Have a Red/Green World Environment Day!-My Adventures at the Red Earth Festival 2009.

As you all know I was very excited about volunteering at the Red Earth Eco-Arts Festival last Sat 30 May 2009. It was in commemoration of World Environment Day which is today- Fri 5 June 2009...the idea being to have it the weekend before the day itself. A co-worker of mine...asked me what was all this thing he was seeing about me and Red Earth now...he thought it was Green earth...reminded me of two things in my musing mind simulataneously:

God's Green Earth

and of the title of one of my fav novels by Vickram Chandra

Red Earth and Pouring Rain- a cool book that makes me seriously appreciate the Indian monkey or not! :)



To be honest though this muser can't say for certain where the terms came from I'm thinking God's Green Earth perhaps biblical in origin or Christian like at least? And well seems Red Earth might be what native, aboriginal or first peoples world over might call the soil. I can say for certain there is another Eco Arts type festival of the same name in the US that promotes Native American Culture that just like most first people's culture world over lives as if the earth is part of their very essence as humans. And they are kicking off their celebs today! Check them out here...wish was attending that one too looks super cool!

However here on my island we had our own version of Red Earth. The Red Earth Eco-Arts Festival 2009 at our Chaguaramas National Park. Its main highlight was the first peoples of Australia...more so North Australia...and I was super excited to meet the head of the dance/culture group-Descendance that came here to perform- Ronaldo! It fact after having the heart felt moment to ask him how he felt about the movie Australia and to learn that generally they were good with it...like no, it wasn't just Hollywoodized the facts in the movie were generally true. And then to get to share with him for a moment how affected I was by the movie to learn about how intuitive the Australian first peoples were with the land so much so that the grandfather and son could communicate through it...he seemed to be moved too by my recollection of his people's ways and shared with me not only the environment like the wind etc but that his people could become like animals too (or at least be very in tuned with them? You should see Descendance do the Kangaroo by the way)...so I thought of Shamanism in the Native American people's culture...also asked about how he felt about their culture(Native Americans)....as I'm soon to visit a certain cavernous place, where well the Native Americans have artwork all over the cave walls...and he said yes they are very similar...and then I took a picture to remember the moment and the conversation!:)

For sure ancient Indian culture and religion is in itself an ode to nature as I said on my last blog post and on my Universal Collective Prayer (UCP) I often talk about it...you can check out this post about Hinduism's Ode to Water in the form of Mother Ganga...and as with the monkey business in Red Earth and Pouring Rain even monkeys are God! Check this post on UCP to hear bout my fav monkey himself! :)

So as I leave you with the sights and sounds of Red Earth Eco-Arts Festival 2009!

HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 5 JUNE 2009! ...and don't forget to Twitter for those trees man! :)
Seems as of two hours ago 10,000 trees will be planted today cause of those Twittering Tweets! :)

And check out Meady's Musings fan page on Facebook here to see all the pics in the Red Earth Festival 2009 album or my Youtube channel here to see all the vids. And of course feel free to become a fan! :)

Local Peoples:Hindu community and Kairi people of Caura valley together with Australian first people-members of the group Descendance bless the earth...




Ronaldo tells of the big snake of creation and then sings about it! :) Sweet tunes...



Getting set for the big concert under that Bamboo Cathedral...


The High Commissioner of Australia to Trinidad and Tobago-Mr. Phillip Kentwell speaks about his nation's apology to the First People of Australia:


The Big concert... the earth sounds of Caura valley-Rythmic Roots


Descendance says hello...


The big jam up with local performers and Descendance...didgeridoo, pan, guitar, dholak you name it! :)

I'm Volunteering at the Red Earth Eco-Arts Festival 2009!

