Editor's Note: This type of classification--"art"--can be quite contentious, especially where it is seen to encompass religious, spiritual and other ceremonial performances that were not created simply out of a need for amusement, recreation, and entertainment. Of course, there are those who will deny that art itself is always about such frivolity, and that there need be no conflict between a conception of "art" and a conception of the divine, mystical, or whatever is of fundamental importance to the worldviews of individuals--that "art", in other words, is not a descriptive way of debasing any human performance. It is also probably true that not every Amerindian performative expression was devised simply or purely as a sombre expression--that they too must have, and do, engage in personal and collective amusement and merry-making. Moreover, one could argue that every human performance that transcends the boundaries of the mundane, that communicates on a level other than the utilitarian, is "art". Certain sites have thus been included here. Many of them use the word "art" explicitly in describing themselves or elements of their Websites. Others are about Caribbean aboriginals, by non-aboriginal artists. Finally, other sites included here are about the fashioning of musical and dance expressions performed by Caribbean aboriginals, regardless of context.
 

POETRY:

• Poems by contemporary Tainos on Biaraku

• Three poems honoring the Taino people, by Ward Kelley

VISUAL ARTS:

• Taino visual artists on Biaraku

• Kalinago Cultural Group/ Culturele groep Kalinago uit Dominica: Miss Amazonica Suriname Contest 2001

• Artist Melanio Gonzalez at the National Museum of the American Indian

• Video documentary titles available from War Party

• Paintings of Arawak Indians by Penny Slinger - Original oil paintings portraying the Arawak Indians and their culture from the artist's stay on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean.

• Visions of the Arawaks, by Penny Slinger: The Video

• Francisco Baerga's paintings of images of Tainos and the island of Boriken (Puerto Rico)

• Miguel Conesa Osuna's Digital Portfolio: The painting "Taino's song at Dawn" is part of a series here inspired by Taino themes.

• Gallery of Taino Images: courtesy of the Taino Inter-Tribal Council

• The Modular Triangular System—Taino Zemi inspired art by Roy Lawaetz: “The Modular Triangular System” is an innovative art style that formulates the use of triangles instead of rectangles to paint on. The seminal idea began thousands of years ago before Columbus discovered the New World. The principal indigenous Indians from the Caribbean, the Taino, carved out tiny-triangular-shaped stones known as Zemis (also spelled Cemi)….500 years later Caribbean artist Roy Lawaetz transforms the Taino's concept for triangles of stone into a complex syntax for picture-making on canvas…”—this site includes a book on the topic, art gallery, a CV of the artist, and an interview with the artist.

• Cave Art from the New World: A collection of Caribbean Aboriginal inspired paintings of petroglyphic images and motifs, by Glenn Woddley

• Caribbean aboriginal themes in Carnival band designs: samples of costume designs for the Carifesta 2001 band, “Heritage: Our History & Culture In Dance”—from Black Market café

• The History of Cuban Art: includes selections of pictures of cave paintings from pre-Columbian times in Cuba

• Rupununi Weavers Society - Handwoven indigenous hammocks from the rainforests of Guyana, woven by the Wapishiana, are featured on this site.

MUSIC:

• Clarinet Ensemble (Guyana, Upper Oyapock): “Like other Amazonian populations, the Wayã Indians use ensembles of clarinets, called tule, for entertainment at village gatherings. These instruments are composed of two separate elements, a reed and a resonator. The reed, a long narrow tongue cut out of a segment of cane, is inserted through the upper knot of a broader and longer stem of bamboo that serves as the amplifier…”—music sample included

• An Ethnomusicological Survey of The Warao Indians of Venezuela—An Introduction to Warao Music and Culture: Dale Olsen’s detailed ethnographic and ethnomusicological survey of the Warao, featuring information on customs, traditional practices, musical instruments, songs, and audio-video samples.

• Garifuna Music: Traditional Garifuna songs from the film Spirit of my Mother sung by Marcelina Ferndandez and Grupo de Danza Duvali Rescate Cultural

• Garifuna Music at MP3: a wide selection of music samples from a contemporary Garifuna music band

• The Garifuna Music Information Center

• The Garifuna Peoples of Honduras: a detailed site featuring the geography, history, visual arts, dance, music, customs, women, and current events of the Garifuna—“Did you know that 90-100,000 Garinagu live in the United States? Were you aware that this number nearly equals the Garífuna population in Honduras - the largest concentration in Central America?”

• “Honduras - Garifuna Music, The tradition of the black Caribs”: “The Garifuna live in Honduras, Belize and Nicaragua. They are the descendants of Black slaves who were shipwrecked off the coast of St. Vincent island, Caribbean Sea, in 1635. They mixed with the red Caribs Indians and became their sole inheritors, by the language, the customs and the music. This CD presents for the first time black Carib secular and ritual music recorded in its traditional context.The Garifuna culture and music have been declared in 2001 by Unesco: ‘Masterpiece of the human oral and immaterial heritage’.”

• Francisco Ayala Guay-Ciba's musical group

• Subject-- Musical Instruments, The Amerindians, from Suriname.Nu: “P.J. Benoit describes how Amerindians use flutes at their 'wild' dance parties. These flutes are made of reeds in which they have made holes. They blow on their flutes to produce sound. Once in a while the music is accompanied by the sound of a tambourine and a sharp sound of a kind of trumpet. This trumpet is four to five feet long. At the end of the trumpet is an ox horn attached. According to Benoit, the sound of the musical instruments, the shouting and yelling blends well with the kind of dance that is performed by them”. From: [1] Reis Door Suriname, P.J. Benoit with Chris Schriks and Dr. S.W. De Groot, De Walburg Pers, Zutphen, 1980. ISBN: 906011.306.3 Reprinted at SURALCO request. [2] Avonturen aan de Wilde Kust, Albert Helman, VACO, Paramaribo, 1982. ISBN 9991400087

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