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00:00Four British celebrities are returning to the countries their families once called home.
00:07It's super important to me. I want to make sure that the heritage and our legacy isn't lost.
00:11I'm a little bit nervous now. It's about to happen, I can't lie.
00:14I'd love to know where my dad went to school or where he was hanging out as a kid.
00:19From the Caribbean to West Africa, they're tracing roots and rediscovering connections.
00:25This is the first time he was back in Nigeria.
00:27To culture, to family.
00:32That was our last connection, like, to our dad.
00:36To identity.
00:38We come from England. This is where we're rooted as well, so it also feels like home for us.
00:43As Britain turns inward, they're turning their gaze outward, exploring where they come from.
00:49I'm very proud going in. I love having gone in heritage.
00:52Who they might have been if their families had never left.
00:55I want to find out more about the Nigerian film and TV industry.
00:59It's a dream of mine to record in Jamaica.
01:01And whether their futures could belong to both worlds.
01:04I'm ready to start making some plans.
01:06This is Mission Motherland.
01:09My name's Che, AKA AJ Tracy, an independent multi-platinum selling rapper from West London.
01:19I've been making music since I left school and I was one of the lucky ones that turned my passion into a career.
01:24How you feeling?
01:25Yeah, good man.
01:26Ready?
01:27AJ Tracy, ABC cameras, one take two.
01:31But I feel it's time to leave the stage for a while and go on a journey to really understand my grandmother and my father's Caribbean roots.
01:39Growing up in the UK as a mixed heritage person, I'm obviously accustomed to the British way of life.
01:45It's the Trini side of me that I feel I need to know better.
01:52My mum's Welsh, she's from Cardiff.
01:54I'm not going to lie, I bring it well and easy, man.
01:56I'm really the first person to bring the money into the family.
01:59My parents broke up when I was like 10, 11, and I stayed at my mum in Lara Grove.
02:04I did learn some Caribbean culture from my mum.
02:06I did because she tried to give me what she can but she's a white British woman so she can only do so much.
02:12Because I didn't live with my dad, the Caribbean stuff came a little bit less natural to me because I'm not around it all the time.
02:18The majority of the food I'm eating is British.
02:20I enjoy a pint.
02:21I love football.
02:22I'm obsessed with football.
02:23I love a shepherd's pie.
02:24Roast dinner every Sunday.
02:25I haven't missed a roast dinner yet.
02:27I'm 31.
02:28Think about how many roast dinners I've consumed.
02:29I am British at the end of the day.
02:31My dad's family come from Trinidad and Tobago.
02:34But he was born here in Britain.
02:36My grandmother actually sent him back to school in Tobago as a child.
02:42My dad's Trinidad.
02:43He's British but my dad is Trinidad.
02:45My dad's tapped in.
02:46He actually went to school there.
02:47He's actually been there.
02:48He's pretty similar to me in terms of his personality, raps also.
02:52My dad's life when he went back to Trinidad and a lot of things he went through I'm unsure of.
02:57It's blurry to me.
02:58I get little tiny tidbits of information on these things and sometimes my dad won't delve into it.
03:03If you think it's hard to get information out of my dad then getting super private information out of my grandma is impossible.
03:10I know way less about my grandma's journey than my dad's.
03:13Being raised with dual heritage comes with its own challenges.
03:18Growing up it's like, oh the mixed race, oh he's more white, he's not as, you hear me?
03:23But then on the other side it's like, you're not white, you're black.
03:26So it's like, I don't fit anywhere then.
03:28The man's in a sole category of being mixed race.
03:30Not black, not white.
03:31I'm somewhere in the void.
03:33If my mum and dad stayed together then I would have had a whole different upbringing, I'd be wrong.
03:40Taking this trip to Trinidad and Tobago will be life changing.
03:43Not just from an identity point of view, but to see whether living in Trinidad could actually be a possibility in the future.
03:50And even imagine what life would be like if I had actually been born there.
03:55My family's history over there is super important to me, I think.
03:59Just because I'm British doesn't mean that I don't want to continue my Trini part of my legacy because I definitely do.
04:03And make sure that the heritage and our legacy isn't lost.
04:06Obviously they're never going to see me as a Trini because I'm from England.
04:09I just don't want to be a tourist in my own country.
04:11But see me as someone who's actually tried to learn about the culture and come back to my roots and actually respect it.
04:18I'll be heading to Trinidad and Tobago with my brother Mickey.
04:21We're not blood related, but he's been by my side since day one.
04:25I think it's important for Mick to experience this with me because it might not be his Caribbean island as he's from Montserrat.
04:32So it's nice for him to learn what life's like over there.
04:35My family's his family.
04:36It's nice for me to have someone that I know with me, someone that I love.
04:39Is this a holiday or are we actually going for educational purposes?
04:42I think one of us is going to be on holiday.
04:44What's the jolly app?
04:45One of us is going to be on holiday.
04:47That's you.
04:48That's me.
04:49That's me.
04:50Yeah, that's you.
04:51Yeah, that's you.
04:52That's you.
04:53We will enjoy ourselves, but the deeper meaning, obviously, learn about my family.
04:57My grandparents from the Caribbean died quite young.
05:00So as an adult now, like kind of the kind of ages where they came over, I'm kind of intrigued to know what life was like, what motivated them.
05:08I just think it's nice to, as a Trini British man, to be assimilated into their culture as closely as I can.
05:14So that when I go over there, I'm not just a tourist, just visiting Ireland.
05:17Like I'm from there, I'm coming home, do you get me?
05:18So that would be nice, man.
