The Great Train Run

 

Sunrise at Three Houses

I lean against the car, stretching my legs. It's just after 6am and the sun's first glow is starting to show on the distant horizon in spectacular fashion. I'm at Three Houses, at the beginning of Stage 5 of the Great Train Run, waiting for the runners who have done the first half to arrive. It's the second year of the run, inspired by the Great Train Hike and run on the same day.

 Every year the Barbados National Trust organises the Colin Hudson Great Train Hike. Started in 2003 the hike goes along the route of the long defunct Barbados railway.  The Barbados railway traversed from Bridgetown to Belleplaine on the North east coast, some 26 miles. It began in 1881 and ran until 1937, when a lack of maintenance and falling demand led to its closure. No set of black and whites of old Barbados is complete without a picture or two of the railroad and it's stations.

Even in a island as flat as Barbados, building a railway was a challenge. It wound its way out of town through Welches, up through Salters, past the then major sugar factories at Bulkeley and Carrington out to Bushy Park and Three Houses where it began the downward slope to the East coast. If you look carefully, you can still see the route today on a map, crossing Barbados. Although all remnants of the actual metal tracks are long gone, tell tale cart roads across the southern section of Barbados clearly indicate the route.

Last year Ralf, No.1 FRB with the Hash House Harriers, avid runner and veteran of many marathons, thought he would run the route. A shade under a marathon length, it is a real cross country trek, mostly cart roads in the first half and then coastal paths and even a section of sea in the second. In true style, Ralf planned it down to a T, dividing it up into stages and putting down target times for each.

The sun is up and running by the time Lydia, Ralf's wife arrives with two friends - the support group. "They'll be here in 10 minutes!" she says. I do my final stretches, trying to warm up my still sleeping muscles. Ralf, accompanied by Andre Procope and Winston Mascoll of Ufukozu won't tarry long at this stop, just long enough for a quick drink, then we'll be on the way again. They arrive looking no worse for wear having done 22km of off-road trails.  The second half is only 18km, but the trail will be even more challenging.

We head off towards Fortesque, a high plateau overlooking the rough east coast. The train route is fully obscured in this section, housing developments have taken care of that. The stony cart roads give way to knee high grass as we make our way parallel to the cliff face. Hard as it is, I can only imagine what it must be like for legs that have already done 22km.

Section of Consett Trail

At Fortesque we begin the descent through the Consett Cutting, a 'cut' through coral rock that enabled the train to get down to sea level and continue up the coast. The Cutting is a quiet, leaf covered trail, walls of coral alternate with sea grape, glimpses of the sea in-between.  The Cutting was famous as the steepest section of track on the return route. There are stories of carriages breaking away down the slope and resulting deaths, of the train literally unable to make the grade - with the consequence of the third class passengers having to get off and push, watched by the second class passengers, who also got off, but were only required to walk alongside, while first class was never disturbed...

We get down to Consett bay, well-used by fishermen from the area, and with as many wrecked boats as they are seaworthy ones scattered around the hauling area. The trail north of Consett is now fully eroded, and the coastal land is impassable - so it's onto to the slippery rocks and into the sea we go, hoping our shoes we stay on as they suck up sand and grit. As we wend our way north, the coral foundations of railway bridges dot the route, many of them fallen into the sea, victims of land and sea erosion. These were impressive structures, and must have always been a nightmare for maintenance. On the sea side, lengths of train track stick up from the sand, jagged, rusty - the remnants of a rudimentary sea defence to hold off the rough east coast seas.



Coming up from Consett into Bath, the sun behind us. 
Jagged remnants of the track stick up out of the sand.

We finally round the last headland and are in view of Bath, the end of stage 5. The support group is waiting with encouraging words as we scrunch along the beach, sand and water sloshing in our shoes, and a short run onto to the Bath Beach Facility where we have the opportunity to take them off and wash out the sand.



Entering Martins Bay



Moving on from Bath, we run past the Bath Waterfall and onto the coastal trail that will take us up to Martins Bay. Between sea erosion and uncontrolled land drainage, the path is considerably eroded since last year, leaving us to negotiate narrow strips of coral sloping steeply down to the sea. We run, ducking under tunnels through clumps of Screw pine (pandanus), the ground littered with slippery dry leaves, numerous streams and broken rail bridges and into Martins Bay. A quick stop for a drink and then back on the trail to Tent Bay and Bathsheba.

