Carifesta VIII activities continued to spread out of the city of Paramaribo and into the countryside of Suriname yesterday with the ‘Guyana Ting a Merry’ heading east to the border village of Albina.

Most of the now 29 participating countries are expected to do a district performance, apart from the central celebrations in the city. The members of the Guyana cultural delegation, having arrived late Friday night, were anxious to ‘do their thing’, Programme Coordinator Raymond Cummings told Stabroek News in a telephone interview yesterday morning.

Prior to yesterday’s performance, the coordinator said, the members of the delegation were “lagging around,” just watching others perform, since Guyana’s schedule was not yet determined. However, spirits were boosted when word was given for them to showcase the Guyanese talent.

“I ordered breakfast for 7 am, because the hotel usually serves breakfast at 8 am. By 6:30 am people were sitting...anxious to get going and do their thing,” the coordinator stated.

The team departed Paramaribo for the day-long trip at just about 8 am (7 am Guyana’s time) and headed for the interior village which shares the Marowyne River with French Guiana and which has a mostly Ndjuka and Indigenous population.

At Albina, the programme was expected to remain the same as was presented at the sneak preview for the Guyanese public at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown last Wednesday evening.

Among some of the pieces are: Courtney Noel’s ‘Arrowhead’ with accompanying dancers draped in the Guyana flag, the Yoruba Singers’ presentation of ‘Drums Make the World Go Round’, a group of ‘Phagwah’ dancers choreographed by Rewattie Datt and an ‘Emancipation’ musical piece and dancing, accompanied by the Carifesta Drummers.

One piece that is sure to cross the language barrier and have the audience rolling in laughter is the hilarious and rhythmic actions of two zombie dancers to the ‘Me Na Dead Yet’ folk song done by vocalists Gordon Lewis, Barbara Phoenix and Nicole Forde. Vivienne Daniel choreographed that dance.

According to Cummings, the travel experience for the Guyanese contingent was fine. The convoy of one small canter truck, a 15-seater and two 26-seater buses reached the border port of Moleson Creek at about 7 am last Friday, bought their tickets for the ferry and “relaxed” until the 1 pm crossing.

Despite the 8 pm arrival in Paramaribo, Cummings described the overall trip as good. He attributed the long hours of travelling to the fact that they were rotating drivers and they did not drive fast so as not to lose any of the vehicles in the convoy.

On Saturday, the group rested and did some rehearsals on Sunday prior to the opening ceremony of the Carifesta VIII celebrations that evening.

On Monday, the ‘Mari Mari’ group, decked out in colourful beaded costumes, performed traditional Wapishiana dances at the Palmentuin (Palm Tree Garden), a stone’s throw from Independence Square in central Paramaribo.

The garden, with clusters of tall, royal palms was transformed into Indigenous camps of the many tribes from Suriname and offered a variety of traditional Amerindian foods and craft for sale.

At the Sunday night opening of the village, the ‘Mari Mari’ group was introduced and warmly welcomed by the crowd gathered to view the ceremonies and dances from the indigenous groups of Suriname and French Guiana.

Curacao and The Bahamas also performed yesterday at Albina. Guyana’s next performance is today, when the ‘Mari Mari’ group goes again to the Indigenous Village. On Friday, the cultural delegation moves to Nickerie.