Event

The UWI’s Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), in collaboration with the Eastern Emancipation Committee and the Afro-Caribbean Drummers Association, hosts the second Biddeau Drum Festival to promote and build upon the contribution of the Biddeau family, in particular, Andrew and Jeffrey Biddeau, to the cultural heritage of Trinidad and Tobago.

It will comprise three distinct events. A Saraka Drumming Workshop will be held on Sunday 29^th July 2012, from 10am-noon, at Egbin Onisin Ile Sango in Matura. This workshop is open to the public at a cost of $50 per person. 

The second event is the Saraka Feast, the annual ancestral celebrations of the Biddeau clan, and will take place on Tuesday 31^st July, from 9-11.30pm, and on Wednesday 1^st August, from midnight-3am, at Minors Trace, Matura. This event is free and open to the public.  

The final event of the festival is the Drum Symposium which is carded for Saturday 4^th August, from 9.30am, at the Open Campus Auditorium, Gordon Street, St. Augustine. The symposium will follow the theme ‘Honouring our Ancestors’ and will feature presentations on the drum and its significance in Africa and the African diaspora. The key speaker will be Her Excellency Fidelia Graand-Galon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Republic of Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago. This event is also free and open to the public. 

While the Festival itself started only in 2011, its central event, the Saraka ancestral feast, including Big Drum dances of Carriacou, has been a celebration of the Biddeau clan for generations. Placed within the period of Emancipation celebrations, the Biddeau Drum Festival is intended to highlight and help preserve African drum traditions in Trinidad and Tobago and educate the public about the significance of these traditions worldwide.  

To find out more, please contact DCFA at 663-2141/645-1955 or email Marissa.Brooks@sta.uwi.edu.