Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Rass Rodd, a member of the Jamaican contingent to the recent 26th annual Caribbean Festival of Fire in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
JAMAICAN POETS had a presence on the 26th Caribbean Festival of Fire, held from July 3 to 9 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
More than 10 Caribbean countries participated in the festival, where over 60 genres of music were presented, according to the website of the local newspaper for Las Tunas, Cuba.
Fifty-two bands and dance companies were a part of the festival, during which theatres as well as streets and town squares were used for performances.
Rass Rodd, one of five poets who made the trip, initiated by Arlene McKenzie from Montego Bay, St. James, said the poets' main day was Thursday, July 6. The other poets were from the Ion Station group, with Prince Theba and the Sons of Thunder doing drumming. McKenzie, Marcia Reid, Femi Assegay Bogle and Phyllis Yvonne Stickney also made the trip.
WEDNESDAY'S ACTIVITIES
On Wednesday they participated in a street parade, which started at midday and finished after 6:00 p.m., Rass Rodd saying that on the following day the poets performed at the Salon de Viclares at the Plaza de la Revolucion, during the day.
Performances were delivered in English, with a Spanish translation being done at the same time, Rass Rodd adding that he used theatrical techniques in his presentation.
That night at the Teatro de Macuba, the Jamaican poets and a Cuban group performed together.
Funding for the venture was obtained through a series of fund-raisers, involving the poets who made the trip as well as poets Linton Kwesi Johnson, Ad-Ziko Simba, Mutabaruka, Phyllis Stickney and Blakka Ellis.
"It went very well. We accomplished the poetry part of it and the Rasta part of it. We were on television for the whole week. It pulled out the Rasta population," Rass Rodd said.
