Carifesta in Haiti

Guyanese performers in Haiti (Stabroek News file photo)

(Continued from last week)

As we continue to focus on Carifesta XII which was held in Port au Prince, Haiti, from August 21-30 and closed its curtains exactly one week ago, we find ourselves still confronting the persistent and overriding significance of Haiti as a venue for this Caribbean festival. It was, after all, the second non-English speaking territory to host it. But while there were a few similarities, including the wide popularisation of the festival, the experience was quite different from that of Suriname.

Theatre/art is predominantly defined by its audience, and the audience was one of the most prominent factors in Carifesta XII. It was predominantly Haitian, as it was mostly a very large popular audience. What was quite atypical of Carifesta, was that there was a real language issue – but more a language issue than a language problem. This was not the case in Suriname. Haiti is more a patois speaking country than it is a nation of standard French. Its first language