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Greetings all massive and crew. What were you all up to last week? Watching the de-wigging of Mr. Coke maybe? Yes, I made up that word. No apologies. We absolutely need a new vocabulary to describe Jamaica’s state of affairs  but we will prevail so stop shaking your heads! While I read of Dudus’s capture and reasoned (Jamaicanism: reason, verb meaning to discuss in order to gain great insight) about it with others, I also attended Kingston on the Edge (KOTE). June 18 to 26 saw the staging of the fourth annual KOTE, an urban arts festival which is based in Kingston. The concept is quite simply brilliant and one of those where you think to yourself, I wish I had come up with that one. At the same time it’s obvious too. The best ideas are like that. Obvious because Kingston, and admittedly I’m biased given that this is my town, is one place that is not at all short of artistic expression. We just talented is a shame! Much of that talent was on display for KOTE, themed this year as “Love, Art, Liberation”.

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Part of the KOTE Graffiti Board
The festival represents a diversity of arts including painting, dance (and funnily enough there was pilates and yoga mixed up in this category somehow), theatre, music, and film. Events were kicked off at the lovely opening show on June 18 at Red Bones Blues Cafe. There was striking art on display and notable among these were the sculpted pieces by Keith Anthony Cousins, carvings by Abol Mason, jewellery pieces by Inansi, and paintings by Chandis of Core Insight Group. Well, notable to me as these were artists I had not been exposed to before. Believe me people, this is the fun in it: discovering new art, being touched in a different way. Heady stuff. The atmosphere was relaxed with folks chatting, wandering around viewing art and drinking. There was also a very brief fashion show displaying the jewellery of Empress Abiola. The evening ended with the music of Mojahrock and the strong and passionate singing of Phebe-Ann Henry and Germaine Blake. 


So, the opening show was good, the photo exhibit was okay (in my opinion kind of small with too muted an impact) but I really REALLY had fun at the short film festival. Again I’m biased because film probably ranks third as my favourite art form, my favourite being literature with theatre coming in second. The pieces were generally not longer than 20 minutes and ranged in content from documentary to horror/suspense to simple narrative. Esther Figueroa presented an untitled passion piece documentary on the expected damage to the way of life on the Falmouth coast due to the development of a cruise ship pier. Herman Davis, NCU student presented a gory thriller about a party gone awry. To be honest, it was clear that the directors were at varying levels of maturity in their craft as well as preparedness for the festival itself. E.g., “I finished this just one hour ago”. Funny. But there were some very good pieces which made it completely worthwhile. Nile Saulter of New Caribbean Cinema directed “Coast” which was about a young female Negril-based ganja seller who stumbles upon the hold up of a tourist couple. Then there was “Missed” directed by Michelle Serieux also of New Caribbean Cinema. (To give an idea of the spirit of KOTE: according to Storm, a producer in New Caribbean Cinema, the group had only planned to show “Coast” but they got the right vibe from the crowd and treated us to the brawta. I was thankful.) “Missed” was a slow moving piece with a very simple plot which took its time unravelling, but boy was the mood heavy. It presented itself like a short story and reminded me of Jane Eyre or better Wide Sargasso Sea because of the feeling of beautiful yet daunting vistas and the heroine being on the outside. Lots of tension, lots of technique. I liked it lots. There was also a charming piece by Yacob Grant which featured Le’Le, a captivating juggling footballer of the Rastafarian persuasion. Finally, there was a piece by a Haitian director here to do a film on Jamaica. His piece was a day in the life of a poor Haitian wheel barrow hustler. Simple, touching. And we watched all these films together with the moon under an open purple sky. Man!
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The artist Chandis standing by her work
I enjoyed KOTE but I missed so much. I missed Theatre on the Edge but when I caught it last year it was fabulous dahlings. There was also a dance installation at the Half Way Tree Transportation Centre in Kingston which sounded like it would have been amazing. You can read the YardEdge account of the closing party here. In a few days, we will publish writer and dancer Nicole Bain’s account of a KOTE dance swap workshop she attended. And there was so much more. I find KOTE encouraging because in the midst of all of the turmoil Kingstonians are facing there is this validation that life and art do indeed go on and in fact thrive; that there is still passion although di system and di people dem giving we a fight. Kudos to the organisers and promoters and we look forward to the event again next year. Wonder what drama, and there is always drama in Kingston, will be the backdrop next year?
 


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