Tallawah Roots

 
 

From Bob Marley to Rihanna, ‘Golden Roots’ traces the journeys of both renowned and unsung Caribbean heroes…   

 

Hopping from island to island, the book charts the region, offering a different way of accessing learning and history by mapping the place in microcosm and spotlighting the early years of Caribbean cultural icons.  In Jamaica, for example, young Miss Lou sees people as poems and Bob Marley conjectures with three little birds perched outside his Trenchtown window.  Whilst in Haiti, Wyclef rhymes and in Cuba, Castro leads a classroom rebellion!  Assembled together, these collected narratives weave a magical chorus, vibrant as a calypso melody with echoing notes, inspiring children to fearlessly fight for their beliefs and dream far beyond their current circumstances.  

 

In the Bahamas, we travel by horse and cart with young Sidney Poitier and his family from their rural tomato farm in Cat Island to the capital of Nassau.  Sidney sees automobiles and experiences electricity and plumbing for the first time.  He is mesmerised by motion pictures at an open-air cinema and imagines one day seeing himself projected on the silver-screen.  The family’s wagon which brims with tomatoes, scatters its load, carpeting the road behind them in orange-red gloss. 

 

Likewise, we find singer and inclusive beauty business owner Rihanna, huddled beneath an umbrella with her father in Bridgetown, Barbados, selling clothes at his stall.  She hums a melody to the clink-clinks of the rhythmic rain and admires the sounds and sights of market life.   

 

Women try on clothes in the rain.  The water makes their skin shine and hair gleam.  From peach to berry-black skins and raven hair cascading like a waterfall to springing copper coils; Rih Rih appreciates the beauty of diversity and enjoys her bond with her father who she clings to for shelter.   

 

Similarly, we meet the inquisitive inventor of the world’s first internet search engine, Alan Emtage during his youth.  His eccentric, fun-loving Auntie Connie fuels his interests in science, nature and ecology.  Little Al and Auntie Connie wake up early on the beach.  They ride the waves when the surf is up.  At the fish market, Auntie Connie teaches Alan about gills, scales and different tropical breeds.  At home, she shows him how to nurture her pet sea turtle.   

 

In the evening, lying on their backs, looking into the dark sky at the points of light, the two consider the earth’s brilliance and muse upon other planets, other beings and the billions and trillions of galaxies and stars.  At 5am Aunt Connie awakens Alan to see a comet streaming across the dusky sky like a river of stars. 

 

Each lyrical tale is endowed with magical realism, each a poem-story and, in many cases, a long overdue ode, interweaving childhood biographies with fantastical elements.  Island traditions take centre-stage: fluid rhythms and rhymes echo Caribbean oral story-telling and the art of nicknaming is spotlighted.   

 

The stories often cross-pollinate.  Young Grace Jones spots Marcus Garvey’s black star ship on the horizon line, the famous orator in turn, boasts a book collection including the tales of Bob Marley and Queen Nanny of the Maroons.   

 

Whilst each poem-story holds a message, such as self-belief and the power of the imagination, collectively they reinforce the message of ‘tallawah’: like the Jamaican word meaning ‘small but mighty’, this poetical book collection teaches children a tiny stature is no measure for greatness. 

 

Figureheads include:  

  • Slave and auto-biographer, Mary Prince (Bermuda) 

  • Playwright and poet, Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia) 

  • Social hero Dame Georgiana Ellen Robinson MBE (Antigua) 

  • Rapper ,Wyclef Jean (Haiti) 

  • Footballer, Clarence Seedorf (Suriname) 

  • Leader of notable slave-uprisings, Cuffy (Guyana)  

  • Activist, Sybil Joyce Hylton MBE (Cayman Islands) 

  • Politician, Fidel Castro (Cuba) 

  • Black Venus, Jean Duval (Haiti) 

  • Soca-superstar, Mighty Arrow (Monserrat) 

  • Garifuna chief, Joseph Chatoyer (Saint Vincent) 

  • Athlete, Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 

  • Writer, Louise Bennet (Jamaica) 

  • Activist, Queen Nanny of the Maroons (Jamaica) 

  • Singer, Grace Jones (Jamaica) 

  • Singer, Bob Marley (Jamaica) 

  • Activist, Marcus Garvey (Jamaica)