elton deighton "baba elombe" mottley

Born on May 8th, 1938 to Ernest Deighton Mottley and Ruby, Elton Deighton Mottley was the third child to be born. He grew up with his siblings Dyne, Elliott and Callie, and had a strong interest in Chemistry and Biology. 

At 17, he travelled to Canada to pursue medicine, but having been exposed to medicine, he decided to switch his degree and received a degree in Accounting. 

He has a personal love of all music in particular jazz and old Caribbean music. His library has almost 10,000 records of data, one of the largest privately collection of Caribbean folk music in Barbados.

A few Fun Facts

Many consider Elombe to be the "Father of modern day Crop Over" having researched and revived the Crop Over festival and giving the events their unique names such as "Kadooment", "Cohoblopot" and  "Pic-o-de-Crop".

Elombe was also pivotal in erecting the famous Bussa statue, the African slave who led a successful revolt against the plantation owners  in 1816. 

Baba Elombe was influenced by black American activists such as Malcolm X and others during his time as a student in New York .  His experience led him to create the vision for Yoruba Yard, a place that promoted black identity through the celebration and promotion of arts and culture.

These days, Elombe spends most of his time working on the books as part of the Chronicle series.