Music, dance, spoken-word and storytelling all came together at “Bajari 2005,” the cultural event of the West Indian Students’ Association. The Saturday evening performance in Crowell celebrated West Indian culture as part of Bacchanal, West Indian Week, while also teaching students and community members about the heritage of the islands.
The second annual Bajari show opened with a performance by Westeel, Wesleyan’s steel pan orchestra. Westeel is not banging on pots and pans. Twenty students played various sized pans, in addition to other members of the percussion family, including a traditional drumset and maracas. This created not only beats and rhythms but also upbeat melodies as well, starting the evening off with a festive tone.
After Westeel performed three songs and the tech crew cleared the stage, the evening’s hosts rushed the stage from the aisles of Crowell. Stephanie Malcolm ’05, Justin Francis ’06 and Letica Fox-Thomas ’05 introduced acts throughout the evening and provided entertainment of their own.
“I thought the emcees really made it fun,” said Emily Wilson-Barnard ’07. “They actually added a lot to the show.”
Hosting a dance competition on stage, the three emcees gave a quick dance lesson in which they demonstrated the motion of the evening, quickly moving their hips in circles. In a moment of humor with a message, Francis and Fox-Thomas became American tourists Harold and Linda in Jamaica, looking to find Bob Marley.
“The culture is so ethnic and subtle,” they said, demonstrating how not to act when traveling to West Indian islands.
During “Ole Story Time,” Gabrielle Tynes-Labonte ’06 hobbled on stage to tell her four grandchildren the story of Anancy, the trickster of Jamaican folklore, and the witch called ‘Five.’ In this humorous representation of the tale, as Tynes-Labonte narrated, the story was acted out behind her and starred Glaister Leslie ’08 as Anancy.
During a time of hunger, Anancy the spider-man first tricks Rabbit and then Dog into providing food for his family. Finally, Cat beats Anancy at his own game, out-tricking the infamous trickster and stealing his corn. Throughout the funny skit, the performers not only entertained their audience but also exposed them to Jamaican traditions in storytelling and folklore.
Flavia Desouza ’05 and Leslie also presented Jamaican folk traditions with their medley of three folk songs. Intended to be a sing-a-long, the two provied the audience with lyrics to the songs in their programs. Despite strong performances and explanations by Desouza and Leslie, the audience remained hesitant in participation. The medley ended with “Day De Light,” accompanied by Lancelot Drummonds ’06 on piano. This slow and tired yet powerful rendition of the popular song Day-O was sung as it was originally intended after a long day of work.
“The Jamaican version- which is the original, thank you- is ‘Day De Light,’” Leslie announced.
Wesleyan’s salsa band Orquestra Fiebre met a reluctant audience during their performance of “Nada de Ti” by Eddie Palmieri. Despite an energetic and sound performance by Orquestra Fiebre, the audience did not respond to the invitation to get up and dance, except for a few dancing in the aisles.
Kalalu, the West Indian dance group on campus, performed three times throughout the show. They linked the three pieces under the theme of “Rebel Music.” Their first piece, called “From Whence We Came,” featured folk dance and told the somber story of a strong African slave whose superiors tried to suppress her by taking away her two children. Instead, the two children grew into the sibling music forms of reggae and soka. Their final piece, Bacchanal, was much more festive with more upbeat music, sharp movements and brightly colored costumes. The pieces recognized the different purposes of the evening, to teach and remember, but also to celebrate.
In addition to the Kalalu performances, the audience also got to see Kote Moun Yo, a Haitian folkloric dance. The dance used small wooden bowls as props, as well as white cloths tied to the wrists of the dancers, enhancing their arm movements. Haiti was also represented in Tynes-Labonte’s spoken word poem, “Perdu,” meaning lost in Creole. Jason Lalor ’07 and Jennifer Celestin ’07 also performed their pieces, “Chant Down Babylon” and “Letter to My Brother,” respectively. Meenasurani Linde Murugan ’07 read “Point of Convergence,” a poem by Shani Mootoo, a writer raised in Trinidad.
The evening ended with a dance performance by Caliente, the Latino dance troupe on campus. Their performance “Salsa El Preso, Curate y La Chiva” gave the feeling of being in a dance hall, as the dancers were grouped in couples. Those not involved in the dance at the time sat on the sides, observing.
Bajari included representations of both folk and popular culture, performing in all mediums of the performing arts.
“[The] clash of many cultures was very uplifting,” said Al Asante ’07.
Bajari successfully celebrated the shared culture of the members of WISA, while still teaching others about the common and individual heritages of the various islands.
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