THE ARTS FORUM

Jul 12, 2009 Features / Columnists, The Arts Forum

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THE ARTS FORUM is a platform that accommodates multiple voices and perspectives which throw light on our artistic and cultural legacies and deepen our understanding of our condition of survival and existence.

This week we present the third and final part of Mr. Raphael Trotman’s Address ‘MUSINGS ON GUYANESE CULTURE & IDENTITY’ which was delivered at the Indian Cultural Centre on Saturday, March 28, 2009

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Choirs and local folk music and national songs were documented and performed under the stewardship of Billy Pilgrim and the legendary Woodside Choir and the late Derek Bernard who kept the offshoot folk group going until his untimely death. David Dewar accompanied by his wife Marilyn can still be heard singing the national anthem as our radio stations sign on and off. Others include the famous Police Male Voice Choirs and Band which kept the cultural music alive. Edith Pieters, Vesta Lowe, Ramjohn Holder, Sister Rose Magdalene and Peter Kempadoo were a few who kept the culture alive.
Uniquely, there has been a preservation of the Proverbs of Guyana written by my own aunt, Joyce Trotman, and an anthology of folk songs compiled and published as a labour of love, by a distinguished Guyanese culturalist and teacher, Lynette Dolphin. Many of these folk songs were written or made famous by De Weever, Campbell, Hemerding, Hooper and Chuck Girard. The folk songs are usually sung in the Guyanese Creolese and usually “censure, ridicule or social commentary or love songs, and include primarily, ring-play songs, queh queh songs, love songs and work songs” (Introduction to 100 Folks Songs of Guyana, Lynette Dolphin, 1996).

Interestingly enough, Amerindians continue to sing their songs in their native dialects including Carib, Arawak, Akawaio and the Collection of Folk songs contain Amerindian ones which are written in dialect and then translated. They still perform the Mari Mari, the Hummingbird, the Parishara and other dances named after animals and creatures of their environment, which are performed mainly for celebratory reasons. The Mighty Chief of Kabakuburi is one of those whose contribution to our national culture and identity has not been fully recognised.
As the cultural icons of one generation pass to another, we remember personalities such as Paul O’Hara, Laxshmi Kallicharan, Terry Nelson (Omar Farouk) who returned with a dream of a recording studio, Martin Carter and Rajkumarie Singh and more recently the man, Lorrie Alexander, who made the phrase “things plenty na regula” a household one.
I refer also to persons such as past leaders such as Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Arthur Chung, Desmond Hoyte, and now Janet Jagan (may her soul rest in peace). The famous Pork knocker, Mahaica, who we are told struck gold and lost it all in wine, women and song. Col. Hartley Liverpool of the GDF who, legend says, was strapped to the turret of a light aircraft thereby having it designated a “fighter plane”. Some more modern personalities such as CN Sharma and Habeeb Khan have undeniably woven themselves into the rich fabric of Guyana’s tapestry.

Regrettably, I have to say that they and others like them have not been recognised and embraced for their creativity, or exalted by national awards. Those who have added to the folklore of our dear land of Guyana are the unsung heroes of our nation.
What is noticeable is that a lot of our culturalists and heroes, though not well financially rewarded, were encouraged to excel by the national awards and recognition that were bestowed on them, and for which others still await their just recognition.
It is my hope that those who still await recognition would be honoured for keeping our unique culture alive in this 21st Century thus strengthening the foundation for the preservation of our culture and identity. Alas, six years have passed since an Investiture Ceremony was held to honour Guyana’s sons and daughters even though they have shown what they can do.
Despite the absence of recognition and reward, I implore the next generation of Guyanese culturalists to keep alive our rich heritage.
Our national identity is our national treasure. It is one thing to know it exists and not celebrate it, but it could be quite a tragedy if we allow it to be stolen, smeared, extinguished, and finally replaced with another or worse yet, by nothing at all.

