As part of this year’s activities to celebrate Emancipation Month, the local Rastafarian Community in collaboration with the Pan-African Movement will stage a Marcus Garvey Concert today (Saturday) at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.
President of the Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari (ICAR) Aaron “Ras Iron” Alexander spoke to The VOICE about the event, signifying Black Consciousness and African Heritage and Identity.
He explained that as customary, every year the Rastafarian community celebrates Emancipation Month and Marcus Garvey, as August is dubbed Emancipation and Marcus Garvey Month.
Alexander says the concert is the third event hosted by ICAR this year. Earlier this month, the group facilitated the Marcus Garvey Market Day (on August 10) in Castries.
He recalled that Marcus Mosiah Garvey “supported and promoted Black Enterprises …so we did it as a business venture to align with Marcus Garvey’s philosophy about black businesses and black enterprises.”
Garvey is said to have influenced some prominent business persons at the time with their entrepreneurship drive.
On August 17, ICAR hosted the Marcus Garvey Rally in Canaries, which was highlighted with chanting and honour and tribute “to our elders and ancestors who fought for Emancipation and all those things…and also to highlight Black Consciousness and history as well.”
Today’s Marcus GARVEY Concert will feature regional and local artistes performing conscious music. The ICAR president said the event will also be used as a ‘crime-fighting tool’ to negate the social ills in society and the scourge of criminal activities permeating throughout the communities.
“We feel in promoting consciousness and raising the consciousness of our people that could help combat the crime wave that we’re going through,” declared Alexander.
The lineup includes KC Campbell from Jamaica, Prophet Benjamin from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Rastaman Byre and the Matrix Band from Martinique, as well as local artistes such as Meshack, Ras Africa, Daddy Twan, and others.
A selection of dancers, poets, and different literary and artistic components will add to the variety and flair of the Saturday evening event that will culminate the month-long celebration of Emancipation activities.