By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 15th June 2018)-For the upcoming 12th annual Traditional Music Workshop, coordinated by Cultural Preservationist Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett, food will be a new hands-on topic for the children featuring the culinary arts of cultural dishes namely cassava bread and conkie.
“This year, it would be completely different. We will be teaching the children how to do cassava bread. I have the dish already and the rings and I will be bringing somebody to teach them the things we are going to incorporate and one other thing is how to make conkie,” said Nisbett during a sit-down interview this week.
Under the theme ‘Discipline Continues To Be The Key’, the month-long summer workshop is expected to run from Monday 30th July to 25th August for the second year at the new location dubbed Zack’s Historical-Cultural Library & Museum located at the Buckley’s Estate aback Kawaja’s Food Centre east of the Caribbean Cinemas.
Classes will be held from 9am to 3pm with music lessons on four instruments-banjo, quarto, guitar and fife.
Asked about the inspiration behind the cultural food aspect of the workshop, Nisbett said: “Well, it is our culture and the workshop that I have is basically a cultural workshop and the museum and library in general deals with history, culture which comprise of dress, the type of foods we eat and so on.”
He added: “We need to go back to the more indigenous types of food which is the basic sweet potato, the roast potato and those sort of things because lookingat most of the old people today, they live until they’re 80 and 90 something, and also more people are living to 100 now and so it means that something they did right in their days than today.This therefore gives me this impetus to go back to basic in a sense in getting the youngsters to understand the more indigenous type of food and the local drinks. Yes, we have bottle drinks and so that are being manufactured here in St.Kitts-Nevis but we also need the local drinks like the ginger beer, mauby, soursop, passion fruit, lemonade and guava. Those are the type of nourishment we need in our bodily system.”
Nisbett further told that in the old days, the basic thing was the cassava bread (made from the cassava flour) as well as other byproducts like and dumpling and porridge and also the conkie-wrapped in the grape bush or the fig plant leaves- which is like a whole meal because it is filling.
“Those are indigenous things and we need to preserve them and go back to them because not only do those things make us healthier but also stronger and the food itself gives you a sense of motivation. It’s time we preserve our culture as we are number one as the mother colony and we need to stand up and be counted which is important.”
Additionally, Nisbett informed that reading classes will also be another highlight of the workshop.
According to him, poor reading in some children is not only a challenge in the Buckley’s community and its environs but throughout St.Kitts as a whole whilst pointing out “There are many books that we have there that could assist them.”
The Cultural Preservationist is hoping that the children would be consistent in their attendance to the workshop.
“We want them to come to experience the entire duration of the workshop; not to come two days and then miss because in order for you to become an expert in that field, you have to go through the day to day learning of holding the chords and different things. However, different to the workshop, they will be having extra things to do.”
Persons interested in the workshop are asked collect registration forms or contact Nisbett at 664-9016.
Photo: Student performing at the 2017 graduation ceremony (Spokesman Snap)