05:19But what's like a positive outcome?
05:21What do you, what do you want?
05:22For me, bro, a positive outcome is me learning something new about my family.
05:26Because of course I know loads of surface level information about my Trini family, but I'd love to delve deeper.
05:31Mickey and I are ready to head to Trinidad and the smallest sister island, Tobago.
05:40These islands sit at the southern tip of the Caribbean.
05:43My grandmother's family are proud Tobagonians, hailing from a small town called Argyle on the eastern side of the island.
05:51We're going on the bear hunt.
05:54Trinidad.
05:56Trinidad and Tobago was a British colony built on the labour of enslaved Africans and Indian workers.
06:06Rich in oil, gas, music and culture.
06:09It has long been one of the Caribbean's most vibrant nations.
06:15So did you touch down?
06:16Touchdown, man.
06:17Tobago, we're there.
06:18Come on, man.
06:21When my dad heard about this trip, he was gutted he couldn't come.
06:24But he wanted me in good hands.
06:26So he linked me up with his friend John, someone who knows the island inside and out.
06:31We're going to meet John.
06:32He's going to pull up any minute now.
06:33John is my dad's brethren.
06:35Every time he comes here to get me there with John, John takes them around me.
06:38He's agreed to come meet us.
06:39He's got, apparently, he's got a list from my dad.
06:41My dad sent a list from England, to get me, of people or places we need to visit.
06:46OK, here's John.
06:47Green Rip.
06:48Yeah, man.
06:49Rolling.
06:50He's rolling.
06:51The tints.
06:52Vegeta in the windscreen.
06:53Very cold.
06:54Yeah, man.
06:55Nice to meet you, AJ.
06:56It's finally good to meet you.
06:57Likewise, broski.
06:58This is Mick.
06:59Pleasure to meet you, bro.
07:00Yeah.
07:01Right?
07:02So, welcome to Tobago.
07:03Thanks for having me, man.
07:04I'm loving it here.
07:05Let's go.
07:06Our first stop is my grand's house.
07:08It's locked up at the moment as she's back in the UK.
07:09But it's the oldest memory I have of Tobago.
07:10I haven't been back here in years.
07:11And as soon as I arrive, I get a nice surprise.
07:12I bump into my cousin, Kwesi, who I haven't seen in years.
07:15Good to see you, man.
07:16How are you?
07:17Good.
07:18Long time no see.
07:19I know you're busy.
07:20I know you're on time.
07:21I know you're on time.
07:22I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.
07:23I hope before we leave I can see you, man.
07:24Yeah.
07:25So, welcome to Tobago.
07:26Welcome to Tobago.
07:27Welcome to Tobago.
07:28Welcome to Tobago.
07:29Welcome to Tobago.
07:30Welcome to Tobago.
07:31Welcome to Tobago.
07:32I know you're busy.
07:33I know you're on time.
07:34I know you're on time.
07:35I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.
07:36I hope before we leave I can see you, man.
07:37Yeah.
07:38I thought you were coming.
07:39I always ask for you, bro.
07:40Trust me.
07:41I always ask for you.
07:42Hey, do you remember running around here as a kid?
07:44Yeah, I do, actually.
07:45My grand made me run around here barefoot.
07:47So, I climbed her times.
07:49I don't know about barefoot.
07:50That's what you told me, bro.
07:51Yeah, when I used to come back here, I was young.
07:53You get me?
07:54I was very young.
07:55I used to lie in the house.
07:57I had the spinning ceiling fan.
07:59No AC in the yard, but that was good enough.
08:01Mosquito bites.
08:02Little lizards running between the lattice.
08:04Good memories.
08:05I used to come down here.
08:06We had the banana trees in the back.
08:07The aloe vera.
08:08It's almost time to eat.
08:10And I want to see if Mickey can catch his own dinner
08:12like I had to do once.
08:14When I was younger, my grandma said to me,
08:15you have to go into the garden.
08:17Take that chicken.
08:18She pointed at the chicken.
08:19She said, take that chicken there.
08:20Yeah?
08:21And you have to...
08:22I said, nah.
08:23Grandma said, bless.
08:24Then you don't eat.
08:25Then you don't eat.
08:26So, you know what I said?
08:27I said, you know what?
08:28I'll do it.
08:29Well, let's go catch dinner now.
08:30I'll do it.
08:31Let's go catch dinner now.
08:32So, let's see.
08:33So, this is a test.
08:34Let's see.
08:35Let's see.
08:36Catching the food is part of eating.
08:37Exactly.
08:38If you want to eat it, you have to catch it.
08:39So, I hope you're ready.
08:40What my grandma said to me, Mick,
08:41I'm telling you now.
08:42Exactly.
08:43He is never going to catch that.
08:44Never.
08:45Never, never, never, never.
08:46Never.
08:47I already know how it goes.
08:48I know how it goes already.
08:49I tried before.
08:50I tried.
08:51There's no way.
08:52I think I have to surrender.
08:58The only reason my family are in Britain today is because of the bold journey my gran took
09:07back in the 1960s.
09:11I've never really known what life was like for her.
09:13I've tried asking, but she keeps a lot to herself.
09:17My grandma wasn't the only one, though.
09:19She was part of a whole generation that migrated all over the world, including the UK.
09:25Hello, how are you?
09:26Hi.
09:27Nice to meet you.
09:28Before setting out, I did some research and came across social analyst Marina Salandi-Brown.
09:34I'm hoping she can help me understand the journey my grandmother and so many others
09:40like her made to the UK.
09:42This is actually laced with rum.
