Art visual np2

Fidel Castro greets the Lydians on his visit to Trinidad The Lydians are so popular that even dictator Fidel Castro has greeted them. FROM THE ORGANISERS: The Lydians present  the Southern Caribbean Premiere of the Misa Cubana This year the Lydians Christmas music, the Misa Cubana, comes from our own place in the world, the northern Caribbean. While the Misa Cubana (Cuban Mass) has been performed in Europe, the US, Mexico and Cuba, December will mark its southern Caribbean premiere. It is also the first time that the work of the living-legend, contemporary Cuban pianist and composer, Jose Maria Vitier, will be performed in Trinidad, as far as the Lydians have been able to ascertain.  The Lydians have been in active communication with both Maestro Vitier and the local Cuban community who are taking an active and participatory interest in this production. Vitier dedicated this mass to La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (The Virgin of Charity of Cobre), the patron saint of Cuba....

I have never seen so many sweaty choirboys and choirgirls in one place. We are in the school hall of the Bishop Anstey High School which is adjacent to the spanking new $518 million National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain. It is a hot Sunday afternoon. The hall is closed-off, there are large glass panels that let in light but not air; the main air-conditioning unit is not working. There are only a few fans. Pat Bishop has a rusty cowbell she uses to call everybody to attention. "Allyuh could stand up now," she says, ready to take the Lydians through another section of Handel's Messiah in preparation  for their upcoming series of concerts this week at Queen's Hall. Bishop, acting urgently given the fact that the opening show is a few days away on Thursday night, speaks like a cross between a school-teacher and an army commander. She suddenly realizes that she’s made a  mistake; the section she wants sung does not require the choir to stand. "All...