Saint Lucian cultural icon Mr. Jules Clifton Joseph celebrates his eighty-first birthday today. ?Doodoo? as he is affectionately called by friends, family and residents of the Piaye community, is a founding member of the Piaye Cultural Group, and was its leading male dancer and singer for almost two decades.

He remains a leading exponent of many of the remaining African ritualistic dance expressions found in Saint Lucia. Among these dances are the kutumba, the debot and the belair.

Mr. Joseph has led many tours of the group within the Caribbean and Canada. Among the several honours he has received for his work include the Saint Lucia medal of merit ,silver, for meritorious contribution to the folk arts. This was awarded in 2000.

As a tribute to the work and life of Jules Clifton"Doodoo"Joseph, the National Television Network (NTN) will broadcast a twenty minute feature where the dancer speaks about his life and the dances. The feature also highlights extracts from performances by young people in Piaye, and leading local drum groups, which performed at a mini-drum festival held in his honour in December 2000. This special feature will be broadcast today Wednesday, December 12th at 8.00 p.m.

The programme will also be broadcast on HTS on Thursday evening and DBS on Friday evening.