09:44OK.
09:45No, it's not really.
09:46OK.
09:47I don't actually drink.
09:48I wouldn't have had a problem with that, though.
09:49How did I know that?
09:51Yeah.
09:52You know, in the old days, it was rude to ask grown-up questions.
09:56I know, it is.
09:57So they didn't tell you anything.
09:58Exactly.
09:59And now they're all dead and we don't know a damn thing, right?
10:01Like my gran, Marina moved to the UK in the 1960s, but later returned to Trinidad
10:07and Tobago to live out the rest of her life.
10:10So I hear that your grandmother went over about the same time as I did.
10:14Yes, yes, yes.
10:15I think she went in 65?
10:16Around then, yes.
10:17Yeah, and I went in 67.
10:18OK.
10:19So have you been able to talk to her?
10:21Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:22I've spoken to her about this stuff, but as you said, you know, it was a little bit taboo
10:24for me to ask too many questions, too many in-depth questions.
10:27You think I could help you fill in some gaps?
10:29Yeah, I just think it would be really nice just to speak to you, learn about your experience
10:31and what the driving factors were about why you wanted to go to the UK.
10:37In the 1960s, there was a lot of unemployment and I was 17.
10:43Well, everybody went to school.
10:44We had free education at that point in the 60s after independence.
10:48So a lot of people were well-educated, but the economy was small.
10:52OK.
10:53So there wasn't anything to graduate to.
10:55Yes.
10:56So people who were white or near-white could go to work in a bank, they could, you know,
11:01they could be an air stewardess or something like that.
11:03But people like me and you weren't sure that we could do that.
11:08Between 1948 and 1973, over half a million people migrated from the Caribbean to Britain after the war.
11:16When my gran arrived in the UK, she worked as a nurse at Watford Hospital in Hertfordshire.
11:23The Sinian people went into the nursing.
11:26Yeah.
11:27They went into London Transport.
11:30And that relationship between Britain and Trinidad was still developing.
11:34Mm-hm.
11:35So you could go to Britain and they didn't stamp your passport, leave in six months.
11:39OK.
11:40You could join the RAF or you could join the armed forces.
11:43A lot of people did that.
11:44If you had qualifications, you could go in as a state registered nurse.
11:50Once you got in as an SRN, when you came out of the armed forces and you went into the NHS,
11:57you could, whoa, you could demand, you know, a position and stuff because...
12:02You're very highly respected.
12:03Yeah.
12:04Much higher.
12:05Marina told me, despite some opportunities to progress, there was a lot of racism that people like my gran faced.
12:12She told me many stories of people needing help and her going to do her job and then refusing help and saying,
12:18I don't want that woman to help me.
12:20Your granny would have had, and there's a sense of injustice, you know.
12:24I mean, you went to Britain and you were thinking, you're going to make your way.
12:27And then you discovered that people didn't think the same of you.
12:31So, for someone like me, if I wanted to move back here permanently, which is, it's on the cards, honestly it's on the cards.
12:37How would I assimilate into society a little bit easier?
12:40Well, what I did is what I could do wasn't available.
12:45I made my own thing.
12:46OK.
12:47So, you can do that.
12:48OK.
12:49You don't have to go and work in the public service or whatever.
12:51If you can ignore all of that, there is so much room to do your own thing.
12:55OK.
12:56And you get chances to do things here.
12:57That you would never go anywhere.
12:58That you could never.
12:59Like, you could be the president.
13:01Yeah.
13:02You could be the prime minister.
13:03I mean, you can't really do that over there.
13:05You could do it.
13:06I appreciate it.
13:07Yeah.
13:08Thank you for the words of encouragement.
13:09Thank you so, so much.
13:10Thank you very much.
13:11Lovely to meet you.
13:12It was a pleasure.
13:13It was a pleasure.
13:14Thank you so much.
13:16Talking to Marina made me see my gran differently.
13:19Not just as my grandmother, but as a young woman who left everything she knew.
13:23Chasing a better life in a country that didn't always want her.
13:27It made me think about the courage that takes, and about everything and everyone she must have
13:32left behind.
13:42I'm AJ Tracy, and I'm in Trinidad and Tobago, retracing the roots of my father's family.
13:52I've already learned a lot about my grandmother since being here, but my dad's arranged for
13:56me to meet someone I never expected.
13:58Lorna Morgan, an old family friend.
14:02She doesn't just know my gran, she knew my great gran too.
14:07My great gran's whole life was here in Tobago.
14:10Long before my gran's journey to the UK ever began.
14:13Lorna's meeting me at a quiet spot on the beach where she likes to spend time.
14:17And she's got stories and memories no one else can share.
14:20It's mad to think I'm about to get a glimpse into a part of my family's history that I've
14:25never known.
14:26How are you doing?
14:27I'm good.
14:28My name's Tray, nice to meet you.
14:30I'm Miss Lorna.
14:31Nice to meet you.
14:32Miss Lorna.
14:33Pleasure.
14:34Pleasure.
14:35Pleasure.
14:36I have some questions for you.
14:38My grandmother, Mona, she's told me a lot about the family.
14:43But I know nothing about my grandma's mother.
14:46Miss Katrin.
14:47Yeah?
14:48Yeah.
14:49Anything you can tell me about her will be welcome information.
14:51She was my good friend.
14:53She was a feisty woman.
14:54Hard working.
14:55Yeah.
14:56Hard working.
14:57Hard working because I think her husband died pretty young, so she was a breadwinner.
15:01So she had to take care of the younger ones.
15:04And she did a good job.
