Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Three Gardens in Trinidad

Elisha Efua Bartels reflects on the vivid sounds of tropical gardens in Trinidad and what they mean to her.

Radio 3 transports listeners to Trinidad, just off the coast of Venezuela, immersing them in the sounds of the Caribbean island, with writer and actor Elisha Efua Bartels as a guide.

Through the sounds of three Port-of Spain gardens - her home by the river in Diego Martin, a garden in the lush valleys of St Ann’s, to a house up in the hills, Elisha reflects on the rich tropical sounds of the island. Frogs, hummingbirds, parrots and occasional rainfall form a slowly shifting, vivid soundscape. We pass through cycles of warm sunshine, then heavy tropical rain, each change reflected in the types of calls we hear from the birdlife and frogs. These aren’t rarefied idylls though - on a warm evening parrots noisily flock through, disturbing the peace. Sometimes a radio or the sound of a party drifts up from the valley below; dogs bark, cockerels crow.

Elisha describes the extent to which she’s both sustained by, and living at the mercy of, the wildlife around her – the parrots so loud she can’t hear the TV, the frogs soothing her to sleep at night - and how the sounds evoke a strong sense of 'home' for her.

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 8 Mar 2019 00:00

Broadcast

  • Fri 8 Mar 2019 00:00

The Slow Radio podcast

The Slow Radio podcast

An antidote to today’s frenzied world. Step back, let go, it’s time to go slow.

How well do you know birdsong?

Test your knowledge (and maybe learn a thing or two) with this relaxing Slow Radio quiz.