MOKO JUMBIES
The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad
A Photographic Essay of the
Stilt-Walkers of Trinidad and Tobago
Photographs by Stefan Falke
Preface by Geoffrey Holder
Introduction by Earl Lovelace

Seventeen years ago, Glen "Dragon" de Souza founded the Keylemanjahro School of Arts and Culture on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. The school's mission was to revive the almost forgotten West African tradition of the Moko Jumbie or "stilt-walker," and adopt it into the annual Carnival celebration. Not only would it restore a centuries-old tribal custom that had been squashed by colonialism and slavery, but also de Souza dreamed it would keep underprivileged children from street-life and drugs.

Today, more than one hundred Moko Jumbies‹boys and girls starting from the age of four years old–practice at the Keylemanjahro School. Internationally recognized photographer Stefan Falke spent six years documenting these "dancing spirits" of Trinidad. With rare power, he captures the vivid costumes and haunting beauty of the Moko Jumbie dances in over 200 dazzling color photographs.

Moko Jumbies: The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad celebrates the success of this spectacular movement that has not only enriched the lives of its participants and all the people who live and visit Trinidad, but also the enduring culture of the island itself.

 

Stefan Falke was born in Germany in 1956. He abandoned his studies in civil engineering to follow a passion for documentary photography. His photographs and movie stills have been published in major international magazines and he will be showing his work at the International Photojournalism Festival in 2004. He began talking pictures of the Moko Jumbies in 1997, a year after he had seen them for the first time in Trinidad. In 1999, he became a member of laif, one of the leading agencies for photojournalism, magazine and travel photography in Germany. He lives in New York City. This is his first book.

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