November 4, 2016: Tobagonians can now learn to play the percussion, violin and cuatro as well as conversational Spanish free of charge. The Division of Community Development and Culture and the Venezuelan Embassy launched a cultural exchange programme on Tuesday (November 1) at the Division’s Conference Room.
Themed “The Exchange: Exploring Culture and Connecting People”, the programme will provide training at various community centres in Tobago, beginning mid-November. “I always thought since I became an Ambassador, why does everything have to be concentrated in Trinidad and none in Tobago. What about the people of Tobago? I thought that wasn’t fair,” Venezuelan Ambassador to this country Coromoto
Godoy-Calderón said.
Secretary of Community Development and Culture Dr. Denise Tsoiafatt-Angus said the training will positively impact the culture of Tobago. “I know we use the violin to play the heritage songs; we use the percussion as part of mixing our African drums and we use the cuatro as part of the parang, and therefore it can only help us to get better. “I am looking forward to the day very shortly, when bringing a parang group from Trinidad will not be the norm, but it will be a special event,” Tsoiafatt-Angus said.
She encouraged Tobagonians to embrace these opportunities by participating in the programmes that will help to promote Tobago as a bi-lingual island.
For further information please contact:
The Department of Information
Office of the Chief Secretary
Tobago House of Assembly
868-639-3421 ext. 5019