It's still early morning in Bathsheba, and the place is empty, save for a full house at St.Aidans Church. We head on to Joe's river, passing under the now derelict railway bridge below Edgewater Hotel, and on to the beach at Cattlewash. Here we rejoin the coast road which runs inland of the sand dunes for 5.2km up to the end of the route at Belleplaine.

The last lap up cattlewash, 5.2km of hot sun (2010)

This is the hardest section for sure, the sun by now well up and beating down on our backs, running into the wind.  The long highway seems endless and even the scenic foothills under Chalky Mount fail to motivate. Eventually Barclay Park edges into view and then with it behind us, the final tramp into Belleplaine to the end of the line and a cold beer, well deserved.

And this is the route.  Thanks to Ralf for the run and Lidia for the support. Running photos courtesy ufukuzo.com which also has more information about the run on its facebook page.

Misirlou, Misirlou, where next for you? (or how a traditional Greek song became one of the most played melodies in this August's soca crop)

Listening to a popular soca tune from this year's Vincy Mas, Charge Up, by Skinny Fabulous, which crossed over into Barbados Cropover, we've all thought - that's familiar...And it was, we realised, because it was sampling the tune from the Black Eyed Peas song Pump It!

And then we heard a couple more similar tunes, one by Rupee - Get Crazy - and by Peter Ram - Ironman, all with that beguiling guitar riff that caught our attention in Pump It!

The story of that guitar riff begins in Greece in the 20's, the first known performance of Misirlou, a Greek song about an Egyptian girl, a slow melodious song which is eventually adopted by many other neighbouring nations.  Some even come to consider it as one of their national songs. It is sung in Yiddish at Jewish weddings, and in the Arab world for belly dancers. Over the years it becomes a popular standard from Morocco to Iran.

In the 40's the song migrates to the USA, recorded as a jazz instrumental by a Greek American, Nick Roubanis, and then begins to spread in the USA, covered by several artists who mistakenly credit Roubanis as the composer.

In 1962, Dick Dale and the Deltones re-invent Misirlou -a song he heard his Lebanese American uncle play as a child. He creates a fast instrumental version, full of guitar and horns that transforms Misirlou into a rock standard of the era.

It is covered extensively in its many versions, used by Domino's Pizzas late 90's ad campaigns, and in the Athens Olympics in 2004.  Pulp Fiction, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the French film Taxi, and Oceans Thirteen all used it in opening or closing credits. It is recorded by artists as diverse as Connie Francis, Woody Herman, the Red Elvises and Agent Orange. And by Gordon Ramsay in his show Kitchen Nightmares.

I think though that it is the Black Eyed Peas use of it in Pump It which really fixes the song in the western pysche. According to Wikipedia, Will.I.Am bought the CD with Dick Dale's Misirlou on it by mistake, heard the song, and composed the Black Eyed Peas version.

Fast forward to 2010, enter music producer Alex Kubiyashi Barnwell, who uses Misirlou to create a "Riddim". As a music novice, I'd describe a Riddim as an instrumental electronic drum track to which various lyrics and other musical tweaks can be added to create a song, individual to the lyrics, but with this common riddim. As a modern musical technique, it is apparently quite common to dancehall, and now becoming more so for soca.

But Kubiyashi didn't just produce a drum riddim, he loaded it up with Dick Dale's Misirlou, transforming it into a soca hurricane of a riddim, full of those familiar guitar riffs and horns sounds that have been around in our sub-conscious, since Pump It, since whenever....and he called it the Hunny Bunny Riddim.

And it sure was popular. Vincy Mas 2010 (St. Vincent Carnival in early July) had no less that 6 versions of this riddim, the most popular by far belonging to Skinny Fabulous - Charge Up -who went on to win the Soca Monarch title in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The others; Fear None (Problem Child); Mad Outta Road (Uncle Sam); Get Wild (Ricardo Drue); Hyperactive (R3CKA); and Spranging (Demus).

In Barbados at this years Cropover: Peter Ram does Ironman; Rupee does Get Crazy; and Indrani does Faya Wata. And there is even a Beenie Man song - Wuk up Yuhself.

The great things about riddims is that DJs can string along several tunes in a row, it gives them plenty time to gab in between. The popular combination in Barbados was Ironman, Charge Up and Get Crazy, sometimes with Faya Wata in the mix as well.

