SPIRIT OF EMANCIPATION. The Pinelands Creative Workshop dancers before a Shango dance.

by ANDREA KING

A CULTURE CANNOT flourish unless it nurtures its artistic talents.

So declared director of the Commission for Pan African Affairs, Dr Ikael Tafari, in his brief address yesterday during the launch of the Season of Emancipation 2006 at Queen's Park.

"If culture is a tree, then the artistic product are the fruit. Art has always been at the forefront of emancipation. The arts are the main weapons in this global struggle," Tafari asserted.

Supporting these comments was Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Rev Joseph Atherley, who said the creative spirit must flourish without inhibition or prohibition.

He noted also there was no celebration in the world called a 'Season of Emancipation' and he looked forward to the day when "multiple thousands" would come to celebrate with Barbadians.

Dr Tafari also said that in the face of stigmatisation, psychological censorship and doubts, against Africa, it was a fair tribute to the Government of Barbados that it could establish an agency exclusively to African affairs, the only one in this region.

And if it's one thing that was made clear during the launch, it was that the artistes are leading the inevitable reconnection to Africa.

The artistic work selected to exemplify the theme Barbados Comes of Age: Nurturing the Roots, was drawn from Pinelands Creative Workshop's Dance, Drums, and Deities, Sankofa Production's People Of The Drum, and Return to the Source.

The choreographers, including Gene Carson, Sheron Trotman, and Kim Grant, as well as the dancers from the respective groups, have assimilated the reconnection to the Motherland and this characterises much of their work.

Also performing was powerful spoken word artiste Adrian Greene, who called on artistes to lead the charge in Afrikan self-knowledge in Freedom Fighter; and young calypsonian Young G, a semi-finalist for the Junior Monarch contest.

In true African tradition, libation at the start was offered by Pinelands Creative Workshop, with Shelly Durant personifying Ellegua/Elegba, the Yoruba Orisha deity who clears the way and opens the door. Christian traditional prayers were rendered by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

The launch was produced by Commission for Pan African Affairs, National Cultural Foundation, and the Prime Minister's Office.