There was no faux snow, cheerful chubby man or ho-ho-ho in the Creative Production and Training Centre's (CPTC) Wycliffe Bennett Studio, though, as storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks, her onstage audience of one Jahzan Maye and singing group SLR did the episode entitled 'The Pig and the Cow' that will be aired in December.

The last was the first (to be seen by the public, at least) as the taping doubled as a launch for the storytelling series, which is slated to start airing on CTV later this month.

studio audience

Angela Patterson, CPTC's CEO, told the Ardenne High students in the studio audience that what was being done would be recorded for posterity. And guest speaker Bernard Jankee of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, also speaking directly to them, said "I don't know if you know Anancy, if you know of Jack Mandora, if we get stories told to us outside in the living room".

He pointed out that it was not only entertainment, but also the passing on of tradition. There were also lessons of "how people co-operate with each other, deal with situations in life and overcome adversities and difficulties".

diverse culture

Jankee also congratulated the CPTC on its programming that "reflects us, programming that perpetuates us in all the areas of our rich and diverse culture" - areas that include "from church hall to dancehall".

SLR was out first when the recording began, followed by Blackwood-Meeks and Jahzan, Blackwood-Meeks telling Jahzan (with intermittent references to the studio/television audience) the story of how Bredda Pig lost his mouth in a diving contest with Bredda Dog. Eventually Cow got involved and the story ended with Blackwood-Meeks explaining the reverence in which the cow is held in some societies.

And, since it is the Christmas episode, there was gift-giving, not from a bottomless red sack but a large pot.

M.C.