 I remember hearing these tunes individually, then strung together, wondering if they were the same piece or not.  Then finally came the realisation that they were just part of one glorious riddim.  Because as cookie cutter as the riddim process might seem, and although these tunes were good individually, together, they really caught fire!

And that is the story of how a traditional Greek song became the most popular melody in this year's crop of soca tunes...

A Grenada Shortknee in Barbados Kadooment

Carnival should never pass by without some kind of masquerade, and Barbados' Kadooment Day, the culmination of its Cropover festival, is their main mas day.  I'm not a player per se, and I especially avoid the bikini and bead extravaganzas that now pass for mas.  Last year we made a stand with Am-Bush but with Baby V on the way, this year was more subdued...

The Kadooment parade is on the first Monday in August, and starts at about 8 am. Varia thought we could could go as tourists, and then on Monday morning, we remembered my Shortknee costume, graciously donated by Hambone, Captain of the Grand Roy Shortknee band, last year when I was in Grenada (read about that here).

A full-on Shortknee costume is not for the fainthearted.  Yards and yards of cloth, a face mask and head cover make it a hot affair.  As I went in search of the pieces, Varia suggested I only wear part of it, but for me that was never an option - it seemed that for this traditional costume, it was all or nothing.  Not to say that I wasn't somehow wondering how a Shortknee might fare in the Kadooment crush...

So I persevered, with little time to plan.  My blog entry from last year with the pictures of Hambone in his costume were carefully studied - it needed to be as authentic as possible.  An ageing towel was converted to headgear; a torn bit of tunic was quickly mended with needle and thread; the elastic waist, leg and sleeve ends were loosened (Hambone was a lot more skinny than me); a container of baby powder was 'borrowed' from a gift from Baby V's shower. I fell short in two areas - I had no white sneakers, and Varia drew the line on the tights (and I couldn't find the 2 pairs Hambone had given to me).

So that's us above, three tourists and a Shortknee from Grenada in Barbados Kadooment. We parked halfway along the route and Lili, I and Morgane (a Martiniquan exchange student who was staying with us) walked the mile or so back to the judging point, leaving Varia at base.  Whenever we encountered a band, we made the most of the music; Shortknee don't chip or wine; they run, stamping their feet to make the ankle bells jingle and they chant. 

I did my best, conscious of some code to respect the costume and to play it right.  The costume is entirely anonymous, so that even people who knew me well only recognised me because of Lili's presence.  I did mini performances for the crowds at the main intersections, stamping and prancing on one leg, baby powder flying into the air from the container in my hand.  Children were fascinated by the sight, many of the younger ones shrinking back in fear at the sight of the mask; one mother invited me to come frighten her son, a toddler, "come take this one" she shouted, I declined.

Several persons asked about the costume, Barbados doesn't have traditional mas, and a fully masked individual was a unique sight to many.  Several women (and some very young girls) invited me to 'go dung'; my explanation that Shortknee didn't wine down left most unimpressed.

As it is these days, there were hundreds of cameras.  Here we are above, captured by a photographer from Barbados' main newspaper, the Nation. When we eventually joined Varia back at base at the Waddada bar in Bank Hall, I disrobed and put the costume away.  A shortknee should never be seen just hanging around...I think Hambone would have approved.

The Party Continues

Clips from the 2nd half of Headliners Tent final session at the Plantation Garden Theatre, 22 July, 2010. Although several of the performers are from other tents, many of them started with headliners. It's called a "Fent" because it was supposed to e a tent fete...it was a great night.

Can't take the party for granted

While all night parties and breakfast fetes proliferate in Caribbean carnivals, Grenada struggles with this 'new' phenomenon.  Most Grenadians would regard the local carnival as relatively rule free, so this is an interesting development, to say the least.

Certainly in Barbados, there seems to be no restriction on noise levels in residential areas for these types of fetes, but perhaps it has to do with the income levels of the residential areas...?

The 2 Grandmothers

Mustardseed Productions' Youth Theatre 2/ Saturday Group presents their end of year production of The 2 Grandmothers. Performed on July 1, 2010. Directed by Ayesha O Gibson.

Rainy Day Sunday

A rainy Sunday morning:  I was driving through Fontenoy and saw two rainbows out to sea, the second one is just to the left...