Day four of Carifesta VIII in Suriname continued with the characteristic spread of multiple activities dotted around the capital city of Paramaribo and extending to the far boundaries of the country. While this range and variety aptly illustrate the main themes of the festival, they make it impossible to keep track of most of what is going on.

The reverberations of “Many cultures: the essence of togetherness, the spirit of the Caribbean”, “Unity in diversity”, and “Let’s build a spirit of togetherness” echo everywhere.

All the regular venues for theatre, music, craft, culinary arts, fashion and exhibitions, including the city’s two main international hotels, have stepped into the action.

These are supplemented by a number of unconventional venues and specially constructed arenas such as the assimilated Indigenous Village and the Grand Market exhibition site with its “Main Stage”.

Added to these are the regular `liming’ strips such as the Waterkant (alongside the Suriname River), Kleinwater Street with multiple food and drink stalls, clubs, cafes and half a dozen casinos, as well as Palmentuin where the “Indigenous Village” is sited. In these areas a constant stream of life and traffic keep Paramaribo alive each night till the tiny hours of the morning.

The general atmosphere of the capital city is therefore abuzz with the Carifesta logo and symbols in several shop windows cashing in on the commercial prospects with offers of “Carifesta discounts”. This makes it hard to believe reports that the local population is generally unaware that such a festival is in progress.

In an effort to take it to a cross-section of Surinamese, the organisers have designed “District Tours” and “Community Activities”. They take most of the visiting performers to such far-flung locations as Albina in the East, Nickerie and Coronie in the West. Following Guyana’s performance in Albina on Tuesday they returned to Nickerie the next day.

Keeping pace with Carifesta VIII then, is just as hard on the performers as it is on the audience. The fever pitch is compounded by several programme changes, which make it necessary for the Secretariat to issue programme proceedings on a day-to-day basis.

Day three closed with a number of highlights in theatre, film, literature and symposia.

The biggest of these was the opening of the Carifesta Arts and Culture Symposium which was also the most prominent activity on day four. The opening and reception took place at the Hotel Krasnapolsky on Tuesday night with an address by Suriname’s Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Walter Sandreman and a multi-media presentation by

Dr Jack Mencke of the Anton de Kom University.

The Minister gave an overview of the programme of symposia which is an integral part of all Carifestas.

The symposia assist Carifesta in the “cultural connections linking the past to the future” and “we are obliged to organise (them) every three or four years”.

The first of these for the current festival is the Arts and Culture Symposium covering such topics as the future prospects and the necessary new structure for Carifesta, its business organisation and potential as a major tourism event, marketing the arts, copyright and the use of new technology.

The second conference is the Youth Symposium under the theme “The New Intellectual Elite” looking at the fashion of the future, the role of youth in Carifesta and the integration of arts and culture in the Caribbean’s education system.

The third is the Indigenous People’s Symposium titled “The Spirit of the Rising Sun” looking at human societies and human well-being. It is examining major concerns of indigenous people in the region including land rights, the environment, exploitation of resources and the manner in which “the cultures of newcomers overshadow indigenous cultures”, a development which “is reflected in the education system”.

Dr. Mencke’s presentation was another item on the theme of Suriname’s reflection of the cultural diversity in the Caribbean and was focused on a study of Memorials in Suriname.

His main thesis was that the different memorials to events surrounding politics, religion, race and history are testimony to the strong cultural diversity of Suriname and the plethora of monuments results from the same phenomenon.

The recurring flaw in the general programming is also affecting these symposia. Unfortunately, in the general trend of a crowded agenda, all three conferences are running concurrently.

Tuesday night was also important for theatre as the major presentations of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were performed.

The Barbados production, “Praise for Bruce” brought to life in dramatisation and dance, the poetry of Bruce St. John, one of their leading poets whose hallmark was his uses of Creole verse and very satirical humour. The venue was Thalia, one of the two most interesting theatre spaces in Paramaribo.

The other notable theatre is the Unique, where St. Vincent performed. Their presentation was in mime and dance supported by the reading of a written script to narrate and depict the history of the Garifuna in the island. The Garifuna, known as Black Caribs, eventually migrated to Belize.

Days three and four were also noted for film at the Back Lot theatre.

Two St. Lucian films were shown, as well as Land Van Rama and Wan Pipel, both of Suriname.

While Land Van Rama is about the country’s East Indian heritage, Wan Pipel highlights the problems of race in Suriname as a colony and was the big feature of the showings over the two days.

It is one of Suriname’s biggest feature movies and was a huge popular success in the 1970s and 80s. Today Guyana hits the screen with one of Errol Brewster’s documentaries, A Given Dream.