Irish | Trinidadian
Ethnically I identify as Afro Caribbean and Celtic. My mother was from Trinidad and my father was born in Ireland. I don’t think my parents really coordinated their education into my culture. My mother always told me about where she was from, it’s history, traditions, stories and folklore and of course it’s culinary heritage and my father did broadly the same. My father always sang traditional Irish folk music around the house, he used to sing me to sleep and was forever telling stories of myths and fairy tales. I felt a strong connection with Irish ballads and the Celtic culture, but I had no real or lasting relationships with his side of the family although I did visit Ireland regularly with him for a number of years as a child. I was interviewed by a musician I was working with a few years ago as part of a documentary on mixed-race people. She asked if my mixed-heritage had any effect on my work life. It was the first time I really considered it. Generally, my external and internal identity is a London-born Caribbean with an Irish father: I’d never considered the specifics of my mixed heritage as a factor in the eyes of society. Broadly I feel that’s still the case for the most part, but that interview and this has made me consider the more subtle interplay around my ethnicity [e.g., it’s been suggested that my ‘look’ is a big part of the reason people hire me for live session work, tours, videos and photoshoots]. Perhaps there is a fetishization that I’m generally unaware of? It’s almost certainly naive of me to think there isn’t. I’ve always seen mixed ethnicity as a fundamental fact of being Caribbean, the melting pot of the Atlantic. Being mixed-race in today’s society is very interesting! I’m perceived as Black for the most part, so It feels as if the one-drop mentality prevails. Or at least is still a strong influencing factor whether subconscious or not. It’s also very nuanced. If I had the opportunity to be reborn I’d return as me, no question. But I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a singular cultural identity.
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