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Carriacou 1991

In 1991 Alan Lomax visited Carriacou, Grenada, for the first time in nearly 30 years to attend the Stone Feast of Sugar Adams. Adams, one of the island's most revered musicians, had died ten years earlier and tradition necessitated a day of feasting, sacrifices, and music-making to accompany the raising of his head-stone. Lomax brought along a camcorder, a cassette deck, and copies of his 1962 Carriacou recordings (including those of Sugar Adams) to share with the participants - among them local musicologist Winston Fleary and drummer and painter Canute Caliste, who had also recorded for Alan in '62. While there, Alan was also able to shoot nearly two hours of the Shakespeare Mas' - the remarkable Carnival tradition in which men dressed in outlandish Pierrot-style outfits engage in "combats": aggressively reciting speeches from Julius Caesar and thrashing one another with switches when a recitation is deemed poor or incorrect. These several hours of video recordings constitute Alan Lomax's last field recording trip.

Canute Caliste on Sugar Adams' stone feast and the quadrille

Stone Feast preparation (III): skinning the goats and preparing the meal

Stone Feast preparation (IV): blessing and slaughtering the chickens

Stone Feast preparation (V): interview with woman of the house

Stone Feast preparation (VI): Plucking the chickens, gutting the pig, preparing the vegetables

Stone Feast preparation (VII): Preparing vegetables, curries, and stew

Winston Fleary on Sugar Adams and Sugar's tombstone feast

Shakespeare Mas combat (I)

Shakespeare Mas combat (II)

Shakespeare Mas combat (IV)

Shakespeare Mas combat (V)

Interview with and recitation by Shakespeare Mas player (I)

Interviews with and recitations by Shakespeare Mas players (II)

Interview with elderly Shakespeare Mas player

Canute Caliste listening to Lomax's 1962 recordings

Shots of Canute Caliste's paintings

Canute Caliste on his artwork, the night demon, and carrying a coffin

Canute Caliste painting cotton farmers

Canute Caliste on the parents' plate, offerings for the dead, music making and chanty singing

Stone Feast preparation (I): toasts; blessing the house and grounds

Stone Feast preparation (II): blessing and slaughtering the goats

Canute Caliste listening to Lomax's 1962 recordings

Dressing for Shakespeare Mas

Shakespeare Mas Combat (III)

Winston Fleary: Julius Caesar recitation

Winston Fleary on Sugar Adams and Sugar's tombstone feast

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