datebook If you’re in . . . Bequia Guadeloupe Guyana Mount Gay Music Fest Venues around Bequia 19 to 22 <strong>January</strong> bequiatourism.com/bequiamusicfest There’s a special calmness about Bequia, one of the Grenadines south of St Vincent. The island air softly whistles a magical tune that can make your insides flutter. It’s hypnotic <strong>—</strong> drawing people every year to this exceedingly anticipated music festival, leaving almost no rooms available in hotels and mooring many vessels in Admiralty Bay. For over fourteen years, the Bequia courtesy papa machete FEMI: Festival Régional et International du Cinéma de Guadeloupe Venues around Guadeloupe 27 <strong>January</strong> to 4 <strong>February</strong> lefemi.com Still from Papa Machete, screened at FEMI 2016 Mashramani Venues around Guyana 23 <strong>February</strong> As the only English-speaking country in South America, Guyana is no stranger to being unique. While some countries have military parades, air shows, or formal receptions for Republic Day, Guyana has a different spin on its festivities, down to the name: they call it Mashramani, or simply Mash. It’s a derivative of an Arawak word describing a type of festival held by indigenous people to celebrate a special event. Pawel Kazmierczak / shutterstock.com Tourism Association has welcomed artistes from all over the world to perform their eclectic hits at the Mount Gay Music Fest. Past headliners include Dana Gillespie and the London Blues Band, the Arturo Tappin Band, the Elite Steel Orchestra, Edwin Yearwood, and Bequia blues man, guitarist, and crowd superstar Toby Armstrong. The festival runs for four nights, but for just one of those <strong>—</strong> Friday <strong>—</strong> the famous Mustique Blues Festival hops over to Bequia to take over the programme and thrill the audience with the best of the blues. The proceeds from this event go to the Basil Charles Educational Foundation. On other festival days, the open-air live performances create an intimate and relaxed ambiance, making loyal music festival fans return each year. The first four letters in the festival’s name give you an inkling of its roots. Originally dedicated to women of film and organised by women, FEMI was founded in 1992. It has since evolved and widened its scope, embracing <strong>Caribbean</strong> and international cinema in all its diversity. Guadeloupe’s annual film celebration offers programmes such as FEMI Youth, which allows students from kindergarten to university to experience the atmosphere of an international festival and meet industry professionals. No one is excluded: a selection of films is also taken into prisons, under the initiative of FEMI in the Walls. The <strong>2017</strong> programme includes over sixty local films, regional and international features, shorts, and documentaries, and often previously unscreened works. If you’d like to delve deeper into the world of the cinema, workshops and masterclasses are also available. Running on a low budget? Enjoy free screenings during all sessions at the Bibliothèque du Lamentin at FEMI in the City. Past guests of honour have included celebrated filmmaker Euzhan Palcy and actors Angela Bassett and Danny Glover. Fetes, concerts, calypso competitions, steelpan, soca, a chutney monarch competition, and other cultural presentations are all on the Mash calendar. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And following Guyana’s fiftieth anniversary of Independence last year, a new event was announced for the Mash lineup: a calypso caravan travelling through communities and drawing neighbours together. The highlight, though, is the costume parade in Georgetown. Spicy costumes join vibrant floats sponsored by corporate Guyana and government agencies, bearing nation-building mottos. This year’s Mashramini theme includes “greater unity” <strong>—</strong> wining down to soca, steelpan, and chutney music seems like a great way to start. Event previews by Shelly-Ann Inniss amanda richards courtesy Guyana tourism authority 26 WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM
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