The Davy Hill Community Action Group recently debuted their new masquerade group, an initiative that they hope will support the continuation of the art form, says the organisers.
Dubbed the Davy Hill Community Masquerade Group, it features young children between the ages of six and 13 of various heritages, including Montserratian, Spanish, Haitian, African, Jamaican and Guyanese.
Anne Thomas, Community Infrastructure Development and Liaison Officer for the Davy Hill Community Action Group said the desire to launch the new masquerade group was an effort to continue the work they have been doing over the past two years to build Davy Hill Day.
Davy Hill Day will be celebrated on Monday, December 30 from 10am until in and around the community centre.
Thomas said the executive team agreed that more needed to be done to rejuvenate and restore the island’s culture and pass on masquerade to young people. “We have so many different cultures and islands within Montserrat that don’t really know and appreciate our culture.”
With the assistance of Bill Tong, the work began to get the new group operational. They also had the blessing of Titus, the captain of the island’s oldest troupe, Emerald Shamiole Masqueraders.
Thomas said her role will be to link with other communities to help them establish their own initiatives, write projects and find funds to keep them operational.
As they do not yet have a complete band, the children were taught using recorded videos of the masquerade dances.
For their first performance at the Treasure Spot Bar in Cudjoe Head on Christmas Eve, the young dancers were accompanied by Ozzie Carty and a young Haitian named Andrew on drums. However, they are missing the fife and other instruments.
“We don’t have the five players we need at the moment but we intend to continue practicing in the New Year so the children can participate in St. Patrick’s Day activities and other events,” she added.
The group now stands at 12 members, however, there is a growing interest from parents to enroll their children in the programme.
Thomas’ vision is to see children from across the island come and learn with the new Davy Hill group and eventually return to their own community to build new masquerade bands. This however, will be dependent on the time that the volunteers are able to give to building the new group.
Presently, there is no membership fee and their fundraising efforts to acquire uniforms are being spearheaded by Christiana Howe. Local companies and individuals in the Montserrat diaspora have been supporting the call to fund the group. Local tailors and seamstresses are sharing the work to make the costumes, which allowed the group to have them in time for the festive season.
“As one of their fundraisers I would like to thank all those who have contributed so far whether by sponsoring a child for $300 for the costumes or any other financial contributions,” Howe said. “It’s not too late as the fundraising efforts continue to fulfill their objective in buying the group instruments so they don’t have to continue to borrow them.”
In the future, a fee will be introduced to cover the costs for refreshments and other items that the group will need.
“There has been a lot of work behind the scenes to get everyone ready for the season. We have so many people to thank and we will do so in due time,” Thomas stated.
Look out for the new Davy Hill Community Masquerade Group.
