On Saturday 10th June, from 2.00 – 8.00 p.m. the Yoruba Village Square (corner of Piccadilly Street and Old St. Joseph Road, Port of Spain) will be filled with the sounds of drums, the rhythm of dancers and the voices of rapso in honour of the ancestors of the Yoruba Village and in tribute to the fathers of the community, at the 2017 Yoruba Village Drum Festival.
The Yoruba Village Drum Festival is held annually in the Yoruba Village, in recognition of the large Yoruba-speaking population which resided there since the 19th century. The Yoruba people came to the city of Port-of-Spain after being kidnapped by British, France and Spanish plunderers, following the abolition of the Slave Trade. They came mainly from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Togo but today the only semblance of the town’s history and existence is the Yoruba Village Square, located opposite the old Besson Street Police Station.
Among the traditions retained and passed on by the Yoruba, was the gift of drumming. The drums were used as a call to prayer, a call for help and a call for celebration but the colonists felt threatened by the sound of the drum and laws were passed to ban the playing of the drum. Nevertheless the playing of the drums has been retained and transferred from generation to generation and this year, the participants will show off their talents, calling for unity, brotherhood, peace and consciousness in the Yoruba Village, which we know today as the communities of Morvant, Laventille, Belmont and Gonzales.
At the annual Festival, the Keeper of the Tradition Award is presented to someone who has worked diligently to preserve and develop African art forms and traditions in the community. This year’s presentation will be made to internationally renowned drummer and community activist Wayne ‘Lion’ Osuna. Lion has been playing the drums for over thirty-five years and is one of the founding members of Culture Shop Drummers, an organisation that provides a platform for the continued development of the art of drumming in Trinidad and Tobago.
Raised in an environment with strong Orisha and Christian ties, Wayne ‘Lion” Osuna started playing the drums at early age. He made his first drum when he wanted to join a group in the Best Village Competition and he had to get his own drum and to him the easiest way to do so was to create it – and he has not looked back ever since. Outside of his work with Culture Shop, Lion has contributed, as a drummer, to the work of the top dance and theatre companies in Trinidad and Tobago including Noble Douglas and Linda Pollard Lake Dance Companies, Creative Arts Centre of the University of the West Indies and the Bagasse Theatre Company. In addition Lion has worked with the country’s leading musicians, rapso artistes, calypsonians and steel orchestras, including, Clive Zanda, Mungal Patassar, Brother Resistance, Three Canal, Ella Andall, Sugar Aloes, Singing Sandra, Relator, Penguin , Pamberi and Trinidad All Stars. His work with Pamberi Steel Orchestra and the Malick Folk Performers has allowed him to travel throughout the world including the Caribbean, South America and the United States of America.
Lion continues to work to ensure the continuation of the African tradition of drumming and drum-making through the creative direction and necessary advice he gives to younger drummers. His favourite instrument to play is his drum – the djembe. To Lion, ‘Drumming is magic… the spirit of the drum takes over you… you feel at one with the instrument. As long as you play with the heart, you get back the love’.
The drumming groups, which will be playing their hearts out at the Yoruba Village Drum Festival on Saturday 10th June, include Wasafoli, St James Police Youth Club, 2nd Freeport Sea Scouts, St James Cultural Artisans, Belan Drummers, Sogren Trace Laventille Enhancement Organisation, North West Laventille Cultural Movement, Frontline Drummers, Egbe Omo Oni Isese and Persistent Drummers. Performing will also be rapso and reggae artistes including Oba Dread, Wolde Dawit, Curious Ringo, Mc Meo, Gillian Gould, Ronnix, Soul Fyah, Wise One, Prince Cardinal, Knocker and Butchca, backed by the Black Beat International Band.
