The people

Regarding the previous post's mentions of the Trini pan arranger Jit Samaroo, when thinking of a typical Caribbean island's ethnic makeup, it may seem unusual to see his name and mural portrait, and realize his East Indian descent.  Trinidad has a long history of colonialization (Spanish, French, then British), and after slavery was abolished in 1838, the need for plantation labor led to indentured servitude, which brought in primarily East Indians, with some Chinese and Portuguese also.

(From an exhibit at the excellent National Museum and Art Gallery)  A population breakdown from before Trinidad and Tobago's 1962 independence.  Now about 1.5 million, Wikipedia gives 2011 census numbers showing a similar breakdown, with roughly 1/3 African descent, 1/3 East Indian descent, and 1/4 'mixed', with Europeans/Chinese/Arabs filling out small minorities.  Religious affiliations are similarly mixed among Catholic, Hindu, various Protestant, Muslim, etc.  It's evident from many old calypsos (and from talking to Trinis today) how proud they are of their long history of multiculturalism and harmonious living together.

Speaking of that 'mixed' population, another word I learned from old calypso is "dougla" (dohg'-la), meaning someone of mixed African and Indian heritage.  Here is a fun 1961 tune from the calypsonian Mighty Dougla about his own ethnic mix, the first verse and chorus are:

let us suppose they pass a law

they don't want people living here anymore (x2)

everybody got to find their country

according to your race originally

what a confusion I would cause in the place

they might have to shoot me in space

because they're sending Indians to India

and the Negroes back to Africa

can somebody please just tell me

where they sending poor me?  (poor Dougie)

I am neither one nor the other

six of one, half a dozen of the other

if you're serious bout sending back people for true

you got to split me in two

The Indian influence is definitely present in the food, here is what they call a roti, essentially a huge burrito wrapped with the 'roti' flatbread you might know from Indian restaurants, stuffed with chicken, potatoes, curry spices..  Excuse the gross picture showing bites, it was so delicious that I almost wolfed it all down before thinking to document it with a photo.  I knew to expect it, but one unusual thing is that the chicken is bone-in - so that slows down the wolfing a little, and requires two-handed eating a little messier than the usual burrito experience..  But, delicious!

And this was even better.  Looks like a mess, but this is a 'double', made from a flour-based bread with saffron added, filled with chickpeas and spices.  As I write this I'm staring longingly at the photo and wanting to fly back to Port of Spain!  Since then I have learned from another friend who grew up in India that this likely originated from the Mumbai street food called 'double roti'.

Here is a demonstration by a group called Unity Tassa, this form of tassa drumming originated in the West Indies.  The sharp, high-pitched drum is an Indian tassa, a drum head stretched over a kettle-shaped bowl, played with handmade flexible-shaft sticks.  We got to try out playing the different drums - I was not able to figure out how to get even a basic double-stroke roll going, so it is even more amazing to listen to the tassa player now, and how fast, clean, and sharp he is able to play!  Also, the big blue drum is made from a tree trunk, and you may notice the player's physique, which is not an accident - it and the mallet are very heavy, and they talked about playing in multi-hour parades, whew..

The National Museum also had a nice exhibit about T&T sports history, I am a sucker for these old Olympics program designs.

The center plaque in the second row may be a familiar name, Ato Boldon won medals in the 100m and 200m races in both the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney games.  For the past several Olympics, he has been one of the analysts for NBC's track and field broadcasts.

Listen to enough old calypso, and you will learn about the various triumphs of the West Indian cricket team.  This Kitchener tune is celebrating a win over the Australian team and their star bowler Dennis Lillee.  One bonus cultural detail I learned from this song came from the end of the chorus "Ah Water Lillee, they beat you like a Bobolee" - historically, a 'bobolee' is a straw-filled effigy of Judas displayed on Good Friday, where people passing by are encouraged to hit it with sticks or slaps.