By Katya Brightwell

Nestled between two major resorts at the far end of Grace Bay Beach is a modest wooden bungalow.  Raised on stilts from the fine white sand, with brightly-coloured slats and a traditional tin roof, the space is home to the Cultural Market Place of Providenciales — a discrete retail and relaxation haven.

Designed to provide the island’s beach vendors with shelter to sell their wares, the Cultural Market Place’s sunny yellow interior overflows with a horde of multi-coloured art pieces, layers of decorated t-shirts and sarongs, a myriad of shells and clusters of jewellery to explore. And there’s fresh local seafood and cold drinks at a cosy café to satisfy hunger and thirst.

Karen Forbes, President of the Providenciales Beach Vendors Association, was one of the vendors who initiated the Cultural Market Place by requesting a permanent location for the group from the now Premier, Honourable Michael Misick, before he ran for office. He promised that if he came to power he would provide a site. “And he kept his promise!” enthuses Karen. Some who now sit more comfortably in the homely confines of this building had been working the beach for over 20 years. The site, now open almost three years, is a welcome environment after hours of toting heavy bags through the sand and braving the elements to make a living.

Some of the vendors specialise in local straw work products, some in conch-shell art, some display brightly-coloured Haitian metalwork (with geckos abounding) and some original paintings. A few make their own jewellery and will custom-make on request. You can even get your hair braided on site.

“There’s a warm atmosphere and we all help each other out,” says Karen of the 33 souvenir-sellers who currently use the Cultural Market Place. “If you’re looking for a certain type of artwork, we’ll pass you to the person who has what you’re looking for, as we all specialise in different products. And the prices are good with some of the best deals on the island!”

Sitting unassumingly between Club Med and Ocean Club East, the Cultural Market Place also houses the only native restaurant in the area — the Flamingo Café. This simple bar and restaurant is run by friendly Ricky Clarke, a Grand Turk native and chef of ten years standing. The café specialises in seafood and other native dishes, with conch specials and lobster dishes (in season). Ricky is known to entertain with song while cooking up some of his famed cracked conch, and will even invite you into his kitchen to help if you like. His dulcet tones and the waft of cooking smells add to the comfortable feel of the building.

Bar stools raised in a shaded patio are a perfect place to enjoy your freshly-made food with a cold drink and a breeze, and the recent addition of a few permanent “umbrellas” directly on the beach in front provide a welcome area to relax too. The Flamingo Café even offers catering for parties and can accommodate 60+ people for food and drink — all at one of the finest stretches of beachfront in Providenciales.

The Islands’ first Cultural Market Place has proved so popular that a second is in the making, at the opposite end of Grace Bay Beach in the Bight next to Beaches Resort & Spa. While beach vendors from this stretch wait to occupy their space, the Middle Caicos Café, run by Lisa Harvey, is already open. In another atmospheric location you can enjoy the slow pace from breakfast “until the last customer leaves.” Native seafood dishes (with a different island slant) are offered and Saturday night is a must, with a live local band providing entertainment to a bustling crowd of fun.

Both locations provide welcome places simply to hang out. “We’re kind of like a family,” says Karen.  “You can come and chill, right on the beach, chat to friendly people from all over the Islands, and, come evening, enjoy a perfect view of our gorgeous sunsets over the water.”

The Cultural Market Place by Ocean Club East is open for local arts and souvenir shopping daily between 9 AM and 5 PM. The Flamingo Café is also open daily from midday until late.

The Middle Caicos Café at the “Beaches” Cultural Market Place is open from 8 AM until “the last customer leaves.”

By H.E. Ross

From workboat regatta challenges to soft sailing on beautiful Chalk Sound, the Turks & Caicos Maritime Heritage Federation offers visitors a way to relax and assist local children in taking a ride on their traditional Caicos Sloops.

From its inception, the Turks & Caicos Maritime Heritage Federation has had the dream of placing the hands of the older generations into the hands of the young by way of passing on the skills and traditions of this country’s sailing culture. The federation was started by sailors and boatbuilders in order that the traditional sailing skills and vessels that sustained this economy for over 300 years be preserved as a source of pride in the history of this fast developing island nation.

The popularity of the concept was supported by the business community, the local population and the government, and the organisation has maintained itself while developing cultural and educational programmes. The Maritime Heritage Federation registered as an official non-governmental organization (NGO) on January 31, 2005 and immediately started developing a primary schools programme that saw maritime history and heritage brought not only into the classroom, but brought to life for 300 sixth graders onboard traditional Caicos Sloops in the next year and a half.

It developed cultural sailing programmes that took young people and interested adults on sailing expeditions to learn the ways in which people created commerce in the “ol’ days past.” (These “good old days” ended in the mid-1980s when tourism took hold and real estate development began to boom.) A few of the sailors on Middle Caicos, North Caicos and Providenciales continued to build the hulls and change the rigging for more efficiency for the race course in place of the conching, fishing or trading needs of the past.

When the federation officially started, there were five sloops left fit for the sea. Today, there are fourteen, with four more being built. As some say here, “There are sloops being built everywhere.” Interestingly enough, the sailing workboat craze is blossoming throughout the world, not excluding the Caribbean, and the Turks & Caicos, who are on the leading edge of luxury development, are embracing this phenomenon in a way not common in this wide and separated basin of the Caribbean Sea.

Generally, cooperation between island groups is hard in coming, but the Turks & Caicos is challenging its cousin island nation of the Bahamas to a sailing workboat regatta. And, the Islands are inviting the sailing tourist to get on a sloop and race in this first-of-its-kind event.

When this concept was first approached, the leaders of our Bahamian counterpart became excited about the idea of a challenge race. The more than 50 years running out island and family island regattas were already famous and the fleets were professional in their strict preservationist rulings for their extremely tall-masted vessels. And a lot of those aboard the Bahamian Sloops were related to Turks & Caicos Islanders. But, a Turks and Caicos—Bahamas Regatta, which many talked about for years, just never happened. Logistics, money and detailed planning were the obvious barriers.

The Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas have a long related history with the Bahamas actually governing the smaller archipelago from 1799–1848 and again as an independent Crown Colony, the Turks & Caicos were under the supervision of the governor of the Bahamas from 1965–1973. There has also been a long history of people working back and forth in both countries, with a result of family relations through blood lines being strong and continuous.

One trait that seems to have passed on through both nations is the love of sailing. Most other Caribbean island nations have had to regain the knowledge of their boatbuilding and sailing skills, but neither the Bahamas nor the Turks & Caicos have ever lost their parents’ love of the sea and the glide of sails over that environment.

The islands of both the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos comprise an area more than half the length and contain more islands and cays then the islands of the Caribbean Antilles from Cuba to Trinidad & Tobago. As with all the Caribbean islands, sailing vessels made commerce a reality. But a special place in history goes to the Turks & Caicos in the evolution of the fore and aft rig developed by the first settlers, the Bermudians, to get to their reason for settlement: the white gold of salt. Salt made the Bermuda Islands rich and it was trading salt from the Turks Islands by Bermuda Sloops that started and maintained that prosperity for over 100 years.

The designs of local sailing vessels to this day are directly related to the small craft created by those early Bermudians for both inter-island trade within the Turks & Caicos and intra-island trade with other places as far away as Jamaica and Cuba. The Bermudians settled in the Turks & Caicos in 1678 and much of their architecture remains, especially significant on the Turks Islands of Salt Cay, Grand Turk and South Caicos where the salt pans were established and the Bermudians mainly lived.

South Caicos is the site of the first official sailing workboat regatta in the Turks & Caicos in 1967, commemorating Their Majesties Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles’ first visit to the archipelago. The regatta, started the year after the visit, was inspired by a sail-by of a reported 30 large intra-island trading sloops. Each year since, the regatta has been held on the last weekend in May, with its 40th running to be celebrated this year. The sailing participation faltered with the introduction of beauty contests and motorboat racing, but is being revived by the South Caicos Regatta Committee and the federation, which brought five sloops to race the three races of the regatta last year.

In fact, since the federation was formed Caicos Sloop racing increased from one or two to seven races held in one year. The hopes for 2007 are for fourteen races in seven events.

For the federation, workboat sailing races are methods used to draw attention to the more important business of putting youth aboard the sloops and promoting their interest in studying the history of the development of the vessels and the reasons for their design variations. Most of the present history of the Turks & Caicos is given from the viewpoint of land-based interest. Hopefully, the youth who are involved with a constant promotion of maritime preservation will change that, encouraging the study of many other facets of the history and diasporic influences of this maritime culture.

The sailing programmes are a result of this aspect of the general mandate of the Maritime Heritage Federation. To actually learn how the vessels were used by the fishermen and traders is to live the history of the place. A further result of this slant in teaching history is the invitation for visitors to sail aboard the sloops and experience the traditional techniques in fishing conch, lobster and scale fish with traditional tools such as grains and waterglass while sculling for positioning.

Basic sailing aboard Middle Caicos Conch Sloops is being offered on peaceful and beautiful Chalk Sound, while in-reef techniques will soon be taught from Sailing Paradise in Blue Hills. Sailing Paradise is a beachfront establishment with restaurant and shops built and dedicated to the owners’ grandparents, David and Cecilia Smith. Cecilia was a sloop builder and David one of the best trading captains in Providenciales (or Blue Hills, as the locals called the island). One of the great assets of this type of attraction are the stories told by the sailors and boat builders who might not open up about the past without the incentives of a breeze and a sail.

The Turks & Caicos Islands owe their current success to the foundation on which they stand. This foundation was not the brainchild of politicians or the economic and social elites. It was the result of necessity and the reaction of citizens rising to meet the challenge of bettering their overall condition by building boats for the purpose of addressing their needs. In the 19th century, the distinctive Turks Island sloops and schooners would carry a major part of the burden of unifying the country through the movement of people and freight.

The early years

In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Turks & Caicos Islands and found them populated by Taino Indians. By 1520, all of the Indians had disappeared, either enslaved or dead from diseases contracted from the Europeans.

From the 16th until the early 18th centuries, the Turks & Caicos were used as a pirate’s haven. Bermudans began visiting to harvest salt in the 1670s and advanced it to the level of an industry in the early 18th century.

In 1674, it was legally adjudged that the Turks & Caicos were a part of the Bahama Islands. Over the years the population of salt rakers grew as the value of salt rose due to demand. There was increasing social and economic interaction with the Bahamas, particularly the southern islands.

After the secession of the Turks & Caicos Islands from the Bahama Islands on December 25, 1848, there was an increased building of boats as the new colony sought to make its way on its own. In addition to the salt industry, wrecking would become a lucrative industry and pursuit.