15:05Strong woman.
15:06Yeah.
15:07Very much.
15:08Well, Miss Katrin was a fish vendor, right?
15:11Okay.
15:12She was a lady around the village, right?
15:14She used to journey to Charlotteville from Monday to Friday, which is fish from the fishermen,
15:22and come back to Roxborough, Argyle to sell her fish.
15:26How did my great-grandmother do business?
15:28How did she go about her trade?
15:30Everybody had to know when Miss Katrin is here, because she had a cong shell.
15:34Okay.
15:35She used to blow.
15:36Yeah?
15:37To let people know that she's here?
15:39This is the cong shell that she used to blow.
15:41Not this one.
15:42Yeah, but one very similar.
15:43There's a hole there, so when you put it and you blow, it makes a beautiful sound.
15:50We used to look forward to hear the shell.
15:52Poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop.
15:57And when we hear the shell, we're no catching in tongue, right?
16:00So we come and get the fish.
16:04She has a scale and a sharp knife to cut the fish.
16:09Some people don't have money to buy, and she will trust them.
16:12And if she see them again, remember, you owe me.
16:15Yeah.
16:16You owe me, but you're still getting your fish, you know?
16:21Do you think I have any resemblance to my family?
16:23Across the mouth.
16:24Across the mouth?
16:25Yeah.
16:26But you see the straight nose?
16:27That's the English.
16:31You have the English nose and the Tobago mouth.
16:35But you still have something, yeah?
16:37At least I got something.
16:38At least I have something.
16:39But the nose is a bit British, a bit white.
16:41Yeah.
16:43We thank you for the stories.
16:44We appreciate the information.
16:45You're welcome.
16:46May the Lord bless you in abundance.
16:48And may the days that come be greater than the days that pass.
16:52Bless you.
16:53I know I'm blessed.
16:54Amen.
16:55It was nice to hear people speak about family members I haven't met and obviously will never meet because they're not here with us anymore.
17:04But it's nice to know where my temperament came from, where my grand's temperament came from.
17:08Obviously I didn't get to meet my great grandma and I never will obviously.
17:12But to talk to people who knew her personally and spent time with her and live with her and bought fish off her.
17:18Do you get me?
17:19That's something that enables me to feel it.
17:21I can feel it.
17:22I can visualise it.
17:23I can picture it.
17:24It feels like I'm there a little bit.
17:25Do you know what I'm saying?
17:26So the way my great grandma was described just sounded like my grandma to me.
17:29I'll be real.
17:30She's like that.
17:31John wants to take me to Roxborough Elementary School, which my dad attended when he was here.
17:46We're here, bro.
17:48So this is Roxborough School, yeah?
17:49Yeah, this is Roxborough Primary School.
17:50So this is where my dad went?
17:52Yeah, and I think this is where your grandma went.
17:54Oh, my grandma went here as well?
17:55Yeah.
17:56My dad went to school in Camden, yeah, as a young man.
18:02He also at some point was misbehaving as a young man and got what we call dipped.
18:07Dipped means you get sent back to wherever it is you're from.
18:10So they sent him back somewhere that he's not from.
18:12But he was cool, innit?
18:13He got on there.
18:14He went to school there.
18:15I think he got taught some discipline and then he came back.
18:21But this is very different to the UK.
18:26Exactly.
18:27That's one thing in school.
18:29Just like the church.
18:30Yeah.
18:31Schoolers teach your upbringing.
18:32Yeah, yeah.
18:33In Tobago.
18:34Yeah.
18:35Respect manners.
18:36Yeah.
18:37You understand?
18:38So that's why I know your father got her too.
18:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:40Full of respect, that's why I always respect him.
18:41You know what?
18:42To be fair, they made an honest man out of him, my bro.
18:43But yeah, even with my grandma, because she also attended this school, she would have come
18:47here, got her education, been proud of the education she got, and then said, you know
18:52what?
18:53Send him back, get an education where I got an education, because I know it to be a good
18:56education.
18:57Similar to the church, school is where you're raised, you know?
19:00They don't just give you an education, but they teach you how to be a human, how to be
19:03a person, how to function in society.
19:06Soon, I'll be heading to sister island, Trinidad.
19:09But before I leave Tobago, I need to make one last stop.
19:12I want to visit my ancestral family burial grounds.
19:16I've been told by Lorna, the burial ground is under a mango tree nearby.
19:20So I'm heading to the cemetery to see it for myself.
19:23I'm looking for the Henry plot, which is the name of my granddad's side of the family.
19:29So they tell us to look for the mango tree?
19:31Yeah.
19:32Is this a mango tree here?
19:33This is the biggest mango tree I've ever seen in my whole life.
19:35So this can only be it.
19:36I feel so.
19:37I can smell the mango furthermore, because of the way that it is over here.
19:40Sometimes you get buried, the grave shift, the things move around.
19:43And people get buried over and over again on top of the same spot, right?
19:47Yeah, yeah.
19:48Your whole family in one spot.
19:50What you're looking for?
19:51All right.
19:52So that one there.
19:53Right there, yeah.
19:54Right there.
19:55See it there?
19:56Reverend.
19:57Reverend.
19:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:59Big Christian connection with your family.
20:00You're always in our heart.
20:01The legacy you left us will always linger on.
20:03Rest in peace.
20:04Yeah, man.
20:05Austin Henry was my great-grand's brother.
20:08So I'm going to assume that that patch of area there has...
20:11Your great-grandma?
20:12Possibly, possibly.
20:13Great-granddad?
20:14Possibly all of them.