Picture taken from Wikimedia Commons

This weekend Fri 29 May to Sun 31 May 2009 is the Red Earth Eco Arts Festival...I know some are celebrating Indian Arrival Day on the island as well marked on 30 May every year...but hey half the population is of Indian origin we are all over the place in all walks of life we have arrived! :) Over 150 plus years now...so...instead I'm all excited about Red Earth! :) I know my ancestors would be proud as I'm hanging out with Dharti Mata herself along with some cool first people dancers flown in from Australia by the Australian embassy- Descendance! And since watching Hugh in the film Australia I've been wondering about this dreaming business so...so looking fwd! :) Really even more so than my ancestors or the Native Americans I find that the first people of Australia ...man they really have it going on with the Earth...she is not just Dharti Mata to them she is them and they her! Those people are the earth space they live in...there knowledge of their environment is so lived and breathed by them that they have developed an intuitiveness about them...I was so amazed to realise this while watching the film Australia...that is amazing! :)

I repost what I wrote about that film on my Books and Films Corner blog here:


"AUSTRALIA
Loved it! And no it wasn't just cause Hugh Jackman of my We Three Kings! fun and fame was in it! I loved it and unexpectedly so...because I just decided to go see it to meet up with some people and we figured it was the most passable thing on in cinema. I thought I was going to see before me a sweeping love saga unfold. And yes it was indeed a love story...but it was about Australia! I couldn't get the idea of 'dreaming' out of my head after I saw the film. It made me think about first peoples all around the world and how they really could have such a feel for the land...so much so that they become intuitive...it made me think of myself...I searched within...it made me realise that although I had never visited India I knew it because that was what Hinduism was...it was a tapestry of India...an ode to its rivers and valleys...its plants and flowers....and I feel the South Indians the Saivites were the ones who really were the first peoples of their they really knew the lady...it is why I celebrate that Hippy Master Shiv today! :)And it made me wonder of the land I now live in Trinidad. What do I know of it? Well it's first peoples...we have practically wiped them out and their voice here...well the Europeans did and we were the peoples they brought from another time when people still thought they could own each other...but what about now? It is almost impossible to gather much of the original peoples of Trinidad information...it is pretty much lost...but I could at least try to adapt the approach I know from Hinduism here in this land...and it was what I had been doing anyway...but Australia inspired me to keep on Dreaming..."

It is amazing how the universe unfolds but seems my wishes of Feb are all coming true because here I am about to be part of an Eco-Arts festival with first peoples from all over the world performing...including...that's right people from Australia! :)

So I'm head over heels...doing cartwheels if only I really could...excited about this event! I decided to volunteer at it cause then you get to be even so much more into it and closer to the workings of it I find...I actually enjoy volunteering so it is actually a pleasure and joy for me not a task...but yes a volunteer's day does tend to be long...and sometimes in the tropical heat we are having these days very hot! :)

So last weekend I went on the briefing for volunteers and it was the coolest thing to check out the sites that were going to be holding the events before hand!

-The Mystic House:This house is so coined cause when Merchant Ivory Productions were filming 'Mystic Masseur' the making of the V.S. Naipaul book Mystic Masseur into a movie. Well the production crew transported a house form the south of Trinidad to the Chaguaramas Nature park to do the filming. It was cool to me to be able to recognise when I looked at it...wait...it is the shop in the film! :)

-The Bamboo Cathedral: A protected area in the park since if people tamper with it...well we will loose the beloved cathedral that formed naturally with the bamboo. The area is made famous by Trinidadian artist Jean Michel Cazabon in his works and you would have no doubt seen it in his artwork if you are familiar with it and any Trinidadian would be subliminally even...as it is all over...and lots of video footage of it is aired over the years while I was growing up on national TV and pictures everywhere...

-The Dry River Bed: Well it is as the name says a dry river bed and the performers are going to be blessing the space and then Rocking the River bed!

-The Old American Wartime Tracking Station: Nuff said...but there is some cool star gazing going on up there tonight as part of the festival.

I could go on but the festival itself has its own website here Red Earth Festival and you also check them out on Facebook here

Me, I'm just excited as is reflected in my Facebook status hoping like Shakespeare's famous title "All's Well That Ends Well"

And HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 5 JUNE 2009! ...Twitter for those trees man! :)


HAPPY INDIAN ARRIVAL DAY FOR TRINIDADIANS OF INDIAN ANCESTRY AND ALL THOSE AFFECTED OR INFLUENCED BY US POSITIVELY TOO!

Twitter for the trees! Twitter for the Trees! Twitter for the trees! :) I'm following Twitter for the trees! :)