Building a boat

Normally, the keel of the boat would be made from the pine tree. Madeira trees supplied the timber for the stern post, stem, and sometimes for the frame. The horse flesh or buttonwood trees were also used to provide frames. The pine tree was used for planking, the mast, dead wood, deck beams and overall structure.

Building a boat involved going into the bush and searching for the right length, thickness and shape of tree. Afterwards came the labour of cutting down the tree and carrying it to the boat building site. Then the wood had to be ripped by hand.

The mast and other wood would be placed in the sea to be cured before being used. A sloop big enough to travel internationally could take from nine months to build. (The time could be longer or shorter depending on the number of assisting carpenters.)

There was no set price for a boat. Pricing could differ from settlement to settlement on the same island. What influenced the price was the relationship between boat builder and client. Family members were generally given special consideration; friends were given “a good deal,” and others were charged whatever the market could bear.

The launching of a vessel was a day of celebration and pride for the boat builder’s community. It meant that members were less dependent on another community for transporting freight and passengers, and had some control over the procuring of sustenance and development.

A key role in advancement

The social and cultural level of the Islands was, in a general way, advanced in a uniform manner because of the communication and interaction made possible by means of the locally built boats. The concepts and practices which provided the basis for the development of the nation were spread and re-enforced by and through the locally built boats. Interestingly though, these boats were both the savior of the colony and a contributor to economic decline.

The movement of passengers and freight between the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Bahama Islands, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba and Florida assisted greatly with the overall development of the colony. Fish and conch were traded to the Dominican Republic and Haiti; sisal and sponges were traded to the Bahama Islands; and Noel Gardiner’s 68 foot Caicos Joy provided freight services (including vehicles) between Florida and the colony during the early 1970s. These were important developments undertaken by locally built boats in order for the colony to advance.

On the other hand, reliance on the locally built salt lighters cost the Islands their main industry. Salt lighters were sailing sloops without decks to facilitate the loading and transport of salt to freighters which were offshore due to shallow waters. These crafts could sometimes be over 50 feet in length.

Until 1873, salt was the main source of income for the Turks & Caicos Islands. After that, the salt industry started to decline because of mined salt in the USA, which was protected by high tariff rates on imported salt. There would be a revival of this industry in the early 20th century, but because of the length of time it took to load salt into the tankers by means of the salt lighters compared to the modern and mechanized salt loading system in Inagua, the Turks & Caicos’ salt industry declined, with Inagua eventually becoming the third largest salt producer in the world.

The whaling industry which functioned from the late 19th century to the early 20th century and was based in Salt Cay, was also serviced by locally built boats. This industry provided whale meat for local consumption, with the whale oil and bones exported.

As a result of local Baptist churches in the mid-19th century, rudimentary education was made available to some children who otherwise might have had no such exposure. The teachers in these church-based schools were members of the local church and received some financial remuneration. These Baptist churches were serviced by the London Baptist Missionary Society through its Nassau-based operations. Locally built boats were used to transport the Society’s personnel and materials from the Bahama Islands to the Turks & Caicos.

The potential for tragedy

There were tragedies and near tragedies involving the locally built sloops. During the early 1940s, noted boat builder and captain James Hamilton (1902-1963) was able to save himself from certain death because he was could speak Creole (due to his many trips to Haiti.) Captain Hamilton was engaged to sail a large sloop from New Providence to Haiti. However, the Haitian men on the sloop felt insulted and belittled and plotted to kill Captain Hamilton and dump his body into the sea. During a disagreement among the Haitians as to who would assume captaincy, Hamilton was able to slip off the sloop in the vicinity of Long Island. Captain John R. Turnquest, a fisherman from Upper Deadman’s Cay, Long Island, rescued him after two days in the water near Conch Point.

On September 13, 1945, Gustavous Lightbourne, owner/captain of the sloop G.L. Progress (built by Algernon Dean, Sr. of Blue Hills, Providenciales) went conching and fishing around the French Cays (Plana Cays) along with Eric Parker, Thomas Palmer and Livingston Swann — all from Blue Hills, Providenciales. An unannounced hurricane struck. In order to save themselves, they cut down the sloop’s mast and the vessel was driven by the weather conditions to Crooked Island. Arrangements were made by the commissioner who resided on Acklins Island for the survivors to catch the Bahamian motorized mailboat from Long Cay to Inagua. In Inagua, they were fortunate to meet Theophilus “Tappy” Parker’s vessel Extend, which was captained by Robert Dean. The vessel made a trip to Haiti, stopped at Grand Turk and then went on to Blue Hills. Residents were shocked to see the men some 47 days later because they had been given up as lost to sea. In fact, their memorial service had already been held!

Observations

It is interesting to note that from 1800 to 2000, there were four members of the TCI’s Legislative Assembly who were boat builders. The two who are deceased are Fuller Walkin of Blue Hills, Providenciales and Paul Higgs of Bottle Creek, North Caicos. The two still living are Gustavous O. Lightbourne and Hilly Ewing, both of Blue Hills. Hilly Ewing went on to receive ministerial appointment and bore responsibility for immigration, natural resources and national insurance at various times.

During the mid-1930s, the boat-building men of the Hall family of Lorimers, Middle Caicos built some vessels and sold them in Haiti. With the resulting funds, the Halls bought a large tract of government land in Lorimers. To this day, members of the Hall family occupy this land. The only way for anyone to build or live on this property is either being born or marrying into the family.

One outstanding finding is that over 200 years, there was only one female boat builder found! Cecile Louise Deane-Smith (1932-2001), the daughter of renowned boat builder John Algernon Deane and Susan Hall-Deane, was married to David Smith, a fisherman. Because he needed a boat and could not build one, Cecile built the 28 foot Silver Velly Stream (also known as The Meow) for her husband. Having been trained by her father in building boats and in general construction, Cecile repaired boats and buildings and built her home. She also worked in construction in the early 1970s in Nassau and Grand Bahama.

According to my research, the number of boat builders from 1800 to 2000 is listed as follows. (These figures are subject to change with further research.) Grand Turk: 4; Salt Cay: 9; South Caicos: 18; Providenciales: 30; North Caicos: 80; and Middle Caicos: 47.

The government and private sector organizations should honour these boat builders and take steps to ensure that their legacy does not die, as its cessation would be a great national cultural loss. Present and future generations must never forget that their personal, communal and national status have their origin in the boat builders who are, in fact, among the true national heroes of the country.

Kendal Butler has been documenting the history of boat builders in the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands for the last seven years. His interest was spurred by the stories he heard of his great-great-great grand-father, who was a major boat builder in Exuma, The Bahamas.
Mr. Butler is current working on a final draft of his research, “The History of Boat Builders of The Bahamas and The Turks & Caicos Islands from 1800 to 2000″ and it is expected to be published shortly.

For more information, email thetidawave@hotmail.com.

Long ago, on a small island in the Turks & Caicos, a group of friends wondered why the beautiful baskets, hats and bags made from local palmtops and grasses were so hard to find. This is the story of the Middle Caicos Co-op and their successful efforts to restore pride in traditional handcrafts, encourage production of all types of crafts and ensure local handcrafts are available for sale in shops throughout the Turks & Caicos Islands.

IN THE BEGINNING

In 1998, the team developing the Crossing Place Trail on Middle Caicos often talked with the villagers about their history and experiences. The tales of the “Federation” were intriguing — a network for TCI artisans making and selling traditional straw work; groups of women working together, cleaning grasses, making sisal mats, sewing fanner baskets . . . but what happened?

The fanner grass still grew along the shores and in the marshes, the palm trees were plentiful and healthy, but very few artisans were producing traditional straw work for sale or even for their own use. A long and somewhat sad story emerged. The distribution of the straw work from this isolated island to shops on other islands was difficult and irregular. Most of the handcrafts were sent on a commission basis and the funds often never came back. Items would be ordered, but never picked up, with no deposit paid. The National Museum was one of the few regular clients for straw work that paid reasonably well and reliably, with a few retailers from tourist shops occasionally purchasing the crafts, often at very low prices. People moved to other islands, younger hands turned away from working the grass and palmtops . . . and so, by 1998, only a few local residents still produced traditional baskets on a regular basis.

The Middle Caicos Co-op (MCC) began as a volunteer project to set up a collection and distribution system to sell traditional handcrafts and to revitalize the pride and income potential of artisans. The preservation of traditional straw work skills, designs and knowledge was a difficult objective, but the Middle Caicos Co-op boldly started in 1999 with four gifts of $250 to set up an inventory fund so handcrafts could be directly purchased when delivered. The marketing and distribution was undertaken as a whole for all the artisans, with tags designed and printed, crafts marketed and distributed to retailers — all volunteer work for the first year! A small wholesale mark-up was added to the artisan cost of each item, but this did not nearly cover the ongoing expenses.

The logistics of distribution to small retail outlets, a few baskets at a time, led to a myriad of problems with cash flow — before worrying about further sales, making a profit or even breaking even. More volunteers pitched in to help with transport, tagging, accounting and storage, all the operational tasks to move forward the market for traditional handcrafts and to ensure actual benefit to the artisans.

The increase in supply of local handcrafts was supported by a dedicated group of retailers who continue to respond with interest and loyalty. They’ve absorbed in turn a creeping rise in the prices of wholesale crafts and an undersize retail margin, acknowledging the value of promoting and protecting local handcrafts.

It was increasingly obvious to all that the money received by the artisans for handcrafts was too low. The financial compensation paid them was disproportionate to the work effort invested and the heritage being lost was significant. The goal became to actually study the raw material collection, working processes and the weaving/sewing involved to move prices towards a living wage of $4/hour (the suggested minimum hourly wage in TCI) for the artisans.

A QUESTION OF MATERIALS

The issue of raw material supply is becoming more important as development expands throughout the country. Traditional straw work in TCI utilizes three main plants: fanner grass, silvertop palm and whitetop palm. Fanner grass is a very distinct grass growing in salty areas, shoreline or marshes. It is plentiful only on North and Middle Caicos, but now becoming harder to find. A recent government subdivision offers building lots in one of the most important fanner grass sites in the country! In the past, brush fires would regenerate the fanner grass sites, but fires no longer run along the shore freely. A study is to be commissioned shortly to ensure the future of the traditional handcrafts is not brought to a halt by lack of raw materials! Fortunately, palmtops are still plentiful and the use of the fronds does not harm the trees in any way.