20:15You get me?
20:16A long line of Tobago onions.
20:17That's nice though, under the mango tree.
20:19Yeah, rest in peace.
20:20It's nice that I got to come here, I'll be real.
20:22Would have been nice if you could meet your great-grandma.
20:24Of course.
20:25But...
20:26That would have been ideal.
20:27But it's the way life goes.
20:28From the sounds of the music she made with a conch shell, she's still living in you now.
20:31Exactly, exactly.
20:32The music lives on.
20:33From what we can gather, everyone's here, bro.
20:36You know what I mean?
20:37That's what they're saying.
20:38Your grandma's brothers and sisters.
20:40Yeah.
20:41Your great-grandma, your great-granddad, cousins.
20:44The whole family just under the mango tree.
20:45Yeah, man.
20:46It's nice together.
20:47And you couldn't pick a better place under a mango tree, you get me?
20:49From the Caribbean.
20:50Yeah, man.
20:51It's where you rest, bro.
20:52Yeah.
20:53It's a nice place.
20:54Yeah, man.
20:55This is one of the most beautiful places you could be buried, man.
20:56In England, we don't get scenic.
20:57Look, you got a view in that.
20:59If I'm buried with a view, so be it.
21:00Do you get me?
21:01See what I'm saying?
21:02In England, it's a bit like doom and gloom.
21:04And when someone passes, you don't have like a nine night or something to...
21:07You don't have like the celebration, the aspect.
21:09It's more like just being upset, man.
21:11I don't know.
21:12I don't really feel like that's the way to do it.
21:13But it's just me, innit?
21:14I'm neurodiverse.
21:15I'm just a little bit like that.
21:16Do you get me?
21:17I chill my emotions in different ways.
21:18Tobago is giving me answers I didn't even know I was missing.
21:25From understanding my great-grand story, to learning how my great-grand lived.
21:29To seeing how deep my family's connection to this island really goes.
21:33It's the first time I've felt like I'm not just here in history.
21:36I'm actually a part of it.
21:38But only half my story's in Tobago.
21:41To see the full picture, I've got to head over to Trinidad.
21:46I'm AJ Tracy, and I'm in Trinidad and Tobago.
22:01I've traced my grand's journey to the UK.
22:04Learned about my great-grand's life here.
22:06And seen the school that shaped my dad.
22:08But now I'm in Trinidad to uncover the rest of the story.
22:11I've arrived at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad.
22:15The home of Carnival.
22:17And also the steel pan.
22:19My favourite instrument.
22:21The steel pan started on these streets.
22:23A pure Trini invention and a heartbeat of Carnival.
22:27I'm from Labrock Grove.
22:29Notting Hill Carnival's practically on my doorstep.
22:31It's the time of year I feel most proud to be a Trini.
22:36I'm 31, bro.
22:37I've been to probably at least 25 Carnivals.
22:39Growing up in Grove is like, it's a rite of passage, bro.
22:41You have to go to Carnival.
22:42If you're from Labrock Grove and you don't go to Carnival,
22:44everyone looks at you weird.
22:45You're weird.
22:46What do you mean you're not going to Carnival?
22:48Oh, it's just messy.
22:49And what are you celebrating?
22:50I don't even...
22:51If you think like that, then you're not one of us respectfully.
22:53You're from Labrock Grove, but you're not one of us.
22:54I'll be real.
22:56Even though Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street festival in Europe,
22:59with over two million visitors across two days,
23:02it doesn't rival the Carnival in Trinidad,
23:04which has been running for almost 200 years since 1834.
23:08I'm in Queen's Park, Savannah.
23:11In short, it's the Trinidad Carnival,
23:14what the main stage at Glastonbury is to that festival.
23:17The beating heart where the biggest moments unfold.
23:20The Carnival stage is actually here.
23:22When I was here for Carnival last time,
23:24this spot was absolutely rocking.
23:25This was jumping here.
23:26And this is one of the centre points of Carnival.
23:28I'm going to head off to do some pan.
23:30Experience some pan.
23:32I've come to meet Keith Byer,
23:34a veteran steel pan leader at a local pan yard,
23:37where pans are hammered into shape
23:39and rehearsals take place to understand the origins
23:41of the instrument I've always loved.
23:44Afternoon, gentlemen.
23:45Good to meet you guys.
23:46How are you? How are you?
23:47Good afternoon. How are you doing?
23:48AJ, nice to meet you. Pleasure, Mickey.
23:50Pleasure.
23:51How did pan originate?
23:52How did it come about in the first place?
23:54We were a British colony at one point in time.
23:57And, of course, we had slavery also.
23:59The slaves, basically,
24:02were using the African drum to communicate.
24:05And so they banned the use of the drums.
24:09The slaves at that time
24:11couldn't use the drum for the festivities, for music.
24:17Keith explained that when people are banned
24:19from using traditional drums in the 1880s,
24:21they tend to bamboo,
24:23hollowing it out and striking it on the ground
24:26or with sticks to make music.
24:28That was the birth of Tambu Bamboo bands.
24:32By the 1930s, especially during Carnival,
24:35those bands started experimenting with metal.
24:37Biscuit tins, dustbin lids, brake drums, oil cans
24:41or anything that could hold a rhythm.
24:44These makeshift groups became known as iron bands
24:47or pan bands.
24:48In the early 1940s, musicians noticed that hammering the metal
24:53created different pitches, not just noise.
24:57That discovery led to the shaping and tuning
24:59of discarded oil drums into instruments
25:01and eventually the steel pan that we see today.
