Journalist Gladys Quesada brings us stories about the celebration of Carnival in the Caribbean and Latin America nations. teleSUR
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hi, hello.
00:20 How are you?
00:20 This is Carnival Times.
00:22 I'm your host, Gladys Quezada.
00:24 And this is a space we share for Telesur English,
00:27 bringing you all the details, the smells, the colors,
00:30 the music of the carnival in Latin American countries
00:33 and the Caribbean.
00:34 In this occasion, I'm standing in the Jackson Square,
00:37 just in the heart of ports of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago,
00:42 where the carnival is rolling out.
00:44 But now, let's go to other location
00:46 in Latin American countries.
00:47 Let's go to Venezuela.
00:49 There in El Callao region is my colleague, Leonel Retamal.
00:54 He's there to bring us all the details regarding
00:56 the origins of this festivity.
00:58 Let's see.
01:01 We are en route to the southeast region of Venezuela,
01:04 crossing hot areas in Miranda, the oil wells in Anzuategui,
01:08 and going beyond the mighty Caroni River.
01:10 To the south, in the state of Bolívar,
01:13 bordering Brazil in the valley of El Callao,
01:16 on the banks of the Uruayri River,
01:18 is a land of gold, calyxo, and soccer.
01:21 In 1876, the first soccer match ever held in Venezuela
01:26 took place here.
01:28 As we arrive, we are greeted by the giant statues
01:31 of the Black Madams Isidora and Luluba Santa,
01:34 historical defenders of this land and its carnival.
01:37 To learn more, we meet with Cultura Emilia Murati
01:41 and with town's historian, Fraima Orsini,
01:44 heirs of a family tradition rooted in the town's origins.
01:48 We got migrants from the Antilles
01:55 who arrived by the Merara, by the Cuyuní River,
01:59 by the part of the Aztec people, because they,
02:02 those were colonists, one French and one English.
02:05 Once these colonists disintegrated,
02:08 the gold rush began in El Callao,
02:10 originally in Nueva Providencia, today's Caratal.
02:21 Reverend Madame from the Anglican Church of El Callao,
02:25 descendant of the town's founders,
02:27 describes a similar path.
02:29 They came to Trinidad due to the proximity
02:38 of Trinidad and Venezuela.
02:40 Many settled in Sucre, but many continued down to El Callao
02:44 and settled in Guyana, in Georgetown,
02:47 to get to the Cuyuní River,
02:49 and then to the Yuruari River, which connects with El Callao.
02:53 It is said that the town's name derives from the fact
03:03 that the miner who discovered a vein of gold
03:06 told no one about it.
03:07 But there is another version about a Peruvian migrant
03:10 who named it in honor of the port of Lima.
03:13 In any case, truth is that the town's history and present
03:17 are marked by gold mining and migrations.
03:20 We come from a culture, a mixture of races,
03:23 that make this town a special town.
03:26 All these people, instead of going back
03:38 to where they came from, brought people from the Antilles,
03:42 from Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin,
03:45 Grenada, et cetera, so.
03:47 Instead of returning home, they brought along their employees
04:08 because by then, there was no slavery.
04:11 They were employees who came of their own free will,
04:15 instead of returning to France or to England.
04:18 They joined the rush gold here.
04:30 They brought investment and machinery
04:33 and settled in Nueva Providencia,
04:35 and that led to the foundation of the town of El Callao.
04:44 Although there are records on music and popular festivities
04:47 dating back 150 years, relating protest drums,
04:52 it is in the early 1950s that the carnival took shape
04:56 in its current format of comparsas and groups
05:00 with traditional characters and music.
05:02 We do not have an exact date for the start of the carnival.
05:14 Our ancestors, the people from the Antilles,
05:16 brought their traditional music.
05:18 They gathered to sing, not just calypso.
05:26 In 1880, the first drum beats were heard in Nueva Providencia.
05:37 It was a traditional African drum.
05:44 El Callao, which vibrates to the rhythm of the contagious calypso rhythm,
05:49 struggles to maintain its culture and tradition,
05:52 a very peculiar syncretism even within Venezuela.
05:56 This is the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago.
06:09 This is one institution that focuses on preserving the nature
06:13 and the culture of this city, Port of Spain, and also the nation.
06:18 Also, the building preserves the natural and original façade
06:23 from the colonial times, and also is focusing on preserving
06:27 the archives of the carnival.
06:29 Also, we now go to other regions that preserve traditions.
06:33 It's the case of Recife in Brazil, and their Galo da Madrugada tradition,
06:38 the Rooster of Dawn, is one of the main activities of the carnival there.
06:43 Brian Muir has more details in the following report.