STRAW WORK BASICS

These raw materials must be gathered from diverse sites on the Islands, dried, cleaned and prepared into working materials — a process that takes several days to complete. The handcrafts are made either from plaiting the palmtop fronds in a variety of shapes and patterns or by sewing baskets with the fronds used as thread over and around the fanner grass. While plaiting can be likened to braiding — a repetitive and soothing twisting of fibers that is almost hypnotic to watch — sewing the fanner grass baskets is a focused task that demands strength and accuracy in each stitch, pulling the frond thread tightly over the grass to shape the basket as it grows. The plaits, made from split palmtop fronds, can use from 4 to 19 strands intertwining in the pattern. The finished plaits form long, undulating coils of flat straw work, from 1 to 3 inches wide, that are later sewn round and round into bags and hats. Interestingly, the lengths of plait are still measured and paid for in fathoms, an early nautical measurement brought with the sailing ships!

Fanner grass baskets were once used to carry water and the stitching is small, even and rigid. Today, the shapes and sizes of the fanner grass work produced are a tribute to the creativity of the artisans. An amazing array can be seen at the wholesale depot and in special orders completed.

MODEL SAILBOATS

The introduction of traditional hand-carved model sailboats was another major step for the Middle Caicos Co-op and drew in a new group of artisans. Sailing these boats is a treat of splashing alongside, adjusting the tiller and sails to follow the wind (or the race course).

These model sailboats are built in Bambarra, Middle Caicos from large branches of the Gum-Elemi tree (Bursera simaruba), a Caribbean softwood found throughout the Turks & Caicos Islands. The sail plan reflects all the actual rigging found on a full size sloop. Stays/shrouds can be tightened as needed, sails hoisted/furled with sheets as normal. Each boat has its weatherboard to stabilize it in the water, as the gum-elemi wood is very light and there is no weight in the boat’s keel.

This type of model boat was a common childhood treasure, with children and adults involved in carving, building and racing their sailboats. An energetic and active sport beloved by participants and spectators, the boats are sailed in the shallow waters of the salt ponds or along the seashores.

Middle Caicos Model SailboatThe Middle Caicos Sailing Fleet (eight boats from 15 to 54 inches long) can be booked for special events and several model sailboat races are held each year on the island. The annual New Year’s Day Race is a welcome beach day to usher in the new year; the Valentine’s Day Cup fills an exciting weekend in mid-February and in August at the traditional MC Expo festival, the beach is lined with folks cheering both the big sloop race and the model sailboats.

A GROWING INTEREST

The fundamental principle of the Middle Caicos Co-op has remained unchanged: to pay the artisans directly when they deliver their handcrafts. This has proved to be a fine motivating factor for encouraging artisans to take up straw work and their number grew from 5 to over 20 in the first two years. The use of cheques was introduced and eventually accepted as reliable payment. With no banks on many of the Islands this was a tricky process, but essential to allow the Co-op to organize its working capital and payments. More retailers were becoming interested, additional marketing efforts were being made, demonstrations of the handwork and talks on traditional crafts were organized and the momentum carried the Middle Caicos Co-op forward.

By early 2003, there were about 40 artisans submitting their work to the Co-op, average age roughly 60. Initially, artisans were from Middle Caicos and North Caicos, but slowly, artisans from South Caicos, Grand Turk and Providenciales are becoming involved.

GROWING PAINS

The principle of direct and full payment for handcrafts received by the Co-op has recently become vulnerable as growth in both the number of artisans and the amount they produce requires an ever-increasing supply of working capital. The logistics of operating from Middle Caicos became more unwieldy as the majority of both artisans and clients were from other islands. Amazingly, in the first quarter of 2003, the Co-op purchased $14,000 worth of handcrafts; sorting, tagging and transporting it to and from Middle Caicos was crazy!

The need for volunteer efforts and further working capital to properly market and distribute the handcrafts are critical, as the wholesale margin applied cannot yet support the full operating costs and increasing inventory. Both tourists and the home market need to be educated to accept a realistic price for handcrafted goods made in TCI; a price that offers both dignity and encouragement to the artisans.

A BIG STEP FORWARD

In July 2003, the Middle Caicos Co-op took a huge step, and consequent risk, to bring the handcrafts to greater visibility by opening a wholesale depot in Providenciales. The Caicos Handcraft Co-op at The MarketPlace will take over the wholesale inventory, marketing and distribution operations under a separate business license. Over 60 artisans are fulfilling an active role and legislation now exists for a registered co-operative to be formed, owned and operated by the members.

Hopefully, the longtime dream of four friends will soon be real: an established and stable cottage industry of crafts, handmade in TCI. As a secure income becomes attainable for more self-employed individuals, the Co-op fulfills the original goals of preserving, promoting and protecting TCI culture, while diversifying local income potential.

THE FUTURE

The Middle Caicos Co-op — the artisans and many volunteers — have worked hard to achieve a resurgence of traditional TCI craft production. They are now ready to reach out into the market across the Islands and abroad with a website, but the future for traditional straw work and new handcrafts is fragile. Deliberately stimulating supply to create a significant inventory, the Caicos Handcraft Co-op is overflowing with a wide range of wonderful TCI handcrafts . . . and more steadily arrive!

An open opportunity exists to contribute to TCI’s future cultural health — as a retailer looking for goods to display/sell, as a volunteer interested in handcrafts, as an artisan member, as a company wanting displays or decorations for the office, as a promoter looking for event gifts/prizes, as an individual looking to buy presents! All these types of assistance and active interest are needed to stabilize the Co-op as an ongoing business and to support the growing numbers of artisans.

In addition, funds are being sought to enable the registered, legal Co-op to take over all the operations and business developed to date. A copy of the project proposal is available on request. The dream is tangibly close — an open, non-profit, stable co-operative, its business operations managed by its members to promote traditional TCI handcrafts, new local works made in TCI and local culture. Let’s make “Handmade in TCI” a proud, visible statement that TCI heritage and creativity are valuable.

The Caicos Handcraft Co-op Wholesale Depot is open at The MarketPlace in Providenciales on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 AM to 3 PM. For more information, fax (649) 946-6132 or e-mail middlecaicos@tciway.tc.

Mmmmm, just the thought of a plate of some homemade Turks & Caicos native food is enough to make my mouth water. (Yours also, if you are lucky enough to have sampled a dish or two.) Now I’m not talking about the new “fast food” culture of deep fried chicken wings and french fries drowned in hot sauce and catsup! No, I’m talking about the real deal. Dishes like Buds & Rice and Okra Soup. Dry Conch & Hominy. Cod Fish Cakes and Corn Bread. Stew Conch with Peas and Hominy. Chicken Soup and Pork Souse, Boil Fish & Johnny Cake, Steam Conch, Stew Fish & Grits . . . and the list goes on.

Many local restaurants sell some of these dishes, but it seems that most of the meals we eat these days consist of either chicken, beef, ox tail, pork chop, ribs or steak served with potato salad, baked macaroni and cheese and plantain. These meals dominate the scene due to the availability of the products and also to the fact that people can now afford to spend top dollar to buy these foods at the supermarkets.

Despite this trend, if you look closely and make a few inquiries, you will still be able to find authentic local dishes being made and served to the lucky few that know where to go. (Remember that the type of dishes varies from island to island, but there is always one or two local restaurants or someone cooking out of their home on each of the Islands that really make you want to eat until you drop because the food is so good.)

FAST FOOD
It’s a blessing that, so far, we do not have American fast food restaurants and chains like McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and others in this country. I hope it stays that way. Their presence will surely bring a quick demise to the culture of authentic local cuisine. It’s hard enough these days to get good local dishes on a daily basis, let alone if the native chefs had to compete with the fast food industry offering low-cost junk food.

To an extent, we already see this happen with the chicken wings and fries shacks that are popping up all over. They offer meals for a few dollars from morning until late hours at night. Many natives on the go hardly cook at home anymore and sometimes they don’t want to pay the price for authentic local dishes. What many people fail to understand is that there are less fishermen out there fishing and diving for conch or farmers growing vegetables, so the cost for the raw ingredients is high and built into the cost of the food.

Many cooks are also using products such as catsup and canned ingredients with additional herbs and seasonings not originally found in these Islands. This can change the authentic taste of Island dishes. Ask the senior citizens and they will surely tell you that foods these days don’t taste as good as the simple dishes of their days because the fare is over-spiced, over-cooked and prepared with inferior ingredients.

WILL THE REAL TURKS & CAICOS NATIVE DISHES PLEASE STEP FORWARD?
To understand our local cuisine, you need only look at the lifestyle of the native people 100 years ago. Life was tough and they tried to survive on what they had around them. The ocean was the most reliable source for food and farming was done in conditions that were generally quite difficult. Corn, fruits and vegetables did grow — especially in the Caicos Islands where the soil was rich and fertile — providing carbohydrates, minerals and natural sugars in the form of corn, hominy, ground vegetables and fruits, while the sea provided protein and salt.

Today, many people think that “Peas & Rice” is what our ancestors ate since it is now a staple in the local diet, but the fact is that rice never grew in these islands. Rice came much later via trade with Haiti and Jamaica, though Grand Turk natives had access to a variety of imported food due to boats coming regularly for the salt trade.

The main staple in the Caicos Islands was hominy (or grits) made from a local type of corn called “Guinea Corn” that was ground in a hand mill to produce both hominy and flour to make Corn Bread. Long before we had “Peas & Rice” we had “Peas & Hominy.” Locally grown pigeon peas were added to hominy along with chunks of dry conch and sometimes (when available) bits of pig tail for flavoring.

“Peas & Hominy” was only one part of the meal. Because there was always a bit of uncertainty as to what would be served with it, the native folks use to say that dinner would be “Peas & Hominy and ‘Penn On’.” The word “Penn On” comes from the English phrase, “Depend On,” so the evening meal depended on whatever the husband would bring in off the boat. One day it could be Bonefish, the next Snapper, the other Turtle, and so on.

Valerie Forbin, the Tourist Board’s Assistant Director of Cultural Development, once told me that if we ever have a national dish, it would have to be “Peas & Hominy and Penn On” and I do agree. Both beef and fish were “corned” (cured in salt) since there was no refrigeration and were served as special dishes and not as the daily weekday meals.

OTHER NATIVE DISHES
Young leaves from the Cactus/Pear Bush (Opuntia dillenii) and Pear Bush Buds, which resemble Okra, were consumed. Okra was also added to the hominy and later, Crab was added to the rice the came from Jamaica and Haiti. Potato Bread, Cod Fish, Cod Fish Cakes and Red Bean Soup are local favorites.

Many different types of fish and seafood cooked in various ways were usually the complement to the rice or hominy. A popular breakfast on the weekends is “Boil Fish & Grits” some times served with “Johnny Cake.” Boil Fish & Johnny Cake is also a favorite choice for lunch.
The delicious Johnny Cake is really a kind of sweet pan bread that is baked, and the name comes from the phrase “Journey Cake.” This was the bread the sailors and fishermen would take with them on their journey aboard ship since it lasted a long time before spoiling. Over time, the word “Journey” was corrupted by the local accent and became “Johnny.”

