One of the main highlights of the 2015 Emancipation Celebrations, the Emancipation Walk and Concert is said to have gone well and as planned.
Cultural Project Officer in the Ministry of Culture, Gregory Rabess, told Dominica News Online (DNO) that the walk which began from 4.15 pm on Friday 30th July 2015, from the Baracoon Building was “generally” a successful event. The walk included stops at the Cruise Ship ferry, Old Market Square and a one hundred drum salute at the Neg Mawon monument, followed by a concert,
“The Emancipation walk went as planned and generally it went well and we would certainly have appreciated a much larger turn-out from the public, but the turn out in terms of the participating cultural groups went very, very good actually. A lot of energy and excitement, the concert itself was excellent. The groups performed very well,” Rabess said.
Each stop taken on the walk symbolized a different aspect of the enslaved African people’s experience, their resilience and the joy of freedom that the country now enjoys because of them.
The walk began at the “historic” Baracoon Building in Roseau, which currently houses the City Council offices and which was a former site of holding cells and auction block during the slave trade.
Following this, a stop was made at the Roseau Cruise Ship Berth where those in attendance took part in a flower dispersing ceremony in memory and honour those who lost their lives in the Middle Passage.
The Old Market Place was next on the agenda, with a libation at that location where slave auctions and executions took place, then to the Neg Mawon monument which is located close to the Fort Young Hotel.
A one hundred drum salute to the Maroons from hand drummers and percussionists from around Dominica followed and the final leg of the journey took participants to the Peebles Park where the speeches from government and City Council officials were delivered.
The concert was held from 6:00pm to 8:00 pm with performances from drummers, local artistes, poets and musicians.
Some of the performances included Lapeau Kabwit from Sakis and a Mahaut La Peau Kabwit band, the Massacre Belle group, a drumming ensemble by the Paix Bouche Drummers, Delices Ti Bwa and the House of Nyabinghi among others.
“It was like a celebration of drums…the weather held up very well, and it ended somewhere about 8.30 pm,” Rabess noted.
He said the Film and Rap Session which was held at the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Thursday, 30th July 2015 also went well.
The flag ship event of the Emancipation celebrations, the Golden Drum Awards ceremony was staged on Saturday. At that event, individuals, groups or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to the development of art and culture spanning at least twenty years, are presented with that award.
The Special recognition is also given to those who have made special contributions in culture over a period of time generally between ten and twenty years and to those who have achieved notable successes in a particular field of arts and culture.
Thanks Gregory for keeping the memories of our ancestors alive.
No other group forget their struggles, but we have seen that our people are paying their respects the way they should.