At the Heart of the Caribbean

Mmmmm, the Caribbean. Turquoise waters, satin beaches. Kisses that linger over bubbly rum drinks served by bartenders who smile next to cabana boys who say, Here, let me carry that chair for you, and would you like to be in the shade and I'll spread this towel out for you, just so.

One happy island!

So many happy islands.

But hold your gaze, spoiled tourist. Look longer at the boy with the chair. Wonder, if only briefly, about his mother. Spare a thought for his grandmother and his sister, for his house and his street, his nightmares, his yearnings, his truths and his lies, his aches and his joys.

Just see him. See each of them.

"The roooooad may be long, but we've got to keep moving. We've got to keep moving," croons Wendell Manwarren, as a mournful dancer writhes against his lyrics describing the murder of a 13-year-old boy. Frivolous carnival fare this is not.

Most prominent among the themes explored by Manwarren's Trinidad and Tobago-based music group, 3canal, is the way Caribbean peoples identify themselves and think about one another. For "Caribeana Imperia," the show Manwarren is staging and co-directing for the GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights, the intention is to broaden that theme and share it with those previously content to sip their daiquiris in ignorance.

"We might shatter the illusion of island paradise," said 3canal member Roger Roberts before a recent rehearsal of "Caribeana Imperia," which begins performances at the Tivoli Theatre on Thursday.

At the heart of the show are 3canal's introspective songs, sung by Manwarren, Roberts and a third band member, Stanton Kewley. The trio came together in 1994 to perform during Trinidad and Tobago's annual Carnival -- a weeklong pre-Lenten festival celebrating the islands' culture -- and so from the beginning, their music was intertwined with the visual elements of costume and dance.

The group released several albums and gained notoriety for its purposeful "rapso" music, a style that in many ways is the antithesis of bubble-gum pop. There are no nonsense lyrics in rapso, but rather songs of revolution and soul searching. The music, which shares elements of traditional folk and modern hip-hop, emerged during the 1970s and '80s, giving artists a voice on political changes shaping life in the islands.

When GALA Artistic Director Hugo Medrano asked members of Washington's Caribbean community for suggestions of a troupe he might showcase as part of the company's 30th anniversary, the name 3canal was mentioned repeatedly.

"We had this idea of doing something that was not totally Carnival. It won't be all the fancy things and the hip-hop, but it will be the soul of it," said Medrano, who is directing the show with Manwarren. "That's part of GALA's purpose -- to integrate our races and our artistic impressions. Not only the results, but the processes."