Steam Conch & Grits, Conch Stew (with lots of gravy), Peas Soup and Dumplings, Okra Soup, Bread Pudding, Ginger Bread and Potato Bread all have a special place in the hearts of the generations that grew up in these Islands before the influx of canned and frozen foreign goods. Each of the six main inhabited Islands had their own specialty.

ISLAND SPECIALTIES
Each of the six inhabited islands have their own special way of making these native dishes and because of location and soil conditions, each island offered a variety of ingredients not found or used elsewhere.
Salt Cay was known for Whelk Soup and the famous Salt Cay Candy. Whelk Soup was made from the small whelks (mussels) that live on the rocks in shallow waters.

Although all the islands produced fish, South Caicos was known for its delicious Bone Fish and seafoods. South Caicos was the site for the very first canning factories in the Turks & Caicos and shipped Caicos lobster tail as far as Canada.

Middle Caicos Dry Conch was known for its sweetness and tenderness. North Caicos, the most fertile of all our islands, produced a variety of vegetables and fruits such as sugar apples, sapodillas, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, cabbages, cucumbers, okra and tomatoes. Both Middle and North Caicos were known for their potato bread and stew conch.

Providenciales, like South Caicos, relied on fishing and the lobsters found around her shores are said to have a special tenderness.

Grand Turk, the nation’s capital, has an abundance of cactus and prickly pear bushes and buds that were (and still are) used in both hominy and rice dishes. Cows were slaughtered at least three times a month at the Cow House on West Road and therefore Grand Turk had more available beef than did the other islands (although they did have turtle, hogs (pigs) and some cattle.) Land crabs, small birds, bird eggs and baby hatchlings called “Bo Bos” found on the Cays were eaten by fishermen who spent time drying conch there. Occasionally, Rock Iguanas and Flamingos were also eaten.

THE JAMAICAN AND HAITIAN CONNECTION
Changes in the way our ancestors prepared foods along with new additions to the diet came when trade to Haiti became a necessity. Conch by the hundreds of thousands dried on the Cays and, via sailboat, were taken to Haiti to trade for rice, flour, salted pig tails, fruits, spices, rum, oil, clothes, furniture and utensils needed for daily life. Islanders were also able to exchange dry conch for US dollars, since Haiti had the American dollar long before we did. We owe a great debt to our Haitian neighbors and they continue to provide fruits and vegetables at very reasonable prices to these islands, especially Providenciales.

Trade with Jamaica boomed when the Turks & Caicos found itself under Jamaican rule from 1873 until Jamaica’s independence in 1962. Rice, lumber, kerosene oil, peas, salt and corned beef, salt pork, chickens, tools, pork and beans and cloth all found its way to the Islands when sailors and merchants on steamships and our own two-masted schooners braved the open ocean to provide the items needed for survival. Of course they not only brought back goods, but also new varieties of dishes. Curry goat and curry chicken, two well-known Jamaican dishes that actually found their way to Jamaica via its large population of East Indians, are now an integral part of our local cuisine.

Jamaica was (and still is) a place of higher learning. Many of our distinguished leaders, teachers, lawyers and businessmen and women were schooled at the University of the West Indies (UWI), University of Technology (UTECH), Micro Teachers College and other top rate schools in Jamaica.

Jerk Pork and Jerk Chicken, along with Beef Patties and Coco Bread have recently made inroads into mainstream restaurants here due to the influx of Jamaican workers. They find our term “Peas & Rice” rather strange since they feel that their “Rice & Peas” is the original Island rice dish. (Now that’s another story.)

THE MACARONI & CHEESE AND POTATO SALAD INVASION
It is difficult to say exactly when macaroni & cheese and potato salad, along with meats such as pork chop, barbeque chicken and ribs took over but it’s fair to say that it must have started when boxed dry goods and frozen foods found their way to the Islands. Macaroni & cheese and potato salad are found throughout the Caribbean, with slight differences in the way they are prepared. This points to the availability of inexpensive imported American products.

In the Turks & Caicos, we originally made macaroni & cheese the British way, which is more layered. In recent years, however, many young people tend to follow the Bahamian way of just mixing all the ingredients together or just use Kraft Macaroni & Cheese boxes off the market’s shelves.

These days almost every local function where food is served will include macaroni & cheese and potato salad along with peas & rice and barbeque chicken, ribs or fried fish and fried plantain. This combination has become sort of the unofficial national dish of the Turks & Caicos. Tell this to a senior citizen and you are sure to get a lecture on the health benefits of peas & hominy with dry conch and how it, more then anything, deserves the title of National Dish.

THE BAHAMIAN CONNECTION
We have a lot in common with the Bahamas and at times, it’s almost impossible to distinguish one cuisine from the other. Bahamian cuisine utilizes conch, peas and rice cooked with beef and pig tail, and chicken and fish cooked in a variety of ways (fried, baked, grilled, stewed, steamed and soused.)

Crack conch, conch salad and scorch conch are a few typically Bahamian dishes that have found their way into the cultural cuisine of the Turks & Caicos. (Although many Turks & Caicos Islanders think it’s the other way around.) We share a love for conch fritters but generally, dry, steam and stew conch were mostly used in these Islands. We only recently started eating raw conch and dishes like conch salad.

During the exodus to the Bahamas for a better life during the hard years of the early 1900s, our people, mainly from the Caicos Islands, took with them the recipes for the dishes they were accustomed to and merged them with the ones already existing in the Bahamas. I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of the debate over who influenced whom and what dishes originated where since we are so intertwined with the culture and history of the Bahamas. The fact remains that these dishes are delicious and are here to stay for all to enjoy.

HEALTH ISSUES
It is a well known fact that high blood pressure (hypertension), heart disease, diabetes, asthma, obesity and intestinal problems have increased at an alarming rate since the shift in the local diet from native foods to imported foods. There is medical proof that over-consumption of meat products, deep-fried foods such as wings and french fries, peas and rice cooked with beef, bacon and pig tail, and salt and sugar products such as chips and sodas is responsible for these health problems.

The obesity that plagues both adults and children of this country is directly related to the consumption of too much oily foods and high fat meats, lack of substantial vegetable dishes and too much salt and sugar intake.

The majority of school lunches consist of potato chips, chicken wings, sodas, fries and maybe the odd apple or banana. This is no way to feed our children. The famous “Tuck Shop” and Food Vans that sell snacks at many schools need to stock more fruits, natural juices and native foods instead of this junk. Parents need to introduce their children to the foods and lifestyle that made their parents and grandparents strong and healthy.

Children would benefit from eating more Dry Conch & Grits/Hominy made from real Caicos corn and conch from the ocean that surrounds their island home. They need vegetables such as Sweet Potatoes, Eddo (eddy), Okra, Cassava, Green Beans, Pigeon Peas, Cabbage, Tomatoes, Yams and Peppers. They also need fresh fish and seafoods cooked the old way.

Unfortunately, vegetables form a very small part of the new Turks & Caicos diet. This “side dish” usually consists of a slice or two of tomato with a few leaves of lettuce drowned in salad dressing. Then there are the little heaps of canned sweet peas and corn and carrots, courtesy of the Jolly Green Giant. Cole slaw (cabbage with carrots and raisins) is a popular vegetable dish but this too is drowned in heaps of mayonnaise and sweetened with sugar.

Children need to eat more fresh fruits and drink juices, drinks and teas made from the native bushes, fruits and leaves. This is the only way to ensure a healthier population and, at the same time, preserve our native cuisine.

Story by David Bowen, Cultural Officer, Turks & Caicos Tourist Board

One of the very first tasks I put to myself, as the Tourist Board’s newly appointed Cultural Officer, was to work on getting a national costume recognized. Throughout my travels and many years abroad, I have seen a number of countries displaying their national costumes during national holidays, celebrations and cultural shows. When I moved back home to the Turks & Caicos in the mid 1990s, I worked at Beaches Resort as Entertainment Manager, and during that time I had to use the Jamaican national costume (due to a lack of our own), for some of my productions and group functions where a “Native Island look” was required.

The Jamaican national dress is called the Bandana. It is quite beautiful and when I later learnt the meaning and history behind its design, pattern and colors, I was very impressed. That made me curious as to why Turks & Caicos did not have a national dress of our own, since we did have somewhat of a interesting and colorful past including English Loyalists, Bermudian salt rakers and African-American and African slaves.

THE START OF AN IDEA
In August 2001, the Tourist Board asked me to assist a group of students who were representing the Turks & Caicos in a youth conference being held in Guyana. As part of the conference, each group of students had to perform something highlighting their native culture. With the help of Youth Director Craig Archibold as musical director, I choreographed and directed a ten-minute medley of folk songs and dances for the group to perform. During a rehearsal, I asked the students what type of costume was being worn for the performance and was told, “A T-shirt and jeans for the boys and a skirt and T-shirt for the girls.” That response really turned my head. Here we were representing the country and culture on the international stage and no thought was given to the type of truly native costume our group would be displaying.

With haste I put together an “Island Look” of loose pants, straw hats and colorful print shirts from my personal assortment of costumes, but in the end the group had to have costumes made in Guyana. Despite this, the Turks & Caicos group actually won First Prize for Best Cultural Presentation — quite a feat considering the rich cultural heritage of the other Caribbean nations attending — and I always felt it would have left a more lasting impression if our group were dressed in a national costume.

Shortly after signing on with the Tourist Board a few weeks later, I put the national costume on top of my “Things to Do” list. I am proud to say that eight months later, on June 1, 2002, the National Dress made its debut in the nation’s capital of Grand Turk during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebration. What follows is the story behind the development of the Turks & Caicos National Dress.

AN IDEA SHARED BY MANY
Over the years, there have been many designs, dresses and costumes presented in cultural shows, parades, pageants, international performances and Tourist Board functions with the good intention of displaying and representing our country. Some were African in style and design; some had a typical generic Caribbean flair while others were made to look like the symbols of what was felt at the time to represent our heritage and culture. There were some fantastic costumes made to resemble the Turks Head Cactus, the Conch Shell, the Hibiscus Flower and even a Lobster, but nothing stuck.

In 1994, Valerie Forbin, then the Tourist Board’s Information Officer (now the Assistant Director of Cultural Development) and Stanley Astwood began a campaign to introduce a number of national symbols and among the items on their list was a quest for a national dress. The idea at the time was to have a design somewhat like a costume used by the Turks & Caicos Cultural Group under the direction of Joe Robinson. (A photograph can be seen on the jacket of the record album “Bonefish Bitin’,” a recording of folk songs made by the group.) Unfortunately, red tape and a lack of interest put the project on the back burner until September, 2001 when Ms. Forbin gave a copy of her national symbol proposal to me when she discovered that I was very interested and sincere in my quest to research and help develop a national dress for Turks & Caicos Islanders.

