The East­ern Eman­ci­pa­tion and Cul­tur­al Com­mit­tee (EECC) will be once again host­ing the Bid­deau Drum Fes­ti­val in com­mem­o­ra­tion of the works and the con­tri­bu­tion of An­drew and Jef­frey Bid­deau to African cul­ture in Trinidad.

This year the fes­ti­val will take place in the form of three ma­jor events, a work­shop on Sara­ka (Big Drum Dance), a street pa­rade and cul­tur­al pre­sen­ta­tion and a Sara­ka feast, a re­lease from the or­gan­is­ers said.

The drum fes­ti­val ho­n­ours the con­tri­bu­tion made by the Bid­deau fam­i­ly to the cul­ture of T&T. While the fes­ti­val it­self start­ed on­ly in 2011, its cen­tral event, the Sara­ka an­ces­tral feast, in­clud­ing Big Drum dances of Car­ri­a­cou, has been a cel­e­bra­tion of the Bid­deau clan for gen­er­a­tions.

The col­lab­o­ra­tors in this un­der­tak­ing are the EECC, the San­gre Grande Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion and T&T Afro-Caribbean Drum­mers As­so­ci­a­tion.

The fes­ti­val is in­tend­ed to high­light and help pre­serve African an­ces­tral tra­di­tions where the art form is con­cerned and ed­u­cate the pub­lic about the sig­nif­i­cance of these tra­di­tions.

The cul­tur­al pre­sen­ta­tion takes place on Au­gust 8 at the East­ern Main Road, San­gre Grande, next to Roy­al Cas­tle from 4 pm.

Work­shops on Sara­ka (an­ces­tral songs and rhythms) are al­so sched­uled.

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion, please con­tact 791-2301 or 364-8964