12061: Morse on Treasure Island and 1954.

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: OLOFFSONRAM@aol.com
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I was going through one of my Mom's scrapbooks and I came across this
Haiti Sun piece from Jan. 10, 1954. The article was titled <Haiti's
<<Treasure Island>> Float Wins First Prize In Roses Parade>. I won't site
the whole article but a couple of the sentences are interesting. <Haiti,
the only foreign country to be invited to participate in the famous
Pasedena Tournament of Roses Parade came out with first prize!> .......<In
honour of the 150th Anniversary of Independence the Haitian float was a
replica of the Citadelle which was covered with hundreds of yellow
roses>..... <Cannons, symbolic of Haiti's fight for freedom, blasted away
at unseen enemies with rose petals>. <Among the Haitian artists who
participated were Jean Leon Destine, Emerante de Pradines, Luce
Savain, Lucienne Thomas, Jean Marie Durand, Edner Calvin and Alphonse
Cimber.>

When we (RAM) were building our float in 1997 for Carnaval, three years
after <the return>, the Haitian government came with machine guns and made
us take it apart. Our theme wasn't the Citadelle and cannons, it was
angels.

There's another article from October 11, 1952 also from the Haiti Sun
which announces the release of 2 records by Emerante de Pradines, one by
Remington and one by Ethnic Folkways Records. Harold Courlander selected
the songs that were released on the Folkways record. <Emerante de Pradines has a
deep knowledge of Haitian Folklore and has strived to keep out any foreign
influence.> That must be why she got so upset when we started rehearsing
RAM back in 1990.

Richard Morse