The Yoru­ba Vil­lage Drum Fes­ti­val held by the Eman­ci­pa­tion Sup­port Com­mit­tee on June 18 on Pic­cadil­ly Street Port-of-Spain in ho­n­our of the Yoru­ba peo­ple who were brought main­ly from Nige­ria, Ghana, To­go and Benin.

They passed on the gift of drum­ming.

These drums were used for var­i­ous rea­sons as a call to prayer, for help and for cel­e­bra­tion and have been re­tained and trans­ferred from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion.

A small area of the orig­i­nal Yoru­ba vil­lage still re­mains at the cor­ner of Besson St and the Old St Joseph Road, en­com­pass­ing what is known to­day as the com­mu­ni­ties of Mor­vant, Laven­tille, Beetham, Bel­mont and Gon­za­les.

The Chaguanas Women’s Group.

Edison Boodoosingh

Soul Oasis Cultural Ambassadors.

Edison Boodoosingh

The Jeffrey Hamilton Scott Drummers from Beverly Hills in Laventille

Edison Boodoosingh

Commissioned by the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC), this 20ft monument was sculpted by two young female artists Sherlann Peters and Maria Diaz.

Edison Boodoosingh

A member of the Chaguanas Women’s Group

Edison Boodoosingh