The problem was, of course, deciding what kind of design would accurately represent our nation and its unique cultural heritage. A national dress should reflect a country’s history and culture and at the same time, represent the various aspects of its diverse population, industry, beauty and character.

With 40 islands and cays, several different industries and most of our settlements separated by water, trying to define our cultural heritage in a single costume presented a huge challenge. The natives on each of the six inhabited islands (Grand Turk, Salt Cay, South Caicos, Middle Caicos, North Caicos and Providenciales) are known to be very patriotic to their island home, so any design that leaned too much towards one island or another would truly upset the others. It would be a tricky situation to please all and at the same time honestly represent the nation as a whole. Clear thinking and an impartial viewpoint were needed . . . and let’s not forget, lots of luck!

THE BEGINNING
The task began at the library, researching and studying the national costumes of the world for background information on their history and reasons for the various styles, colors and designs. Some were very simple, like the national dress of Israel, while others were flamboyant and spectacular, like the costume of Thailand, but in the end one thing became very clear: the vast majority of the designs were based on what the working people wore during the developing stages of their country. What was truly fascinating was that almost every part of the costumes had meaning and reflected important aspects of the culture, people and history.

Armed with this information, the next stop was the Turks & Caicos National Museum, where Brian Riggs and Nigel Sadler provided photographs, sketches and written descriptions on the background, work clothes and lifestyle of the salt rakers, farmers, fishermen and plantation slaves who lived and worked in the Islands. Senior citizens such as James Dean, Alton Higgs, Mary Quelch, Stanley Fulford, Constance Hall, Mr. & Mrs. Walter Malcolm and Mr. & Mrs. Donald Hamilton, just to name a few, were also consulted since they were able to talk from experience about what was worn and what daily life was like in the early years.

I learnt that our ancestors’ dress was basic and practical. Clothes were usually handed down and reused since there was not much wealth in those days. It didn’t take long to realize that what they wore represented a simple and humble lifestyle.

WHAT THEY WORE

The ladies’ dresses were long and hung around the calf and ankle. They were usually tied, gathered, or hung loose at the waist. The sleeves were both long and short with a modest collar. In the Caicos Islands, sometimes pants were worn under the dresses as protection from mosquitoes and bugs. Materials and fabrics such as cotton, denim, oznerburg cloth, flour bags, khaki, croca sacks, drill, and chambray were all used to make clothes. Headscarfs and handmade wide-brim straw hats, made from the dried leaves of the Silver Palm top, were worn to provide protection from the sun while working in the fields or bagging salt. In the Caicos Islands, both women and men wore slippers made from leaves or grass, but the majority of the people worked barefoot. In later years, “Wompers” — handmade shoes made from washed-up materials — came into fashion.

The men wore simple shirts and loose pants, which they rolled up to the calf or knee while they worked. Belts or a piece of rope kept their pants up. Shirts had both short and long sleeves, which were also rolled up while working.

Handmade straw hats completed the outfit, providing shade from the burning sun on fishing boats and while raking salt in the ponds or picking cotton and sisal on the plantations. On Sundays and special occasions such as weddings, funerals or going “courting,” the natives would wear their best outfits. For the women, it was usually a white or colorful print dress with a “church hat” and a pair of leather shoes with a short heel. The men always had a jacket or coat suit (usually black), a white shirt and they always sported a hat.

DECIDING ON A DESIGN
With all this information in mind, I drew a simple picture and armed with this design, I went around getting input and suggestions from co-workers, friends and knowledgeable persons in the community. I received some good and constructive feedback and came to the conclusion that the design was on the mark.

The next problem was that of what kind of material to use. This problem was solved in late January when I noticed that everywhere, cotton trees were in bloom. Cotton is lightweight, cool, and easy to cut and sew and it was also a vibrant industry in these Islands before the boll weevil destroyed the cotton plantations in the late 1700s.

REPRESENTING THE ISLANDS, HERITAGE AND CULTURE
Because the local population on each of the six inhabited islands is very patriotic to their island home, the national dress would have to somehow represent each island and its subculture equally. Luckily Valerie, then the Tourist Board’s Information Officer, had been printing brochures about each island for visiting tourists. To distinguish one from the other she used various colored paper. The idea to color code the islands was a natural, but more research had to be conducted into what color best suited each island.

With the help of Valerie, Tourist Board Public Relations Manager Jackie Mulligan — with the input of Nigel Sadler, director of the Turks & Caicos Museum — devised a color scheme and eight colors were chosen with each island’s special quality in mind. There were six colors for the main islands and two others for symbols of national pride. It was very important that the color layout and overall design also function as an educational tool, with information and facts about the culture, history and heritage of each island and the nation as a whole.

CHOOSING THE COLORS
RED was chosen to represent the nation’s capital, Grand Turk. The color is taken from the red/pink fruit found on the national plant, the Turks Head Cactus. They were once found in abundance on Grand Turk before they were removed to accommodate the salt ponds.

WHITE was chosen to represent Salt Cay. The color came from salt. The salt industry was largely responsible for populating the islands of Salt Cay, Grand Turk and South Caicos.

ORANGE was chosen to represent South and East Caicos. The color comes from the Spiny Lobster and fish and reflects the fishing industry in the “Big South.”

TAN was chosen to represent Middle Caicos. The color is taken from the raw material (thatch) that once covered the roofs of the houses. It is also used to make straw hats, baskets and brooms. Middle Caicos is known for the superior quality of native craftwork.

GREEN was chosen to represent North Caicos and Parrot Cay. The color is taken from the fruit trees and other types of trees that flourish in the most fertile of all the islands. North Caicos is also home of Wade’s Green Plantation, the most successful of Caicos Islands cotton plantations.

TURQUOISE was chosen to represent the islands of Providenciales, Pine Cay and West Caicos. The color is taken from the beautiful turquoise waters that surround these islands on which our famous Caicos fishing sloops sail. These turquoise waters also contribute to our newest industry, tourism.

PINK was chosen to represent the beautiful conch shell, flamingoes and the numerous uninhabited cays that make up our chain of islands.

YELLOW represents God’s glory as the sun shining down on all our beautiful islands and cays. The sun also contributes to our newest industry, tourism.

Finally, it was very important to bring out the individual island pride when folks wore their national dresses. I wanted people to be proud of their island home and also make it easy to recognize and identify which island the individual called home. Using the color scheme, the scarf and sash worn by the women corresponds with the color chosen for their island home. Men display their color as a band on their hats.

(1) Colors must follow a specific pattern. For the women, the first four colors must be laid out in the following order — Yellow, Red, White and Orange — and are worn on their sleeves. The remaining four colors in this order — Tan, Green, Turquoise and Pink Ñ are worn along the base of their dresses. The men must display the first four colors on the right sleeve and the other four on the left.

(2) Straw hats MUST be worn, with the appropriate scarf, sash and hatband. (Footwear optional.)

The National Dress of the Turks & Caicos Islands symbolizes the humble, hard-working life of our ancestors, who raked the salt ponds, toiled in the fields on the various plantations, fished the oceans and harvested conch and sponges on our many islands. Its rainbow of colors boldly highlights our natural beauty and symbolizes the unique characteristics of each of our many islands. It should be worn with pride and dignity, as a statement of our love and respect for this wonderful country, not only by Belongers but by all who call the Turks & Caicos Islands home.

The art of storytelling (or, as the old folks say “talking ol’ stories”), like much of our cultural heritage is hardly ever practiced these days. We are a nation of short attention spans, addicts to the quick thrill. The TV and cable remote control are forever taking us from one adventure to another in the wink of an eye. We never seem to be satisfied with one program, we have to see it all and the less we use our imagination the better. It is easy to see why the simple art of the oral tradition of storytelling is almost extinct not only here in the Turks & Caicos, but all over the world. People simply have no time to sit and listen.

Parents spend millions of dollars each year buying storybooks to entertain their children because they have no time to sit and “talk old stories” to their kids. These children, like their parents, have even shorter attention spans and are given more and more sophisticated toys and games each year. Unless there are buttons to press, knobs to turn, an LCD screen to view or a keypad to punch in codes, most children are simply not interested in the spoken word. Another factor is the comparison between the old story characters that were simple and plain compared to the new characters like Pokemon, Blue Bear and superheroes that are just plain “cool.”

With all this in mind, I have set out to revive the art of storytelling here in the Turks & Caicos in a way that brings the stories and the characters into the 21st century and will appeal to both parent and child. But first, let’s go back and look at some facts about storytelling, the characters and the storytellers.

THE ORAL TRADITION
In the past, the oral tradition of storytelling was the way information was passed down from generation to generation. Storytelling held a high place in many cultures and still does in remote areas of the world yet untouched by modern lifestyles and technology. The “Animal” stories in the Caribbean have links to African-American tales of the Uncle Remus tradition, who in turn have direct links to Africa, especially the West African Gold Coast of Ghana and the Ashanti people–the birthplace of “Anancy the Spider.” Our British and European connection brought stories by Hans Christian Andersen (such as the “Little Mermaid”), the “Ugly Ducking” and the “Aesop’s Fables” with their ancient Greek roots and wonderful morals and lessons. The following story is an example of “Aesop’s Fables” called “The Ant and the Dove.”

An Ant, going to a river to drink, fell in, and was carried along in the stream. A Dove, seeing this, plucked a leaf from a tree and let it fall close to the Ant. The Ant climbed onto it and floated safely to the bank. Shortly afterwards, the Ant saw a man aiming a slingshot at the Dove and stung him on the foot sharply, making him miss his aim and so saved the Dove’s life.
Moral: “One good turn deserves another” or “Little friends may prove great friends.”

Stories like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and “Cinderella” that are European in origin are retold here in the Islands without many parents, children, teachers or storytellers really questioning the fact that we don’t have bears, blond hair or castles. These stories have crossed cultural boundaries because they stimulate something within each of us, no matter what race, color or creed . . . our imagination.

UNCLE REMUS
In America, the main characters of the “Uncle Remus” tales written by Joel Chandler Harris are the Rabbit and the Fox known as Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. The “Brer” is an early African-American abbreviation for “Brother.” Uncle Remus is an old Negro slave who holds the full attention of the seven year-old son of his master when he relays the tales and stories of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and a host of other characters. Many of these stories have parallels all over Europe, the Old and the New World. It is difficult to trace the origins since the cultures of the African slaves, the American Indians and the Europeans were well mixed and over time they took from each other, put in their own cultural twists, dialect and nuances and retold the tales.

