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PROGRAM CANCELLED

Calypso, Chocolate, and Wildlife

April 7 – 16, 2024

Join PLU’s Professor of Music and Composer, Greg Youtz, for 9 nights/10 days in Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad and Tobago, a twin-island nation in the Southern Caribbean. Originally the home of Arawak, Tainos, Kalinagos and other indigenous peoples, the island was “re-discovered” by Columbus and colonized by Spain in the late 15^th century. 18^th century French planters brought enslaved Africans to work sugar plantations, 19^th century British governments brought indentured workers from India, and Venezuelans came across the narrow waters to develop some of the world’s most sought-after Trinitario “fine flavor” cocoa. This heady mix of peoples produced one of the world’s great Carnivals which is the model for those currently held in Miami, New York, Toronto and London. T&T is the birthplace of Calypso songs, Soca dance music, Chutney songs and Steelband.

T&T is also a major producer of oil and natural gas and this driver of the nation’s prosperity has to be carefully balanced with the fragile and rich environment that is home to scarlet ibis, located in the Caroni Wildlife Refuge, and numerous species of hummingbirds, lush coral reefs and giant leatherback turtles that nest on the shores annually.  Where Trinidad is more industrial and densely populated, Tobago is the island tourists fly into for all-inclusive weeks on the beach, for snorkeling or just relaxation. (Even for Trinis!)

This travel seminar will introduce you to the story behind all of this- the Trans-Atlantic trade that produced Calypso music, the Carnival that is also an annual act of resistance to oppression, and the balance between celebrating the heroic struggles of the past with the challenges of emerging as a post-colonial society that can compete with and indeed offer solutions to an increasingly connected, tumultuous and fragile world.