Palherino sits right above the main docks where ships brought Africans into the country for slavery. The area was given the name Palherino because it was the place where African people were punished. When you walk into Palherino you are greeted by four large Catholic churches that rope off a section of Palherino where a main stage is usually built for free concerts. During the festivities, barbeque pits with seasoned chicken grilling are set up everywhere. And families sell fruit, foods, drinks and beer, all the while dancing to Rhumba or Merengue. Walking through Palherino you will see women of all sizes, shades and colors dressed in big, elaborate head wraps with full white skirts or dresses. This is the traditional Brazilian dress for black women, most of whom earn their living by assisting tourists to restaurants or around Palherino.
Eastern Caribbean nationals will feel at home, as their region's music seems to dominate the lineup. Brother Marvin, Singing Sandra and Crazy are all from T&T. Each offering a different style of delivery, they represent calypso's many flavors. To add to that element, ADLIB Steel Orchestra will add instrumentation to the islands' unique genre. Winners of last year's steel band and calypso competitions at the West Indian-American Day Carnival Association's Labor Day gala on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, the 30-member, 11-year-old group promises youth from 7 years old to deliver the beat. St. Paul's J.O.B. Young Adult Choir represents New York in drama, song and dance. Traditional island-style Christmas carols are promised by Charles Dougherty and Circle of Friends Caribbean ensemble.
Then the charismatic Sundar Popo, who championed "chutney" music, or Indian soca, died of heart failure in May at the age of 57. Sundar Popo is remembered for "Your Mother's Love" and other hits. "People here are very superstitious," said businessman Danny Montano. They conclude "something has swept the country, something is wrong, and that's why so many bad things are happening."
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
342 p, First published in 1764, The Sugar Cane is a major work in the history of Anglophone Caribbean literature. It is the only poem written in the Caribbean before the twentieth century to achieve a place in the Western 'canon'. Grainger wrote a "West India Georgic", challenging assumptions about poetic diction and the proper subject matter of poetry, and boldly asserting the importance of the Caribbean to the eighteenth-century British empire. This is the first reliable text and critical study of the poem, setting it within the context of Grainger's life and work; Grainger interprets his own experience of the Caribbean through his wide reading of literature. This is a critical study of his poem "The Sugar-Cane." (Amazon)