THE CHARACTERS
Throughout the Caribbean, the spider Anancy (Ananci, Ananse), also known as Brer ‘Nancy, is the most popular character. He is wise, cunning, greedy, lazy and full of tricks, and he rules supreme over the other animals. Anancy is both the hero and the villain, both loveable and sinister, and is known to have magical powers and lives by his wits. Among the Ashanti people he is known as “Ananci Krokoko,” translated as “The Great Spider,” and is a symbol of wisdom.

In the world of storytelling, all the animals and insects have the power of speech. They dress like humans, live like humans and think like humans. They are very much a reflection of us and often show our human weaknesses, stupidity, greed and ignorance. That is why we can relate to them and often see people or ourselves as the hero, villain or trickster in the stories. There are numerous characters in the form of the Goat, Rabbit, Tiger, Monkey, Dog, Snake and Donkey, to name a few.

Here in the Turks & Caicos, the main characters are “Brer Rabbie” the Rabbit (also known as “Brer Yabbie”), “Brer Bookie” the Goat and “Anancy” the Spider. Salt rakers and their masters brought the tales here from Bermuda to Grand Turk and Salt Cay and the plantation slaves in the Caicos Islands from the Carolinas brought the Uncle Remus stories from America and the Anancy stories from Africa.

DIALECT IN STORYTELLING
Dialect plays an important part in telling a story. The use of local dialect makes the situation with the characters real and funny. It also gives the story color and life, but for persons whose ears are not used to hearing the unique sounds and pronunciations of a particular dialect, the stories could be confusing and difficult to understand.

In Jamaica, stories are told in the local “Patois” and I recall listening to a recording of the popular storyteller there, Louise Benne’ Tiger.” Even though I knew the story, I was unable to follow her rendition because of the use of the patois. By the time I figured out one line, she had moved on two or three ahead. The following is an excerpt from the story by Louise Bennett, written in patois with a Standard English translation after.

Anancy talking to Tiger:
“Lawd, Bra Tigar, me hooda glad fi goh wid yuh, but afta me soh sick, me disha dead wid me belly an me cyaan walk a tall.”

(“Lord, Brother Tiger, I would have been glad to go with you, but I am so sick, I feel like I’m going to die with this stomachache and I cannot walk at all.”)

After my difficulty with the Jamaican patois, I became very sensitive and aware of my use of local dialect when telling a story to persons from abroad since I want all listening to understand. For the local population though, the stronger the dialect the funnier the story.

THE STORYTELLERS
The use of the voice, a command of local dialect, acting and musical ability, and a good memory and quick mind are all part of the tools of a storyteller. He or she must be able to draw the audience into the story, to actually see the characters. Timing and a sense for comedy is also another very important tool. The storyteller must also have the ability to read his audience. A story cannot be told the same way twice since the mood, location, age of the audience and time of day creates variables the storyteller must be sensitive to and make the appropriate changes, otherwise the dramatic of comic effect is lost.

Mr. Kenton Wyatt, who is very influential in sparking my cultural interest in storytelling, introduced me to the use of the drum. Kenton uses a drum to create the mood and set the tone of the story the same way directors use music in movies. The drum draws the listener in and keeps his attention.

THE NEW ANANCY
A few years ago, I spoke to Kenton about acting out the parts of the characters of a story on stage as the storyteller told the story. It wasn’t until this year that I got a chance to try it out and found it to be a big hit with both children and adults. As Kenton, who possesses a deep bass voice and the hands of a master drummer, tells an Anancy story, I would contort myself into a position and become Anancy the Spider. The story takes on a new twist with this visual aid and it also helps to create more interest among our people in storytelling.

During the last Tourism Awareness Week Islands Tour, the TUCA Cultural Group performed all the parts and characters of the “Anancy and B’bookie Daughters” story to audiences on all of our family Islands. We were delighted at the response, so I plan to take a small group into the schools next year to promote storytelling and the cultural arts.

I have also started a collection of local folk tales and if you know any old stories (or if you know someone who does) please contact me in care of the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board, Stubbs Diamond Plaza, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI. Tel: 649-946-4970, Fax: 649-941-5494.

Story and Photos by David Bowen, Cultural Officer, Turks & Caicos Tourist Board

I can still recall the day I was reintroduced to the sweet, unique sound of ripsaw music. It was exactly two weeks to the day since I had moved back to Grand Turk after being away for close to 20 years. There was some kind of party going on in the Over Back settlement and I happened to be driving on Lighthouse Road on my way back home. As I made the turn on Duncombe’s Alley, I saw a group of guys sitting on a wall banging on a drum, scraping a saw, hitting on a few bottles and singing at the top of their lungs the old folk song, “Uncle Lou.”

“Did you see Uncle Lou
When he fall in the well
Oh, Oh Uncle Lou when he fall in the well.
He fell so deep,
til he went straight to hell
Oh, Oh Uncle Lou
when he fall in the well.”

Being a musician myself, I was drawn to the music and immediately struck by how powerful the sounds of these simple instruments were. I sat and listened for close to two hours and even ended up tapping out a rhythm on an old beer bottle with a nail, but it was the saw player that really held my interest. The simple, but ingenious way he got high and low sounds by bending the saw to extreme angles while “ripping” out a rhythm with an old knife across the teeth of the saw was fascinating. Every once in a while, I was able to hear the wobbled over tones produced by the hitting, bending and scraping that really made the music come alive.

I left those guys playing on that wall and I sang all the way home, very much moved by the experience of hearing my native music once again. I even got out the old saw from the shed in my grandmother’s back yard and quickly discovered that “ripsaw” was as much fun to play as it was to listen to.

What is Ripsaw Music?
Ripsaw music is the national music of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Accompanied by instruments such as the accordion, concertina, goat and cow skin drums, triangle, shakers (maracas), box guitar and conga drums, the common carpenter saw is used as the featured instrument, producing a rhythmic foundation for the rest of band.

The term “ripsaw” comes from the local name for the handsaw. The term also refers to the “ripping” sound produced by the action of passing a metal object called the “scraper” (usually an old knife) along the side of the saw’s teeth. The resulting sound is similar to that of paper being torn or ripped. There are several theories as to why the carpenter saw was used as an instrument and like all indigenous folk music, our ripsaw is the product of the passion of a people looking for a way to produce sound and music with available materials.

According to one theory, the natives of the Turks & Caicos were exposed to the music of the Dominican Republic and Haiti through trade. Both of these countries have a vibrant cultural heritage where music plays a major role. Their use of instruments such as the accordion, Guido, grater and round goat or cow skin drums, called conga or tambou, influenced the music and musicians of the Turks & Caicos. Due to a lack of natural resources and materials in the Islands to reproduce the instruments, our ancestors found ways to make square and round drums which were heated over a fire to tighten and tune the skin and they duplicated the ripping and scraping sound of the Guido by using the jagged edges of the saw.

Another theory states that the slaves of the Loyalists who fled the United States and settled in the Caicos Islands brought saw playing here. These slaves reproduced on the saw the sound of their native African instrument, the Shekere (pronounced Shaker-ray) and made simple hand drums to duplicate the sound of the Djembe (pronounced Jem-bay).

Ripsaw and Rake & Scrape Local ripsaw band “Eat Mullets & Play Music”
There is much debate as to the origin of the use of the saw, but it is safe to say that our style of Ripsaw music originated and developed in the Caicos Islands–Middle and North Caicos in particular. According to local musician and cultural historian Lovey Forbes, it is in these Islands where we find the roots of our native cultural explosion. To this day, most the best drummers and ripsaw players come from Middle and North Caicos.

The Bahamas has also claimed ownership to ripsaw but Junkanoo is considered their national music. Their version of Ripsaw is called Rake & Scrape, a term which describes the action and method of playing the saw by the musician. (He “rakes” and “scrapes.”) As our countries share a common history and cultural heritage, it is difficult to dispute claims by either side. However this much is clear, Ripsaw music is played on every inhabited island of the Turks & Caicos and is nationally celebrated as a Turks & Caicos cultural art form.

Cat Island is the only Bahamian Family Island that celebrates “Rake & Scrape” on a grand scale. The whole island is involved in the annual Cat Island Rake and Scrape music festival during the Bahamian Labor Day holiday in June. The Turks & Caicos have strong ties to Cat Island, where many of our people settled during the lean years here at home. Eris Moncur, president of the Cat Island Rake & Scrape Festival Committee and local historian, himself is a descendent of the Stubbs family of the Turks & Caicos. In the Cat Island festival, only the saw, concertina and conga drum are used as the main instruments for the contest.

Cultural Exodus
The movement of a people from one country to another is bound to affect the culture and cultural development of the host country. During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, on invitation from the Bahamian government who was looking for laborers and contract workers to augment their work force, there was a mass exodus from the Turks & Caicos Islands to the Bahamas. Since things were tough in those days, many Islanders left looking for a better life in Inagua, Cat Island, Nassau and Pine Ridge in Grand Bahama.

As the Bahamian economy grew, many choose to remain and settle in the Bahamas and sent for their families to join them. Naturally they took with them all aspects of their cultural heritage, such as ripsaw music, folk songs, stories and ring games. Over time, this has woven itself into the cultural fabric and folklore of the Bahamas.

Bahamian music and culture was highly influenced by Turks & Caicos natives and their music. It was amazing to discover that so many “Bahamian” musical stars are actually native Turks & Caicos Islanders and many others are first generation descendants of Turks Island workers. For many years it was difficult to be a Turks Islander in the Bahamas. Many of our people held their tongues and claimed Bahamian roots to avoid ridicule, prosecution and deportation.
Bahamians are often surprised to discover that many of their local artists and musicians are indeed Turks Islanders. The #1 gospel group in the Bahamas, The Cooling Waters, are all Turks Islanders. Singing stars and musicians like Marvin Handfield, Count Bernardino, Perry Delancy, Leo Jones, Sly Roker and Bradley Dean, just to name a few, are all native Turks & Caicos Islanders who helped shape the Bahamian music scene.

In recent years, with the return of many Belongers and their descendants from the Bahamas due to the economic boom we are now experiencing in the Turks & Caicos, there are bound to be significant cultural changes in music, dance and entertainment as these “T.I.–Bahamians” are in effect reintroducing a hybrid of Turks & Caicos culture in the form of Bahamian-style calypso and Junkanoo. Bahamian Junkanoo is now influencing our local festivals. Junkanoo parades were known as “Massin” or “Jump Up” in the early years and the groups were mainly made up of ripsaw musicians. Now, cowbells, whistles and a brass section have replaced the saw, accordion, shakers, conch shells and glass bottles.