25:04It's a story of creativity and resilience,
25:13turning restriction into innovation.
25:16This instrument was born out of struggle.
25:20Yeah.
25:21And that's the struggle.
25:22And it's testament that the people who pan together,
25:24put their head together and find a way.
25:26They finally started to make the steel pan.
25:28They had feared the steel pan too.
25:30Okay.
25:31So, people play the pan.
25:33Policies lock you up.
25:34If you're walking with a pan stick, you can get a hole.
25:37So they were arresting people for just having a pan stick?
25:39Yeah.
25:40So, basically, this started as like a youth resistance.
25:43This started like a youth resistance.
25:45When we landed at the airport, there's a steel pan.
25:47Now it's like a symbol of national unity.
25:49National unity.
25:50I think learning that it come as a symbol of like resistance
25:54from young people just completely blew my mind
25:57and made it even more powerful.
25:59Like, I grew up listening to pan at carnival,
26:02but now it's like it's a completely new lens on it
26:04to understand how colonization and the colonial aspect,
26:08but they ban the drums.
26:10Who bans drums?
26:11Music is a way of rebelling.
26:13Music's a way of reflecting the social, economic,
26:15what's going on, the climate.
26:17It always will be.
26:18It always has been.
26:19And you can't stop it, I'll be real.
26:21Before we go, we've got to try pan ourselves.
26:24So we're getting a quick crash course.
26:27I'm going to teach you all basic scales,
26:30called the C major scale.
26:32Okay.
26:33So you're going to roll C for four beats,
26:34you're going to roll D for four beats,
26:36and you're going to roll E for four beats.
26:38Okay.
26:39One, two, three, four, and...
26:41One, two, three, four, and...
26:44Two, three, four, and...
26:46Two, three, four, and...
26:47Two, three, four, and...
26:48Two, three, four, and...
26:49Two, three, four, and...
26:50Are these players playing something?
26:51Yeah, boy.
26:52What are you here?
26:53Hear Do-Re-Mi.
26:55Hold it again and hear Do-Re-Mi.
26:57I have...
27:07To see some real still pan playing,
27:09Keefe has also invited us down to the Diatonic Still Pan Institute
27:12that he founded in 2010.
27:14The first of its kind in Trinidad.
27:15The first of its kind in Trinidad, dedicated to youth engagement,
27:19community building and education.
27:25We're looking forward to seeing the young people perform there in a few days' time.
27:31Yeah, new experience. Cold. I think I'm really good.
27:34You know what? I might stop rapping.
27:36I might be a pan star now, you never know.
27:38So I'm going to buy a pan now and I'm going to annoy the heck out my mum.
27:41I'm going to put one right in her living room.
27:42Mum, don't mind me. Let's practice in, you get me?
27:44Yeah, he said he uses pan as a tool for social change.
27:48And that's amazing. We love youth work.
27:50That's what I'm about, Mick's about. That's amazing for us to hear.
27:53And it means that no matter where you are in the world,
27:55what you have at your disposal is what you use to create change.
27:58At the end of the day, we all understand that music is a vessel that you can use
28:01to bring about some sort of change and power. It's powerful, man.
28:10Being around the Steel Pans was special.
28:12Learning their history, hearing that sound up close.
28:15It got me thinking about where that same rhythm in my family began.
28:18I've always heard music runs in our blood, but I've never known much about one of the people
28:23that it might have come from. My granddad. My dad told me that there was one person still alive
28:29who knew him better than anyone. Uncle Andrew. Not a blood relative, but my granddad's best friend.
28:36How you doing? Uncle Andrew. Pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
28:41What I do know is my granddad's name was Renric Grant. He worked with my uncle Andrew.
28:46I wonder if I take after him at all.
28:49So, Uncle, I'm here in Shinidad to retrace my family's steps, learn more about the family.
28:56And I know a lot about Tobago and Grandma, but I don't know much about my granddad.
28:59You see, for me, growing up in the UK, asking the Caribbean side of my family too many details, I'm not allowed.
29:07So, I've really come here to ask you some questions and just learn a few things about him.
29:11On the part of your granddad's side, probably I might be the only one who knew more of him than anyone else.
29:23Definitely, definitely. Yeah, what was he like as a person?
29:26I knew him before he went to England, you know.
29:28Okay, yeah.
29:29He worked at the same firm.
29:30Okay.
29:31And, in fact, I was his foreman.
29:34But he was older than me.
29:36He was a dancer, you know.
29:38When you see Friday, you couldn't get him to do anything.
29:42He was practicing his movements.
29:44Did you ever see Granddad dance?
29:46A couple times, yes.
29:49His famous dance was the Foxtrot, the dancer called the Bolero.
29:58And the waltz.
30:00It was the Foxtrot and the Bolero will give you the popularity.
30:04I had to prepare him to go to the dances, you know.
30:07Because I, where we worked, I operated a steam press.
30:11And I had to press his travel dance.
30:14So, you look fresh for the dance?
30:15Yes.
30:16What was Granddad's style like?
30:17How did he dress?
30:18Oh, he was a dresser.
30:19Yeah.
30:20Oh, yes, he was a dresser.
30:21Renwick, if you remember, you see Renwick in a function, he's always well put away.
30:26Tall and elegant in a dance hall.
30:30And you see him on the floor.
30:32You could recognize him because he sometimes tore over.
30:35Everyone.
30:36You know.
30:37And because of his movements, you know, the girls and them used to flock around him.
30:45Did his Granddad have any musical talent?
30:47Did he ever sing?
30:48Yes.
30:49Oh, yes.
