In an effort to raise awareness for the preservation of indigenous Vincentian culture, telecommunications provider, Flow is reveling in the success of its first Garifuna concert.
As part of efforts to commemorate National Heroes Day, celebrated on Wednesday, Flow held a small Garifuna concert that saw many persons flocking the Flow promenade on Tuesday to witness performances from members of Garifuna groups from Greiggs and Fancy.
The audience was entertained by the two cultural groups, which performed dances, dramas, choral speeches and jovial skits, which all paid homage to Vincentian culture.
Flow’s Marketing and Communications Lead, Nikala Williams, said her company team felt it necessary to bring Garifuna culture to capital city, Kingstown as a way of raising awareness about the Greiggs and Fancy Heroes Day celebrations.
Williams noted that the concert was the first of its kind for Flow. She further highlighted that the Flow team already has plans to develop next year’s concert with even more Garifuna entertainment for its many patrons and even hinted at the possibility of the inclusion of a Garifuna food court.
Williams highlighted that the celebrations were also portrayed internally, as many members of staff participated in a cultural wear competition that was met with much enthusiasm.
Stressing on the significance of playing a heavy hand in preserving Vincentian culture, Williams stated that Flow has been supporting the Greiggs and Fancy Garifuna and Heritage festivals for over five years.
She said the company intends to continue that support, as it is one of the ways that Flow ensures growth and development of Vincentian culture.
What is VINCENTIAN culture? Please define it for me! This is utter nonsense and nothing more than a cheap political exercise. The Yellow Caribs are the original of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Yellow Caribs asked the French to remove the black caribs/Garifuna and the French declined. The British granted their wish. The Black caribs were trouble to and for the yellow caribs. Please stop rewriting the history to satisfy political agenda! This is a very dangerous road that we are embarking on with emotional attachment to stifle facts.
Ricardo Francis, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Waiting and in the Making
I mean this with all sincerity. Could you write some more on this please? I am aware that as people of color we choose to ignore that part of our history that’s of our own making which is nasty and prefer to point blame elsewhere. We will not admit that we, because of tribal differences and beliefs were enslaving each other in Africa when the Caucasian man having experimented with other ethnicities came calling. The rest is the history we blame, with all the elements of truth, while we continue to prey on each other; remember Rwanda? However with your intelligence you know what Vincentian culture is, and, you cannot dispute the indigenous nature of the Garifuna and their right to their Vincentian heritage.