The two biggest and most popular Junkanoo groups are the We Funk Junkanoo Group led by Kitchener Penn and The Predators led by Wesley “Tanka” Williams. Both were involved with the top groups in Nassau and Freeport and when they returned home to the TCI brought with them the cowbells, horns and big bass drums of the exciting, colorful Bahamian-style Junkanoo that has now added a new dimension to Turks & Caicos Junkanoo.

Playing the saw is not as easy as might appear to the casual observer. One must have an incredible sense of rhythm, strong hands and stamina. The saw is held handle side up by the support hand with the teeth facing away from the body. The narrow tapered end is braced on the outside or inside of the player’s thigh. Many players choose to cover this part of the saw to avoid their clothes or skin from being cut by the blade.

The working hand holds the scraper, usually an old kitchen knife but screwdrivers, long nails and bits of strong wire have been used. The thigh acts as a brace for the saw and the support hand bends and adjusts the tone as the working hand scrapes the scraper over the teeth in time to the music.

Many first time players make the mistake of using the whole arm of the working side and tend to tire easily. According to Desmond “Dez” Misick, a local drummer and saw player, the trick is to use only the wrist to cut down on fatigue. This will enable a player to play a full show, which usually lasts between two to three hours.

When playing in a band, it’s also important to choose the right type of saw. Lovey Forbes suggests an 11 point saw with its fine teeth. The lower the points, the coarser the teeth and deeper the “Rip;” it is also a more difficult saw to play. The higher the points, the finer the teeth and the “Rip” is smoother and easier to maintain.

If saw playing is not your calling, there are many other instruments that can accompany a band. In a typical ripsaw band of yesteryear, the main instruments were the saw, the goatskin drum and the accordion or concertina. Over the years, the name “concertina” has been used to describe the accordion but they are two different instruments. They both use air to produce the sound and are similar to bellows in their construction, but their shape, size and keys are very different. The concertina is a lightweight, six-sided instrument with a keyboard a little larger then the size of a man’s hand. There are between 10 to 30 keys or knobs on each side, laid out in rows of five. Both the melody and chords are played with both hands. The accordion is much larger and heavier. It needs to be strapped on the player for support. The melody is played with the right hand on a piano-like keyboard and the bass and chords use knobs on the left.

Additional instruments such as the box guitar, harmonica, triangle, shakers, glass bottle, tin canister, conch horn, homemade tinhorns and the simple comb and paper we call “mouth organ” were all played. According to Mr. Samuel Simmons of Salt Cay, James “Jaimsee” Bassett played trumpet and jazz horn in their Salt Cay ripsaw band.
Nowadays, the electric guitar and keyboard have replaced the accordion and concertina as the lead instruments and the bass guitar and drum set make up the rhythm section, but through all these changes, the saw has maintained its place as the binding glue and rhythmic support for the band.

It is interesting to note that H.E. Sadler, on page 278 of his book, Turks Islands Landfall, refers to a local “steel band,” but does not list the steel pan among the instruments, all of which are those played in ripsaw music, so he was obviously referring to a “ripsaw band.” It is only in the last few years that the steel pan has become a part of the local music scene. It began with Allison Williams and the wonderful Provo Primary Steel Band and really made an impact with the Clement Howell High School Steel Band, under the skillful direction of music teacher Kenton Wyatt. The H.J. Robinson High School joined the trend by forming a steel band in 2001 under the direction of Mrs. Lyons, a music teacher from Trinidad.

The Saw and the Wider World
Beyond the boundaries of the Bahamian and Turks & Caicos archipelago, the saw was used to some degree in local folk music in the U.S., Europe and the Eastern Caribbean. I’ve discovered saw playing in the Caribbean island of Antigua, the “hillbilly” community of the Southern U.S.A. and, much to my surprise, Quebec, Canada.

One day, when discussing local culture and ripsaw music with Marielle and Serge Tuyssuzian, who run the Turks Head Brewery, I was quite surprised to learn that saw playing existed in Canada. The French-Canadians have a style of ripsaw music called Equoine (pronounced Aqwin). Accompanied by the violin and spoons, the saw functions as a rhythmic support for the other instruments.
In Europe, the saw was used but it was the smooth edge that was played. Instead of a scraper, a bow like those used to play the violin was used. These saws could actually play melodies and were used mainly as a solo instrument. I plan to follow up my research on the use of the saw in music throughout the world in hopes of putting on a truly international saw festival right here in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The Future of Ripsaw in the Turks & Caicos
Like most of our cultural heritage, ripsaw is now being rediscovered and appreciated by the local and expatriate population. I have big plans and dreams to expose ripsaw music to a wider audience and encourage the youth of the country to learn and develop ripsaw and take it to the next level.

Mr. Lovey Forbes has already begun a new style of ripsaw called “Combina” music. The concept came about in 1981 and the term “Combina” comes from the word combination with the “tion” removed, giving it that cultural T.I. feel and dialect. Mr. Forbes has taken the basic rhythm and sound of the saw and incorporated it into different styles of music such as reggae, pop, blues, country, gospel and calypso.

Combina music came about through a conscious effort on the part of Mr. Forbes to fuse the musical taste of our truly international population. Lovey also started a Ripsaw Jamboree to showcase the saw and its players. His son Correy held a Jamboree in North Caicos in 1995 with the hope of enticing saw players to form new bands. Bernard Been held a Junior Festival in Grand Turk in 1999 with groups from Middle Caicos, South Caicos and Grand Turk in hope of enticing the youth to take up saw playing and refocus on local cultural music as a balance for their fascination with American hip hop and rap music.

These men and these events were on the right track to promoting and exposing the ripsaw to the younger generation. Though it is important to have freedom of choice, I truly feel that our youth should be exposed from an early age to the positive aspects of their indigenous culture. This will instill pride and appreciation for their country and culture and they will be able to better manage their passion, fascination and understanding of the music and lifestyles of other cultures.

The summer of 2003 will see a spectacular performance of ripsaw music during the First Annual Turks & Caicos Ripsaw Festival. There will be bands from each island participating in this two-day event. A ripsaw competition will be held for the younger bands with cash prizes and trophies going to the best saw player, the best drummer, the best original song and, of course, the best overall band.

This festival will be a long overdue celebration of Turks & Caicos culture and ripsaw music. Liam McGuire, who held the post of Minister of Tourism from 1976-1980, realized the importance of ripsaw as a vehicle for tourism by having a band greet visitors at the airport and play for special guests at the Admiral Arms Hotel in South Caicos. I hope to revive the passion of this native music and to once again have ripsaw bands play at the airports and hotels throughout the Turks & Caicos.

I encourage you to contact me in care of the Turks & Caicos Tourist Board with names and information on other ripsaw musicians, so that my list will continue to grow and these special persons become an integral part of our cultural consciousness.

In my quest to rediscover the hidden culture of the Turks & Caicos Islands, I’ve become fascinated with our local folk songs and ring games (ring play). Since the beginning of my research throughout the Islands with a number of senior citizens groups, I have collected over 50 songs and I am sure there are many more to be discovered. It is impossible to convey the melody of the songs in print without providing the musical notation. In this article, I want to focus on the issue of folk music in the Turks & Caicos and give you a general insight on the subject.

Many of the songs are based on day-to-day life and actual events that took place in the Islands, so they become a unique source of oral history, local folklore and social commentary. The latest gossip was also expressed in song. Even to this day, there are songs one must be careful of singing in certain gatherings. During my research, the Chief Minister, Honorable Derek Taylor himself advised me to be sensitive and very careful with what songs were chosen to be performed by the cultural group because there are family members still alive who would take offence to having unflattering songs written about someone in their family performed in a public setting.

The tunes and melody of many of our folk songs are derived from British, African and American folk music, ring games, square dances and church hymns. The emphasis on rhythm, as opposed to melody, is a prominent feature of our local folk songs and ring games. With the ripsaw, goatskin drum, shakers and the triangle providing the rhythmic foundation, many songs with varying melodic lines are strung together in a continuous free flow.

Instruments like the accordion, guitar or concertina provide the basic three-chord progression to support the melody. Together with the rhythm and physical response, courtship, language and vocabulary skills are significant ingredients of traditional folk songs and ring games. The ring game “One & Twenty” introduced us to counting up to one hundred and the song “See, The Moon is Shining,” gives the boys and girls during ring play a safe way to express their feelings for each other without it being too obvious to adults.

See see see see, the moon is shining
See see see see, the moon is shining
And I like your eyes, la la la la la la
And I like your face, la la la la la la
And I like your arms, la la la la la la
And I like your hips, la la la la la la

There is no limitation to the list, so it provides the perfect vehicle to tell that special someone what you really like about him or her.
Some folk songs can appear strange and confusing until the full story is told. One such song is a little ditty out of South Caicos called “I Dig There.”

I dig there
Garland dig there
Garland push his finger in my hole
In my hole, in my hole
Garland push his finger in my hole

This song, written by Mr. Julius Jennings, tells the story of two men in South Caicos who went looking for turtle eggs and one of them took the eggs out of a hole his friend had dug up. For many years, most people raised an eyebrow when hearing the song for the first time without knowing that the line, “Garland push his finger in my hole,” was describing someone putting their hand in a turtle hole (nest) looking for eggs. According to Mrs. Tit Malcolm of South Caicos, the two characters in the story were Mr. Clement Seymour and Mr. Sidney Garland. “I Dig There” was a popular song with the ripsaw bands in South Caicos. Joe Robinson and Hugh Fulford featured this song on the album, “Bonefish Biting,” recorded in 1989 with the Turks & Caicos Cultural Group. The album was unfortunately poorly recorded, making it difficult to hear the songs clearly, so it did not make the cultural impact it should have in the schools as a source of reference for local folk music. Next year, the Tourist Board’s Cultural Department plans to record a CD and write a book of local folk and ring games as an ongoing drive to introduce a new cultural curriculum in the education system.

Not all songs were based on actual events. Some were just plain silly and humorous, while others are ambiguous and have cleverly hidden sexual overtones. The song “Conch Style,” taught to me by my aunt, Mrs. Mary “Titta” Quelch of Overback, Grand Turk, is a good example of a humorous folk song. The “Conch Style” is also a folk dance where the dancer hooks one foot around the back of the other ankle with a quick shuffle step in-between to change legs. Hooking the foot represents the claw or foot of the conch.

Monkey married to baboon sister
Kiss his lips and make it blister
What you think they had for dinner
Black eye peas and monkey liver
Conch style, oh aunt Johnny
Conch style, oh aunt Johnny

This song is obviously African in origin, for we have no monkeys or baboons in these Islands. This is a good example of the mixture of the two cultures as the conch and black-eyed peas formed a basic part of the local Turks & Caicos diet in the early years.

