In addition, I think that Grenadians who do not want to speak in our Grenadian accent, should stop criticising others who are promoting Grenadian culture as soca and jab jab artistes. Critics like them must understand that is not all of us who want to speak with foreign accents to make us feel better about ourselves.

If all Grenadians start imitating North American and British accents, there will be no more Grenadian culture. I personally, am very happy with the way I speak. I love my Grenadian accent. Whenever I try to speak as a North American, I feel that I am acting. As a matter of fact, I feel that I am not my real self. Basically, I was born and raised in the northern parish of St Patrick in Grenada. I can boast and say it loud and clear that I speak pure Grenadian English and I have wide vocabulary of Grenadian English.

Presently, at York University in Canada there has been a course taught on calypso music for many years. And just recently, the university added a course on Jamaican patois. So if York University is teaching a course on Jamaican patois, why are some of us Grenadians looking down on our Grenadian accent as something inferior? In comparison to Jamaican patois, for sure Grenadian accent and dialect is much closer to the English language.

In conclusion, I believe that the only way we can be emancipated from mental slavery is when we learn to love ourselves and stop trying to be like others. We are quick to criticise the young women who are bleaching their skin to look lighter colour, while some within the so-called educated class are bleaching their accents to sound more like North American.

However, on the other hand, I think it is very important for rural Grenadians to keep their accent because if we lost that rich rural accent, there will be no more great calypso and soca artistes like Ajamu, Black Wizard, Inspector, Scholar, Tangler Squeezy, Boyzie, Flying Cloud, Talpree, Shortpree, Skinny Banton, Pupa Leendi and others to make Grenada known internationally. However, I think that Skinny Banton has the best Grenadian diction.

As I end this article, listen to this Skinny Banton song.

IMAGE: hudson_george.jpg
Hudson George has a BA in Social Science from York University, Toronto, Canada. He has been writing since his early teenage years and now contributes letters and articles to a number of Caribbean newspapers

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Commentary%3A-Carnival-and-emancipation-celebrations-in-Grenada!-31338.html