06:46 For millions of revelers, Carnival Saturday in Recife is synonymous
06:52 with the Galo da Madrugada, or Rooster of Dawn,
06:56 which according to many sources is the world's largest carnival block.
07:00 It was featured on the cover of the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records
07:04 after it drew a crowd of 1.5 million, and in 2017 it surpassed its own record
07:10 when 2.3 million revelers came out to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
07:14 Our hopes for Carnival are always the same,
07:17 a lot of emotion and a lot of positive vibrations,
07:20 and today marks my 46th anniversary leading the Rooster,
07:25 and I'm going to keep moving forward with this carnival life
07:28 as long as God allows it.
07:30 Brazil's carnival has historically been made by and for the poor and working class,
07:36 but there's been a constant battle against elites trying to take it over.
07:40 Whereas in some cities, middle-class revelers pay as much as US$1,000
07:45 for special T-shirts that allow them privileged access
07:48 to roped-off areas behind the sound trucks,
07:50 this practice was made illegal in Recife,
07:53 making it one of Brazil's most democratic carnivals.
07:57 The Rooster of town is the largest carnival block in the world,
08:02 and what's special about it are the people,
08:05 its cultural diversity and energy and its contractors,
08:09 and this is what has transformed it into the world's largest carnival block.
08:14 Carnival will continue until February 13th.
08:18 Known around the world as Fat Tuesday.
08:20 Brian Meir, tell us, sir. Recife.
08:23 This is the Queen's College, an institution that goes way back and beyond
08:28 into the colonial times and was meant for the offspring of the diplomatics
08:34 and the representatives of the crown here in the island.
08:37 Nowadays, it hosts all the R&Ds from all social origins
08:42 and all ethnicities here in Trinidad and Tobago.
08:46 From here, we are also announcing and presenting another tradition
08:50 in the Carnival of Oruro in Bolivia.
08:53 There, the people do a pilgrimage of over three kilometers
08:58 to go and pay the honors to a virgin.
09:01 Let's see the story by the hand of Freddy Morales.
09:04 It is said that the Oruro Carnival began like this,
09:09 as a procession that evolved into a pilgrimage,
09:12 and this pilgrimage into dance and music.
09:15 The devotion we have towards Mamita de Socavón,
09:18 the Saturdays of pilgrimage are for her.
09:21 We dance in devotion for her, for every favor she fulfills for us,
09:26 because we are believers.
09:29 I come every year. The little virgin always fulfills me,
09:33 greetings for my family.
09:36 By faith to Mamita de Socavón, who gives us life and health,
09:41 and we will continue dancing until Mamita gives us life and health.
09:45 But above all, because we have faith.
09:48 This carnival performs 20 dance specialties
09:51 as the local authorities of the event say,
09:54 which are performed by more than 50,000 dancers,
09:58 men and women who dance for three and a half kilometers
10:02 to reach the shrine of the Virgin de Socavón.
10:05 Spectacular. We once a year travel from Chile,
10:08 because we are from Chile. It is incomparable.
10:11 We brought our daughter for the first time, and she was fascinated.
10:15 It is something that does not compare to any carnival.
10:18 It is majestic, as they say, in honor of the Virgin de Socavón.
10:23 It's something expected every year in Bolivia, nationally and internationally,
10:27 because we expect 100% Bolivians in the carnival of Oruro,
10:32 where all the dances are 100% Bolivian.
10:36 We come from La Paz. It is a very nice tradition.
10:39 All the dances are very elegant, very nice.
10:42 We are having fun. Long live the carnival.
10:45 The most ancient and classic dances have a religious and social feeling,
10:50 like the Diablada, whose origin is lost in the time before the Spanish colonialism.
10:55 But when this took place, it meant once again that the struggle between good and evil.
11:01 In the end, the archangel Gabriel, guided by the Virgin,
11:06 defeated the demons and together they entered the Catholic Church.
11:11 To thank her for all that she gives us.
11:14 This pilgrimage is a promise to offer, through dancing, our gratitude,
11:19 our faith, strengthened in the affection towards the Virgin, happy to come at her feet.
11:27 After 20 years, we are still on pilgrimage for the little virgins of Socavón,
11:32 always for Mamita. In this state, the pilgrimage.
11:36 Or the Morenada, which relieves the transfers of slaves from Africa on foot to the mines of Potosí.
11:42 On the high plateau, at 4000 meters above sea level, with almost no oxygen,
11:48 their tongues hang out of their mouths and their eyes bulge out of their sockets.
11:52 The rattle reproduces the sound of the chains the pilgrimage concludes on their knees
11:57 before the image of the Virgin.