The songs “Sugar You Come,” a dialog between a boy and a girl and “Bonefish Biting,” about young single women, are good examples of the ambiguity of some of the tunes.

Sugar You Come
Boy: Sugar you come?
Girl: Yes I come again
Boy: What you bring?
Girl: Cake and sugar plum
Boy: Give me some?
Girl: I can’t give you none
Boy: Oh sugar, Sweet sugar

Bonefish Biting
Bonefish biting’ no one to catch them
Every married man got his own bonefish
Throw out your line catch a bonefish
Throw out your line catch a bonefish

In “Sugar You Come,” the boy is interested in the girl’s “cake and sugar plum” and being the good girl she is, she refuses, “I can’t give you none,” but the boy still tries, “Oh sugar, sweet sugar.”

“Bonefish Biting” speaks about the fact that there are many single girls looking for a husband, “bonefish biting,” but there are not enough available single males around, “no one to catch them,” while all men in the settlement have wives, “every married man got his own bonefish,” any unmarried man could have his pick of the many available single girls, “throw out your line catch a bonefish.”

The structures of our folk songs are simple and usually last for one verse and are then repeated over and over. This works well during ring play games where each person in the circle gets a turn to dance and sing in the ring. However, to break up the monotony in a dance and party setting, several songs are woven together in a medley and can go on for hours, switching from song to song supported by hand clapping and a ripsaw rhythm section. The Providenciales branch of the Senior Citizens Club, organized by Mrs. Marion Williams, taught four tunes to me that can be woven together in such a medley, jumping from one topic to another without missing a beat.

Bow Wow Wow
Bow wow wow my dog gon’ bite you
Bow wow wow my dog gon’ bite you
Throw the water in the door
So the door can’t make no noise
Bow wow wow my dog gon’ bite you

Went Jamaica
Went Jamaica spend my holiday
Went Jamaica spend my holiday
They give me ripe banana
They give me green banana
They give me coconut water
Spend my holiday

Send Her Home
Big, big sambo gal
She can’t wash, she can’t cook
Send her home to her mama gal
The gal can’t wash and the gal can’t cook
Send her home to her mama

Salt rakers sang this last song as they transported sacks of salt to be loaded in the shiphold for export.

Back Down Toby
Back Down Toby
Back Down Toby
Topsi right behind
Two more trips to make the load
And you knock off half past nine

The folk song is an oral art, not a written one. When songs move through the Islands, some words and phrases are altered, changed, mispronounced or just forgotten, making it difficult to discover the origin and writer of the tune. During the mass exodus in the 1930s through the 1960s of Turks & Caicos Islanders to the Bahamas seeking employment and eventually settling there, many of our folk songs found their way to Inagua, Freeport and Nassau. Over the years, these folk songs have been integrated into the folk culture of that country and most Bahamians do not realize how much of an impact Turks Islanders made on the musical and cultural scene in the Bahamas. I will explore that issue more fully in my next article on “Ripsaw Music and our Musical Heritage.”

It is becoming increasingly rare these days to find the youth of the country learning and singing folk songs and playing ring games in school, at home or in leisure. Like most developing countries, the Turks & Caicos is fast losing its folk heritage due to the overwhelming dominance of foreign music, television and fashion trends. This situation is not unique to the Turks & Caicos, but is echoed throughout the Caribbean. While it is important for a developing nation to keep up with the rest of the world, its people and government must insure that the unique folk heritage is not lost in the process.

One of our local legends, Mr. Lovey Forbes and his son Correy, with their combined bands of The Lively Stones and The Rakooneers, have been instrumental in writing some of our newest folk songs. “The Old Conch” and “Green Corn Time” are just two of the songs finding their way into the folk culture of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Lovey wrote “The Old Conch” in 1981 and I was amazed to discover that most locals thought the song was around much earlier, perhaps during their grandparents’ day. The first verse and chorus (written below) are what most people know and sing, but there are altogether three verses in the original recording. This song appears in the primary school textbook, “Our Country, the Turks & Caicos Islands.” But in a perfect example of how the words of folk songs are changed or altered depending on who sings and plays them, the publishers printed this incorrect version. No one thought to contact Mr. Forbes.

The old conch is sweeter than the fresh conch
The old conch is sweeter than the fresh conch
Especially when you put it in peas and rice
I say the old conch will make it taste so nice

You soak-um, soak-um,
You wash-um, wash-um
You cook-um, cook-um, You eat-um, eat-um

“The Old Conch” is an infectious song and sure to be a folk classic. Should you ever visit Dora’s Restaurant on Leeward Highway in Providenciales, you can see the original lyrics written by Lovey displayed in a frame hanging on the wall.

As the Tourist Board’s Cultural Officer, besides researching, collecting and recording folk songs I have put together a number of cultural shows and productions with the Turks & Caicos Cultural Group and the TUCA Folklore Company, with the intention of exposing the school children and the general public to this rich part of our cultural heritage. I am also encouraging young musicians, songwriters and poets to not only learn and perform our local folk music, but also to write new songs about day-to-day life and record what is going on in their communities and the country in song and poems as a way to insure that the art of folk music and folk songs survives for future generations.

With our growing tourism industry, local folk and cultural groups will soon find themselves in demand to perform at resorts and hotels for guests looking for the unique aspects of our culture beyond the typical sun, sand and sea experience. I am sure our folk music, with its mixture of oral history, humor and tradition, will prove to be the perfect vehicle to achieve this.

While the Turks and Caicos are famous for their beautiful beaches, pristine seas and wonderful watersports, the Islands are not necessarily known as a cultural mecca.

David Bowen wants to change that.

As the Tourist Board’s cultural officer and a seasoned international entertainer, this enthusiastic Turks Islander is working to retrieve the hidden culture of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Although not readily apparent, the Islands do have distinct cultural traditions in song, dance, music, arts and crafts, story-telling and farming and fishing techniques. Unfortunately, many of these traditions were left behind as the country skyrocketed into modern times. David explains why he thinks TCI culture simply disappeared, “In the span of a single generation, there was an incredible influx of money, television and North American ideals into the country, especially on Providenciales. Parents always want better for their children, so they embraced this ‘new and improved’ lifestyle and discarded the old ways. And because prosperity came so quickly, our country never ‘suffered’ like other Caribbean nations, where activities such as dancing and story-telling were kept alive as a form of entertainment.”

According to Bowen, TCI culture is rooted and remembered primarily in the islands of North, Middle and South Caicos, Grand Turk and Salt Cay, where survival was the focus of daily life and entertainment, such as “ripsaw” music, was created out of necessity. Yet unfortunately, he says, many of the older folks who now embrace religion, view past traditions such as dancing and singing as decadent and do not want to relive these provocative memories.

The upbeat Bowen is determined to carry out the mission statement of the TCI Government’s cultural office, established primarily by the efforts of Hon. O.O. Skippings and Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson and whose work takes place under the auspices of the Tourist Board and John Skippings, Director of Tourism. Its goals are “to identify, document, preserve, educate and enhance awareness of the cultural heritage of the Turks & Caicos Islands.”

WHAT IS TCI CULTURE?
The first step is to identify TCI culture . . . what is truly unique to these Islands. This is not as easy as it appears. Bowen says it is not strongly African-rooted, but influenced by the Loyalists, who were cotton planters on the Caicos Islands, and the Bermudians, who established the salt industry on the Turks Islands. In more recent times, there has been blending with the Bahamas, as many Islanders went there in the 1960s and 1970s to find work, and immigrants from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And as a result, it is hard to separate some of the traditions. The costume and ceremony of the Junkanoo celebration, for instance, was largely a Bahamian addition to TCI’s original “massing” dances.

Bowen began collecting material on song, dance and story-telling traditions several years ago, when travelling in the Caribbean. He is supplementing this by gathering video and audio oral histories around the Islands, armed with a standard list of questions. As the amount of information grows, he plans to more formally document it and encourages others to help by writing and publishing books on poetry, costumes, music, songs and plays.

ENCOURAGING NATIONAL PRIDE
To educate and enhance awareness of TCI culture, Bowen realizes it must be presented as “a celebration of a people who survived.” As a result, the shows presented by his cultural troupe, who regularly tour the Islands and perform at special events, are a rich blend of song, dance, story-telling and music, all designed to present tradition in a positive light. He says, “These shows are one of the best ways we can inspire cultural development. They are wholesome, family-oriented entertainment and have been extremely well received. Our greatest compliment is when the elderly folks say ‘it felt like the old days.’”

Along with promoting cultural activities in local newspapers and radio programs, the Tourist Board produced a cultural calender for 2002. Pen and ink drawings by local teacher and musician Kenton Wyatt highlight traditions such as blowing the conch horn, rake and scrape music, basket weaving and junkanoo. The Board is also planning the first annual Turks & Caicos Ripsaw Festival in early July.

Bowen is especially concerned that schoolchildren be immersed in their culture from an early age. “In the schools,” he says, “there is need for a standardized program in each grade so the kids can be inspired and know who they are.” As he compiles information, Bowen plans to create materials for a cultural curriculum.

Expanding participation in the Turks & Caicos Cultural Group is another goal, Bowen says. “We need more than performers, but people–young and old–who can be involved in the overall production of the shows. If you can sew, speak well or want to work backstage, you can join. All we ask is that you be mature enough to travel and talented enough to learn quickly and adapt.” Bowen is also forming a Heritage Club on each island. Members will be responsible for documenting local history.

As enthusiasm spreads and activities become more formalized and documented, Bowen looks forward to holding workshops on composing music, song writing, goatskin drumming, drum making, ripsaw playing, junkanoo costume making, local dance and choreography and folk songs and plays.

MAKING IT PAY
To encourage older folk to revive traditions, Bowen believes he must show them that it can be not only fulfilling, but profitable. Following the successful footprints of the Middle Caicos Cooperative, where local women create craft items for sale, Bowen envisions expanding the effort. He says, “I’d like to send a group of these ladies to tour the islands and do classes on basket weaving, plating and sewing; men can teach boat building, fish net knitting and basic farming techniques. Each of these activities played a part in the survival of early Islanders; now they can not only highlight our culture, but be profitable as a tourist trade.”

So far, response has been positive from both sides of the table. Bowen reports comments from Islanders such as “It’s about time,” and “You’re on the right track.” People who have seen the cultural shows, whether natives, expatriates, visiting dignitaries or tourists, echo their enjoyment of the lively and entertaining events. Now, it’s just a matter of the energetic cultural officer having enough hours in the day to do all he wants to accomplish.

In the Summer 2002 issue of Times of the Islands, we will debut a new column, “Rediscovering the Hidden Culture.” Tourist Board Cultural Officer David Bowen will examine in-depth a particular aspect of Turks & Caicos culture, starting with music and folk songs.