Very few people appreciate the role music played in lightening the load of our ancestors during slavery better than Colin Smith.
Smith who was awarded a Badge of Honor by the Jamaican government in 2025 for his role in the preservation of Jamaican culture, is not only the Chairman of the Louise Bennett Heritage Council but is also founder/leader of the Miami based Tallawah Mento Band. It's in that role that he was recently invited to Costa Rica in April 2026 to address the 2nd Marcus Garvey Symposium on the topic "How enslaved Africans used music to lighten their burden."
The heart of Jamaican culture in Costa Rica is in the province of Limón where it is estimated that of the over 65,000 population there, 75% have Caribbean ancestry, and also in nearby Puerto Viejo (translation Old Harbour!) where Jamaican colors and food dominate.
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| Some Tallawah band members pose beside the sign. |
Like so many other places in Central America, thousands of Jamaicans moved there and settled after working on the Panama Canal and they retained their culture.
I first visited Limón decades ago after hitching a ride on a Jamaica Producers vessel which used to go there to fill up with bananas to meet its British quota.
What stood out in my mind then was not only how most people could switch from our patois to grammatical Spanish seamlessly but also how our favorite traditional dishes were easily available everywhere.
On my second visit, I learned that Hon. PJ Patterson, Prime Minister was honored there in 2001.
What I never knew then was that Garvey was held up in such high esteem there that each year on the 18th April, they put on activities to honor him.
He had been working there as a timekeeper and between 1910-1911. When he saw the exploitation of the black workers on the banana plantations there, he not only established a branch of the UNIA but also a hub there for his Black Star Liner.
In 2023, Costa Rica declared Garvey an honorary citizen for his contributions to culture and human rights.
It was no doubt a great honor for the Tallawah Band, one of the last surviving mento bands, to be included in this year's festivities.
They even performed on their first night in Costa Rica at La Caribena in the Capital San Jose, before going
on to Limón.
The performance there received overwhelming applause.
I really don't know that too many of our countrymen really appreciate how our culture is revered in so many corners of the globe and the fact that we may even still have many relatives in diverse places that we know little about.
Below are snippets of Tallawah's performance in Costa Rica.
Nb. Pics and videos contributed by Anette Smith.