30:50Oh, he felt he was a calypsonian, actually.
30:53He felt he was, or he was?
30:56He felt.
30:57He had a good boy.
30:58He had a nice and pleasant, very nice, pleasant boy.
31:01Okay.
31:02He loved carnival.
31:03He loved, and that got him into a spot of bother once.
31:07Because he loved jewelry, you know.
31:09One juve morning, he was coming from Puerto Spain in the savannah.
31:15And some fellows saw him with this sort of gold chain.
31:18And they mobbed him.
31:21Juve is the start of Trinidad carnival.
31:24Right before sunrise, where everyone's out celebrating early.
31:27And that's the morning Renwick was heading home.
31:30But these fellows brutalized him, you know.
31:35And after that, he wasn't the same jolly person again.
31:41It definitely affected him, you know, psychologically.
31:46In our family, there were always limits to what you could ask.
31:51Talking to Uncle Andrew filled in the blanks.
31:53Not all of them, but enough to feel closer to the man I never met.
31:57I started to recognize pieces of myself.
32:00The mannerisms, the confidence.
32:02It made me realize how little I actually knew.
32:05Seeing Che here, as a grown man.
32:07Yeah.
32:08I mean, the first time you've seen him as a man, right?
32:10Yes.
32:11Does he look like his grandfather?
32:13Yes.
32:14The face with the features, yes.
32:16Mm-hmm.
32:17Renwick was a handsome man, you know.
32:18I've seen pictures, I've seen pictures.
32:20Unfortunately, I never got to meet Granddad.
32:22So it's nice speaking to you and hearing about him.
32:24He sounds a lot like myself, to be honest.
32:26Well, if you are happy, I am even happier then.
32:30Thank you, thank you.
32:33Listening to Uncle Andrew, it hit me how deeply music was part of my granddad's life.
32:38And maybe that's where it comes from in me too.
32:41So now I want to understand, what is it about this island that puts music in our blood?
32:47I'm AJ Tracy, and I'm in Trinidad on a mission to learn about how my motherland has influenced me in ways I didn't even realize.
33:08Hearing about my granddad gave me a real piece of my identity back, seeing where some of my own traits and rhythm actually began.
33:17You can tell the music is shaped by what people live through, by their surroundings and their reality.
33:24It's something I recognize from home too.
33:26And it's a big part of my own story.
33:28Growing up in Labra Grove wasn't always easy.
33:36There's always been wealth here, just not where I was from.
33:40The gap between the rich and the poor was impossible to ignore.
33:43Kensington, if you look at some of the houses, 25, 30 mil, and then obviously in the ends, no electric.
33:49You get me candles, boiling the kettle to have a bath.
33:52And that's the reality though as well.
33:54We're all corralled into this one area where all the most volatile and the most impoverished people are together,
33:59which is obviously going to cause some issues.
34:02At the time, those challenging conditions pushed me and my friends in the wrong direction.
34:08I was starting to go down a little bit of a wayward path.
34:10I'm here in the ends with the mandem, starts building a little bit of a perfect storm, bro.
34:15I was going down a crazy path.
34:16I was spitting bars.
34:17I'm spitting bars, angry.
34:18I'm aggressive.
34:19It's just how I felt, innit?
34:20I was angry at the world.
34:21Music is what brought me out of where I was.
34:23Music is the thing that allowed me to have a career and be respected in some circles that I wouldn't have been respecting otherwise.
34:30That's how we alleviated some of the stress of being impoverished and living in the ends.
34:34You get me?
34:35But over the years, as my circumstances have changed, so is my relationship with music.
34:43Both what I make and what I'm drawn to.
34:45Soca music in particular is embedded in my DNA.
34:48And as I've gotten older, I'm actually loving it more and more.
34:52From legends like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow to the new King Ahsoka, Marshall Montano.
34:59In the Caribbean, he's as big as it gets.
35:02He's been performing since he was seven.
35:05By nine, he was already on stage at Madison Square Garden.
35:08He's won more than a dozen Trinidad Carnival titles and a Soul Train award in the US.
35:13And through it all, he stayed in Trinidad, keeping his sound, his accent and his roots right where they began.
35:27And I want to find out how he's managed to hold on to his global appeal without ever letting go of his island roots.
35:34But it's been a long time coming. I've been waiting to link you for a minute, man.
35:36Yeah, man.
35:37I've been wanting to link you. Obviously, we're all big fans, bro.
35:39And we understand we're in the presence of the King, but we already know, trust me.
35:41But this is a good vibe to come back home and understand your roots.
35:46Understand where you're from.
35:47Yeah, man.
35:48You never know where you're going.
35:49Exactly.
35:50Unless you know where you're coming from.
35:51Exactly.
35:52Always want, when you reach points, when you want to expand and take yourself to another level, you need to touch some roots.
35:59I want to know how growing up in Trinidad shaped the music he makes today.
36:04Growing up in places like London and New York and it's all about the city life.
36:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:10You know, when you grow up in the islands and entering that, it's more like a country life, even though we have this city.
36:15But I mean, being able to walk up to a mango tree and pick a fruit, a real mango.
36:21Being able to go north, south, east and west and end up on the beach and swim in the ocean.
36:27That's a level of freedom that you feel and then your whole expression will be different.
36:32So when you see you coming out of that struggle and that anger, you might be angry about some kind of, you know, story of your life growing up with your parents.
36:39Or you might be angry about how the friends in London treat you from being either your race or your class or being poor.
36:46But here, a lot of the people, you know, we might be poor.
