Books Archives - ShopCaribe

Tales of Root, Silk & Bone

Novella — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 18:18:47 +0000

Tales of Root, Silk & Bone is a collaborative book of 50+ Trinis that takes you on a trek through Trinidad: From the northern hills of Paramin to the southern shores of Moruga. It explores our histories (Root), folklore (Silk), and peoples (Bone) through art, photography, poetry, short stories... and their own experiences.

This book is a 330 full-colour pages journey curated by ᛝBritt to really show off all of Trinidad's charms and quirks, to share the stories of Trinis, and to touch the untouchable: the essence of what it means to grow up surrounded by our rich and vibrant culture.

Each page offers something different from our 50+ contributors, from personal experiences telling the tales of folklore, traditional mas, or stories of our First People's, to breathtaking photography, vivid art, and into the imagination with poetry and short stories.

The reader can dive in cover to cover, or just open on a random page and take in what is shown there.

So venture with me...into the forests, the dark, and the in-between.

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Kalyana: The Beauty of Indian Culture in Trinidad and Tobago – Photographs by Noel P. Norton and Memoirs by Mary Norton

NNCL — Fri, 12 May 2023 21:48:23 +0000

Softcover publication showing vintage images by Noel P. Norton from the Indo-Trinidadian community in Trinidad and Tobago. Memoirs are written by Mary Norton. Foreword by Angelo Bissessarsingh.

: Caneworker drinks from a boli one day in the canefields in Trinidad.

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Minshall by Norton – Limited Edition Book

NNCL — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 14:57:29 +0000

Noel Norton was one of Trinidad and Tobago ‘’longtime dean of photographers.’’ A recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (Photography), from UTT in 2005 and the Chaconia Gold Medal for long and meritorious service to Trinidad and Tobago in 1992, Norton captured over a half century of Carnival and enjoyed especially the presentations by Peter Minshall. Nicholas Laughlin writes: ‘’There- in the heat and dust and noise, the unpredictable light, the general chaos, with the very earth vibrating underfoot – Norton, silent behind his camera, as if ‘’saying prayers,’’ in Minshall’s words, stared into the colour and motion and unstoppable energy, saw the beauty of the mas and the mas man’s genius. And again and again, clicking the shutter, he did the almost impossible: he made the mas stand still.’’

The Minshall by Norton Book is a limited-edition, individually numbered photographic book which presents over 190 iconic images of mas man Peter Minshall’s carnival designs, photographed by Noel Norton from 1967 to 2006.

The Book project was managed by Christine Norton, Director, The Noel Norton Collection Limited with the support of a team of artists including co-editor Ashraph Ramsaran, The Frameshop, Richard Rawlins, Art Director and Artist, and Nicholas Laughlin (editor Caribbean Review of Books and Caribbean Beat and director of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest) who researched and prepared all text. The text describes the design title, the Band, the year and the concept. The Book was launched in December 2019 with the full endorsement and participation of Mr. Peter Minshall. It is beautifully bound in black hard cover with slipcase and is an excellent reference on the Carnival mas designer. Ideal as a personal or corporate gift and collector’s item for those who appreciate art and creativity.

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The Illustrated Story of Pan by Kim Johnson

The Illustrated Story of Pan — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:53:27 +0000

The Illustrated Story of Pan, Second Edition is the definitive story of Pan – the instrument, the music, the steelbands and their social, cultural and political history, from the earliest days to the present.

Hundreds of photos and pioneers’ verbatim accounts never before published, stories of adventure and discovery, of love and danger, have been threaded along the author’s narrative to produce this monumental epic of musicians and scientists, street fighters and politicians, schoolteachers and their students, promoters and activists, but mostly ordinary people who achieved extraordinary things.

It is the story of Trinidad All Stars and Renegades and Desperadoes and Phase II and Exodus and all the other big steelbands, but also the small bands, Boys Town, Boom Town and Stepyard, the extinct bands, the Tripoli, Bar 20 and Red Army, the “college boy” bands like Dixieland, Dixie Stars, Stromboli and Rogues Regiment, and of course the countless men and women, girls and boys, who created this marvel.

About Kim Johnson

Kim Johnson is a researcher, journalist and filmmaker. He has published several books on history and culture of Trinidad & Tobago, for which he was awarded the Anthony Sabga Award for Excellence in Arts & Letters in 2011. His books include The Fragrance of Gold: Trinidad in the Age of Discovery; Descendants of the Dragon; If Yuh Iron Good You Is King and The illustrated Story of Pan. Johnson’s films include the prize-winning PAN! Our Music Odyssey; Re-Percussions; and March of the Mokos.

He is also an active blogger. Check his blog here : www.santimanitayblog.com

What readers have said:“The book took me to places and times deeply embedded in my memory. It also carried me to a more complex understanding… It added another level of sophistication in our appreciation of the craft… The ancestors are jumping!”
– Kamau, Odinga

“There is something transcendent about this collection… what jumps out is the enormous scale of its component parts.”
– Mark Lyndersay, Journalist

“Very emotional almost spiritual experience thumbing through this book.”
– Chris RasCas

“A masterpiece. Deny yourself a copy and remain culturally malnourished and impoverished.”
– Monty Guy

“I keep re-reading it over and over, literally and figuratively, can’t put it down.”
– André-Roger Dellevi

“Stunning evidence of how an instrument, a movement, and a whole way of life developed.”
– Stephen Stuempfle, Society for Ethnomusicology

“A beautiful and important book.”
– Andy Narell, international pan virtuoso
“(It) will leave the reader in awe, wonder and deep reflection…vast in its scope and stunning in detail.”
– Eugene Novotney, Director of Percussion Studies at Humboldt State University

“A thing of spectacular beauty, the crown jewel in a Carnival music lover’s catalogue.”
– Shivanee Ramlochan, poet and literary critic

“A magnificent work… social and cultural history at its best.”
– Bridget Brereton, historian, University of the West Indies

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The COCO Book of Dance

COCO DANCE FESTIVAL — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 17:07:56 +0000

One of the few books on contemporary Caribbean dance, THE COCO BOOK OF DANCE is a sleek, 96-page collector's item which commemorates the first ten years of The COCO Dance Festival. Founded in 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago, festival ushered in a new era of dance presentation for rising choreographers with new voices from Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. Over the years, the festival grew into the largest contemporary dance festival in the English-speaking Caribbean, and has had participation from all over the world. All proceeds go to the festival production expenses. It's the ideal gift and a fantastic way to support Caribbean performing arts!

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