At 75, Annette Nicholson-Alfred still remembers the first folk song she sang as a pupil of Charlotteville Methodist Primary School, Tobago.

The former independent senator was about eight years-old and the song was called Coverlet.

“A teacher from Belle Garden Anglican, Dayla Frederick, taught us the song for some kind of school gathering,” Nicholson-Alfred recalled in a WMN interview.

She said the folk song told the story of a bed spread that was hung out to dry but mysteriously went missing.

“When the teacher could not find it, being from Belle Garden, she asked people to look for the coverlet in Pembroke and Roxborough, which are adjoining communities.”

Now, Coverlet can be found in Nicholson-Alfred’s first publication, Come Sing with Ti Netty, launched on October 3 at the Scarborough Library.

Asked about the title of the book, she explained, “The ‘Ti’ in the title is short for Tanty. Long ago, there was always a tanty or matriarch who used to be a powerful person in the yards of many homes. In the book, I see myself as Ti and a lot of my friends affectionately call me Netty (short for Annette). So, I just added the ‘Ti’ to it.”

[caption id="attachment_916711" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Annette Nicholson-Alfred and her husband Richard perform a folk song at an event. Photo courtesy Annette Nicholson-Alfred. -[/caption]

Cultural activist and former independent senator Dr Eastlyn Mc Kenzie was expected to deliver the feature address at the virtual launch, with a review of the publication by Tobago Festivals Commission Ltd CEO John Arnold.

Nicholson-Alfred’s grandchildren, the Itsy Bitsy Players and some friends from her native Charlotteville, were due to perform selected folk songs from the book.

A compilation of 25 folk songs, Come Sing with Ti Netty celebrates the Caribbean’s rich cultural heritage.

But the veteran cultural activist said the songs, several of which are indigenous to Tobago, also explore familiar, universal themes of love, hope, loss, fear, disappointment, among others.

“For instance, many people would have gone to Venezuela years ago to work and left one or two children here. They would have promised to come back and the children are still waiting for them to come back so you will hear the people lamenting.”

Some of the songs also reflect occurrences that have become synonymous with certain villages over the years while others offer warnings to naive and unsuspecting Tobagonians.

“In one of the songs, reference is made to Sandy River in Mason Hall ‘because if you go there the fairy maid is going to take you away.’”

In another piece, a grandmother also warns her granddaughter “not to follow Louisa because she too bad and hot like a pepper.” One song also cautions bathers about jumbies and douens (folklore characters) at the beaches in Les Coteaux.

“So, the songs deal with different aspects of our culture.”

Nicholson-Alfred, who received the Public Service Medal of M