Amina Blackwood-Meeks. - File

A pair of Atlantic voyages - one physical, the other literal and both literary - have come close to each other, much like the swell of consecutive waves rolling in from the ocean, for storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks.

Her article, 'Depths of Memories: Honouring the Makere People', is included in the recently published book, The Sea is History: Exploring the Atlantic, put out by the German University of Mainz. Plus, in mid-October Blackwood-Meeks will be participating in the 20th Scotland International Storytelling Festival, where she will be a primary international guest.

The article is the cresting of a wave of involvement going back to 2008, when Blackwood-Meeks was approached by the editors of the publication, who told her that the university had been doing a lecture series called 'Exploring The Atlantic'. Part of their Atlantic Studies programme, which looks at routes across cultures, it was so successful that the university decided to do a publication.

one of three Jamaicans

About six weeks ago, Blackwood-Meeks received the journal and found out that she is one of three Jamaicans who have been included in the 10 authors, the others being Anne Bailey (Beyond Boundaries) and Dr Erna Brodber (The Bag-nolds District of St Mary, Jamaica, and The Atlantic Crossings of the Late Eighteenth Century).

Blackwood-Meeks says her contribution, done in the form of a story, warranted a comment from the editors about its innovation. And the story was the result of Blackwood-Meeks following a current picked up from the oral tradition in song.

She tells Sunday Arts and Education that the people involved in Kumina have a song about the Makere people, singing, "the Makere people lost through the wilderness." She was drawn to the song's rhythm and haunting melody, then she read a book titled Legends of the Congo, a collection of stories by Dutch anthropologist Jan Knappert.

the Makere people

In it was a narrative about the Makere people in the Congo, who were constantly raided by Arabs. The women and children were held hostage and the men forced to hunt for ivory, but often when they returned with the elephant and rhinoceros tusks, the hostages would still not be freed.

Eventually, on one occasion as the Arabs approached, they decided to flee, leaving even their family altars behind. However, on one night during their flight, upon reaching the Mokongo river, they had to build a sisal bridge which could only carry a limited number of persons at one time. As the Arabs approached again, everybody still left on that side of the river rushed on to the bridge, which collapsed, and nothing more was heard of them.

Blackwood-Meeks says she had a very "emotional moment" when she read the story and made the connection to the song, so she wrote a story about it that was published in March 2007. In it, her character, Jing Bang, is at the Kingston waterfront shouting 'Jesus' and people think she is mad, not realising that she is actually calling the name of a ship. She is actually longing for her brother, who had promised to return for her, but was one of those who was on the bridge when it broke.

Blackwood-Meeks also connected the story of the Makere people to a folk song she learnt in Antigua, as well as the first wave of migrants who went to England for the rebuilding process after World War II.

the idea of 'homeland'

The Scottish International Storytelling Festival takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland, from October 23 to November 1. The event's website states that, "For the Year of Homecoming in 2009, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival will explore the rich and complex idea of 'homeland' by bringing together Scottish storytellers with tradition bearers from the indigenous cultures of North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with whom they interacted and among whom some married and settled."

Blackwood-Meeks says that in addition to a number of performances at libraries and schools, she will also put on two one-hour shows called 'Atlantic Voices'. She will be speaking about the Makere people, Jing Bang will be making the trip - as will Anancy - and globalisation will be in the mix.

And for an October 31 performance, she will be exploring Halloween, asking 'Fe We Duppy or Fe Dem Ghosts?' previously published in The Gleaner in 2005.

She is looking forward not only to her storytelling but a conference of storytellers which precedes the performances, where she will get to interact with aboriginal and African storytellers.