36:51I grew up poor too, but I was always happy because I could always go to the beach.
36:54I could always eat fruits.
36:56I could always, so my expression from the jump was joyful.
37:00So your upbringing here might have influenced you to enter a different, you know, enter in a different way, sing about different things, make music.
37:09But you're still able to come back now, experience it, understand it.
37:15We just found out his great grandmother used to play the conch.
37:18Yeah, the conch shell.
37:19His dad was a rapper.
37:20They just see everyone we meet seems to just have natural rhythm.
37:23Something musical.
37:24He says something in the blood, right?
37:26Trinidad is an oil country.
37:27Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:28In the Caribbean, like, we have barrels of oil.
37:30Yeah.
37:31But these oil barrels, we made into shiny instruments.
37:35Steel pan.
37:36You see, you grew up, everybody playing pan.
37:38You would have been playing pan.
37:39I would have.
37:40At some point.
37:41I have a pan in my house.
37:42And when you learn to pong and move and dance, everybody become creative.
37:46So it's really a cultural country.
37:49Our main thing is oil, but that oil gave us music.
37:53And that music come with rhythm.
37:55Yeah, sick.
37:56So everybody playing that, blowing our conch shell, beating our iron.
38:00Everybody have rhythm.
38:01Everybody could create.
38:02Everybody feel it as an artist.
38:04Sick, sick, sick.
38:05You know what I'm saying?
38:06So that is your heritage.
38:08That's my heritage.
38:09That type of music making is only special to hear.
38:12To hear.
38:13And that in your blood.
38:14Yeah, my guy.
38:17For me, bro, when you're in England, because you're in the rat race,
38:19every day you wake up to grey skies, there's no nature.
38:22Over here.
38:23You can go to the tree.
38:24Take a fruit off a tree.
38:25Go out to the sea and swim whenever you want.
38:28You've got the freedom.
38:29Yeah.
38:30Hearing Marshall talk about freedom made me realise he wasn't really chatting about beaches or fruit.
38:35He was talking about what actually shapes people from here.
38:38How growing up in this place influences the way you move, think, create, all of it.
38:44Next, we're heading back to meet Keith Byer again.
38:48This time at the Diatonic Steel Pant Institute.
38:51He's arranged for us to meet his students.
38:53And after everything Marshall said, I'm looking at it differently.
38:57Trying to see how this culture gets passed on and what the next generation are going to do with it.
39:01Cheese!
39:09Good boy!
40:10You can go to school and make friends, but here it's not like just friends, it's like making a family.
40:14I would say that it really helps curb that negativity that youth have a lot, kind of gang mentality.
40:21And we get to travel around.
40:23You can go places you never really thought you would have been before.
40:26Thank you so much for playing for us.
40:27We appreciate it.
40:28It's inspiring.
40:29Appreciate you guys.
40:29Thank you so much.
40:30Before we leave, I've got a special surprise for Keith from me and Mission Motherland.
40:37I know they could really use the support.
40:40You can see the passion that you put in has been passed on to these young people.
40:44Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
40:49From what you've shown us and what you've told us about your institution, we've been moved.
40:54Like, we appreciate it, we respect it, and we want to help you, get me?
40:56So, on behalf of us and Mission Motherland, we want to give £5,000 to your institution,
41:01which is roughly around, I don't know, £50,000 TT, so hopefully that's going to help.
41:10Of course, bro.
41:11Of course.
41:11Thank you for everything you do, man.
41:12You're doing a lot of good work.
41:13You're doing a lot of good work, man.
41:15You're doing a lot of good work.
41:15Thank you very much, man.
41:16Yeah.
41:21Our Mission Motherland donation could not have gone to a more worthy recipient.
41:24Keefe said it would go towards more learning opportunities for the local kids and, of course,
41:35more still-pan drums.
41:50My time in Trinidad and Tobago is almost up.
41:53And it's got me reflecting on the trip and everything that I've learned.
42:03So, after all this, do you think you could live here?
42:06I'd be real.
42:07Before this, I felt a little bit foreign, if I'm being honest.
42:10It's always been a kind of option, a blurred option, but now it's a viable option,
42:13and I'm going to come here and try and water the seeds, get me, and try to be here, man.
42:18I think towards the future, I'll be here a lot more, a lot more frequently.
42:21I've neglected it a little bit.
42:22Obviously, the music thing takes over a little bit.
42:24We're in England.
42:25It's fast.
42:25It's the rat race.
42:26Everyone's locked in.
42:27But also, there's another side of me, which is over here in the Caribbean that I need to
42:31come and visit and make sure I'm nurturing, bro.
42:32What I have to say to you on behalf of, maybe your grandmother and your grandfather, is that, congratulations.
42:40My guy.
42:40I think you've achieved what they came to England to do.
42:45Yeah, 100%.
42:45Powerful, man.
42:46Yeah, man.
42:47I think I've just benefited from all the sacrifices everyone made before me.
42:51Yeah.
42:51And because of that, I'm aware of that, and we have to make sure that we give it back.
42:54You pay it forward, you pay it back.
42:55You get me?
42:56Yeah, man.
42:56Yeah, man.
42:56Definitely.
42:57There's no one else I could have took with me or would have wanted to take with me to do
43:00this with me, bro.
43:01This journey was for us, I'll be real.
43:03I've learned so much about my family, but also, not just the family, I've learned a lot
43:07about the culture.
43:08So, yeah, man, for me, it's been a resounding success.
43:30I've learned so much about my family, but also, not just the family, but also the family.
43:47I've learned so much about my family, but also, not just the family, but also the family.
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