Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 12, 2017 (SKNIS): Director of Culture, Troy Mills, has called for a reproduction of the positive elements of Kittitian and Nevisian culture. Speaking on the radio programme “Working For You” on Wednesday, January 11, Mr. Mills suggested that local artists in recent times have copied negative aspects of cultural expressions from other countries and infused it with Kittitian culture.
“We are very good copiers…we see things and we copy things. We have a culture of unfortunately copying the negative things, the bad things. Wearing the pants at our bum. That’s not part of our culture,” Mills remarked.
Mr. Mills is of the view that there are many positive aspects in the St. Kitts and Nevis culture which some artists today have not incorporated in their art form.
“We want a culture where we are more into the positive. We won’t get everybody into the positive…have a positive outlook, positive culture so that when people hear about St. Kitts-Nevis and culture, there are 1001 reasons, positive reasons to come to St. Kitts and Nevis,” Mills said.
To strengthen his point, Mr. Mills referred to some of the popular local songs done for carnival which, in his view contain sexually suggestive lyrics and demean women.
“They (singers) are degrading them. That is becoming part of our culture, unfortunately. I don’t believe it’s a good part of our culture because we are disrespecting our females, our wives, our sisters, our brothers, our daughters, our nieces,” Mills added. He also noted that some women are supportive of this kind of music, which is “unfortunate.”
Meanwhile, in commenting on the need to preserve the cultural heritage of the nation, Mr. Mills spoke of the need to protect the folklore, especially during carnival.
“For various reasons, they would have faded away; become dormant…however one of the things we are doing at the Department of Culture is reviving some of the Actors,” Mills said. The Actors Mills was referring to are prominent folklore characters which would perform at various instances in cultural practices of the past in St. Kitts and Nevis. “Those are indigenous to us,” Mills said.