It is patently apparent that cultural penetration from the Jamaican dancehall culture and American rap music has begun to rob us of our own cultural identity.
There needs to be a resurgence of the singing of national songs depicting the beauty of our land and collective strengths of all our people, a resurgence of national folk songs, all now being eclipsed by the songs from far and away.
What is the national policy on culture and what programmatic efforts are being made to implement it? Are our teachers teaching compulsory courses on our local culture and utilising our songs and other aspects of cultural heritage and linking these in creative ways to our history?
Not because I am a politician, but because I am a patriot, I say that a government, seeing itself as the custodian of the national culture and heritage, which are parts of our national patrimony, has a duty to ensure that this nation’s culture and identity are not only clearly discernable, but also secure from threat. In this regard, I believe that we must recognise and ensure that through religion, music, sport, the arts, and the people who populate them, that our culture and identity are cherished like national treasures, and supported accordingly.

By way of specific recommendations I propose:
1. That there be a state-sponsored festival for the performing arts
2. That we resuscitate the event once known as the National Agricultural Exhibition
3. That we pay particular attention to the programming offered on radio and television so as to ensure that local culture and talent are promoted and that people have full access to information through all media on Guyana, and things Guyanese
4. That we harness the unifying power of sport to guide our youth towards a greater sense of togetherness and national pride
5. That the museum of Guyana be reconfigured to house all of the various artifacts and exhibits in one building. The National Art Collection, should also include not just paintings and sculptures, but an archive of all Guyanese music
6. That there be a prominent place set aside for our national heroes to be recognised, both living and deceased
7. That we establish the National Film Centre or a similar institution to document our national events and also, just as important, to act as an incubator for young aspiring film producers whose talents need not be explored only in North America
8. That the Guyana Prize for Literature begun by former President Hoyte be accorded its rightful place as the standard bearer for literature in Guyana
9. That the annual ceremony of granting national awards be recommenced
10. That we begin a process in earnest of naming of buildings, streets, and places after people who have helped to shape our society and its values
These are my suggestions and recommendations made as a caring citizen of Guyana. They cannot be accomplished without the support of governments, leading personalities, and members of civil society all working together unselfishly and patriotically.
I come to the end, by remembering our celebrated poet Martin Carter, who, looking towards the future, as I do, penned his poem “I Come From The Nigger Yard”. This poem, in my humble view, embraces the history of all Guyanese who came across the oceans, and the pain, suffering, and squalor that accompanied their lives as they existed in places known then as “nigger yards”. It was in these yards that Guyanese culture and identity first took shape. We share, without a doubt, a common past and a common future:

“Until to-day in the middle of the tumult
when the land changes and the world’s all convulsed
when different voices join to say the same
and different hearts beat out in unison
where the aching floor of where I live
the shifting earth is twisting into shape
I take again my nigger life, my scorn
and fling it in the face of those who hate me.
It is me the nigger boy turning to manhood
linking my fingers, welding my flesh to freedom.
I come from the nigger yard of yesterday
leaping from the oppressors’ hate
and the scorn of myself
I come to the world with scars upon my soul
wounds on my body, fury in my hands
I turn to the histories of men and the lives of peoples.
I examine the shower of sparks the wealth of the dreams.
I am pleased with the glories and sad with the sorrows
rich with the riches, poor with the loss.
From the nigger yard of yesterday I come with my burden.
To the world of to-morrow I turn with my strength.”

I wish to expressly and purposefully thank Mrs. Malti Sahai of the Indian Culture Centre for organising this lecture series, not only because I want to be courteous, but more importantly, for being brave and concerned, and inquisitive enough to want to delve into a subject that we Guyanese are either too shy, or disinterested in getting into for whatever reason(s). A nation without an identifiable culture is a nation without an identity, and a people without an identity are a people without a soul. Let us “turn to the histories of men (and women), and the lives of people” and leap into the future being both certain and secure of who we are: Guyanese to the bone and proud of it.
I hope that I have stimulated you enough to want to join me to influence and shape that identity that is undoubtedly Guyanese and “is we own”.

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