By Roger Gibbs
Poinsettias pink and vivid
Coralitas pink and white
Black cake, bake pork and ham
It’s Christmas in Barbados!
Mme. Doris Provençal,1928-2011
Looking on the chilly, dreary December afternoon, my ideas go to how totally different is the Christmas of my youthful years within the Caribbean. No red-blooded Bajan residing in northern climes doesn’t miss the ocean and sunshine of 1’s birthplace. It’s seared into our tropical DNA.
Doris Provençal, who wrote the tune quoted mischievously above partly, was a classically skilled nineteen-year-old soprano and pianist from St. Hyacinthe, P.Q. who fell in love with a severely wounded Barbadian soldier convalescing in Montreal after WWII. She ended up marrying him and relocating to Barbados, changing into a broadcasting pioneer and the founder and lifelong musical director of the critically acclaimed Cecilian Singers. I used to be lucky as an adolescent to go to Doris for singing classes. I used to be a hopeless case. I liked singing calypso, reggae, ska, pop, soul and R&B. I didn’t adapt nicely to the voice manufacturing necessities of a classical tenor, and I used to be by no means keen on operatic singing.
Nevertheless, I did develop a lifelong love of hymn singing and Christmas caroling. It’s Doris’ composition ‘That Is Christmas’ which involves thoughts presently of 12 months. The blood-red poinsettias and snow-on-the-mountain hedges are the Caribbean’s reply to the Canada’s Christmas winter wonderland surroundings. Not a lot modifications in tropical Caribbean climate in December – the start of dry season.
Rising up, music was omnipresent in my residence. My mom was a wonderful costume designer and seamstress working from residence and was at all times singing or whistling a tune whereas sitting on the outdated Singer stitching machine. Christmas time was the primary time I bought drunk at residence at 13 years outdated whereas my dad and mom had been throughout the road at a neighbour’s get together. Together with my finest good friend, we took a bottle of whiskey from the liquor cupboard and drank till we threw up. Up until now I can’t stand the scent of whiskey.
My dad and mom hosted an annual Christmas carol sing-along, a practice which continued lengthy after I left Barbados and got here to Canada. A number of years again I rekindled the custom – caroling with household and pals. It is likely one of the few Christmas actions I really feel really captures the spirit of the Vacation Season – singing joyous refrains and feasting. I way back moved away from organized faith however let’s not throw out the infant with the bathwater. If you happen to can speak, you possibly can sing; for those who can stroll, you possibly can dance. My Caribbean Christmas repertoire has gotten loads richer through the years residing in Toronto with its energetic multicultural communities.
The gawdy commercialism of immediately’s Christmas claws at each side of our lives presently of 12 months. I attempt my finest to shun its glamour and glitter. Pour me a glass of selfmade sorrel or ponche de crème and placed on some carols or parang music.
As we method the tip of a loopy 12 months, I hope that you can find solace and contentment in your each day lives. I give thanks for the music – to the folks just like the late Doris Provençal and plenty of others who’ve shared their music. I give because of readers for taking the time to learn my articles from over the previous 12 months. I give thanks for good well being and good pals. Might you all reside this festive season to the fullest.
