written and edited by Lisa Levi
recorded and performed by Brian Richardson
creative director, Alex Thomas
a LAB production 2025
taken from Shamie Story, part of The Old Fisher
marooned on foreign soil
I hear still the drums
rolling over the sea
And I cannot resist
I dance…
STICK FIGHT
For the uninitiated:
Stick Fight – fighting with sticks.
Stick Fighting – involves two men or women with 4-foot wooden sticks striking at each other. Known as ‘Stick Licking’ (Barbados, Jamaica), ‘Kalinda’ (Trinidad, Tobago, Dominica, Haiti).
Playing Stick – the practise of stick fighting in Trinidad.
Breaks – block a strike.
Licks – make a strike.
Therefore playing stick is a round of breaksing and licksing.
Bois – the Stick: cut from a tree, usually a Poui tree, so is sometimes called a Poui.
Poui – a beautiful flowering and fragrant tree that is great for making sticks for stick fighting.
Boisman – a stick fighter, also called a Stickman (Trinidad), Sticklicker (Jamaica), Mayole (Guadaloupe).
Gayelle – the equivalent of the boxing rink.
Lavway – the Kalinda chant, the ‘songs’ that are sung to the drums in a call and response.
Chantwell – the leader of the lavways, who calls praises for the local fighters.
Kalinda – the cultural root of Trinidad stick fighting tradition. It includes dance, song and drum. Originating in West and Central Africa.
Thanks Giving:
Bois Academy, Rondel Benjamin, Keegan Taylor and Banyan Productions whose labour, to record and archive the social history of Stick Fighting in Trinidad and Tobago (No Bois Man No Fraid), provided me a wonderful window into the world of stick players.
Thanks to the drummers and Chantwells who play and sing the Lavways of yesteryear and today and have shared them on social media. With special thanks to Kalinda Productions for their beautiful videos and authentic sounds in ‘Caribbean Stickfight I and II’.
Gratitude for the words of Congo Bara, King Santos, King Kali, Desmond Noel, Mother Marva, The Great Panther, King David, Rondell Benjamin, Keegan Taylor, Rosanna Bayanille, Jamie Philbert, John Stewart.
To find out more about Stickfighting in the Caribbean, especially in Trinidad, see below:
References:
* Levi, Lisa, “STICK FIGHT: Gilda Thebaud Nassief took me on a journey” River-stories.com, (2023). https://river-stories.com/2023/08/05/gilda-thebaud-nassief-took-me-on-a-journey/
* Elder, J. D., “Kalinda’: Song of the Battling Troubadours of Trinidad.” Journal of the Folklore Institute 3, no. 2 (1966): 192–203. https://doi.org/10.2307/3814054. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814054)
* Surtees, Joshua., School of Bois, Trinidad Guardian, (2014) https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.378809.a29d40ec34
* Williams, Arlene., ‘Interview with King Santos – Legendary Stick Fighter from Trinidad’, (2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXrbIRZf5E&t=912s
* https://grjoseph.com/2018/09/04/culture-stick-fighting-bois-and-me/
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANU96QPmino (Interview with Keegan Taylor, TTT)
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaM0PI3T1s8 (Malik Folk Performers, dancing a stickfight story)
* https://dialoguewithacaribbeanthespian.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/stickfighting-with-bois-academy/
Renowned Caribbean stick fighting plays :
Rawle Gibbons, first performed,1986, I Lawah
Eric Roach, first performed,1967. Belle Fanto
Errol Hill, first performed, 1960, Man Better Man