12:00 Tiring, very tiring. It is 4 kilometers, very strong march to get here with masks,
12:06 to arrive at the little virgin, but we fulfilled a new year.
12:10 It is my first year dancing, but it is a very nice experience.
12:14 I feel very blessed by the Virgin of Socavón, very happy to be 3 years old.
12:20 Are you going to continue? If the little virgin allows me to do so, of course I will.
12:25 Each dance has a meaning, and here are represented the indigenous dances of the Amazon
12:31 and the main customs of various people of Bolivia.
12:35 By 50,000 dancers, nearly 20,000 musicians distributed in 70 bands,
12:41 this cultural expression has been recognized by UNESCO as oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
12:48 From the city of Oruro, Fredy Morales. TELESUR, Bolivia.
12:53 TELESUR, Bolivia.
12:56 As part of the carnival festivities, Trinidad and Tobago held the carnival for children.
13:04 There, the little ones had their best day.
13:07 They were the protagonists of that day, and now we will present you
13:11 what happened in the Queen Savannah Park for the little ones.
13:15 It could be said that Trinidad and Tobago experiences the carnival twice.
13:21 One is the great bacchanal that fills the city and is already famous in the world.
13:27 The other one is the children's festival, a junior carnival, so to speak.
13:33 For the children, these days are a vacation, but not a rest.
13:37 They change their uniforms for the sudden costumes, the sequins, feathers and headdresses.
13:43 The public admires them and flocks to the central station Savannah Park to watch them parade.
13:50 Many of the spectators also have other reasons for coming to cheer them on.
13:56 To give the children that support so that they're able to come out, because we had our time already.
14:03 So especially for the young folks, I think it's very important to, like she said,
14:10 for the culture to learn about history, and we're losing it around the world.
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14:40 But it's great that something like this still exists.
14:44 It is their heritage. It's part of their culture.
14:48 There's no reason why they shouldn't participate and have fun with it, you know.
14:54 So this is who we are. This is what we are about, you know.
14:59 So it is a natural thing.
15:02 For them, it is a moment of protagonism in which they imitate part of what their elders do.
15:08 Before arriving on this gigantic stage, they rehearse, prepare the costumes and learn choreographies.
15:16 The categories are a challenge to the imagination, innovation, fantasy and traditional.
15:23 Under that premise, they must develop the theme of their choice, ranging from local nature to futuristic themes,
15:31 iconic landscape postcards or a tribute to neighboring nations.
15:36 All this is first conceived by the teachers who, through fun, educate them.
15:42 They learn how to jump up, socialize and have fun with their department and their girls, their friends.
15:48 So they have fun learning about the Boko Haram and the different aspects of Tobago.
15:52 According to the rules, children from 5 to 12 years old parade here.
15:57 But the reality is that everyone wants to be here.
16:01 For this reason, first come the youngest ones who even need assistance from their parents,
16:06 because they are still in preschool and even babies.
16:09 They come the most advanced in age.
16:12 68 bands make it to the final in front of a specialized panel of judges.
16:18 Some parade as a group, others are the start of the theme.
16:22 Some of them help out, but all want to win.
16:29 Despite the competitions, the most important thing is always the enjoyment and the camaraderie.
16:36 I love it, I love it. It's so much fun. You know, it's the time to just free up.
16:41 Yes, it's very fun and I think I will do it in the future.
16:45 I walk on stilts, sometimes I will walk on jambi. It's really fun.
16:49 I was helping. I am 10 years old and I helped with my band.
16:57 It's called the Balatas. I really enjoyed it. It was really nice.
17:01 Without interfering in what their children are doing, the parents also take action.
17:06 They are well aware that this is an activity that not only brings entertainment to their children,
17:12 but also values that bring them closer to their folklore, their national identity and culture.
17:19 It's always a lovely time at Sacred Heart.
17:21 So it's like our, what, fourth year, fifth year? It has been a good time.
17:25 Definitely. Carnival is part of our culture in Trinidad and Tobago and the girls learn about it in school as well.
17:30 So it's great that the school gives them the opportunity to parade.
17:33 The children's carnival, although made by little ones, is as important and expected as the adult one.
17:41 They may not know it, but they safeguard a beautiful tradition for the future,
17:46 when they will also teach other generations the values of carnival.
17:51 Gladys Quezada, a special envoy from the port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.
17:57 And like this, we have come to the end of this Carnival Times,
18:02 a show that brings to you all the details regarding these festivities
18:06 and this rejoicing in our continent and in the Caribbean.
18:10 I'm Gladys Quezada. Remember to follow us in our socials and we are saying goodbye, but just for now.
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