National Library Centenary, Part Three - The Oral Traditions

National Library Centenary, Part Three – The Oral Traditions

Aug 23, 2009 Features / Columnists, Guyanese Literature

By Petamber Persaud
‘Oral Tradition Part 1’ in the National Library’s Series of Literary Evenings staged at the Theatre Guild playhouse on Saturday August 25, 2009, was a reverberating and resounding success – the use of the adjectives ‘reverberating’ and ‘resounding’ is deliberate in keeping with the oral traditions when we were a more auditory people.
The programme was the portrayal of local oral tradition at its regal best, all in one place and on one occasion, transporting the audience to another world where community spirit was the hallmark of society. The programme was designed to unfold in a dialogue on specific topics with relevant point persons interspersed by related performances.
The programme started with Henry Rodney as Pa Ben giving the call to gather for story time (excerpt from ‘Old Time Story’ by Trevor Rhone) then moved into a dialogue with Russell Lancaster and Vibert Cambridge discussing various forms of the oral traditions; this introduced the drums. There were many similarities between the African drums/drumming and the Indians’.
The drums were about the first steps or leading steps in the repertoire of the oral traditions. Under the guise of simple folks beating simple drums was deeper meanings – an aspect of the oral traditions developed by displaced/enslaved peoples to trick/defeat ‘massa’.
Folks songs and folk dances were discussed and displayed, songs like ‘dis time nah lang time’ setting the tone and ‘oh, maningha, oh, maningha’ commenting on the time in concealed (from massa/the estate manager) language.
Kwe-kwe and maticore, initiation ceremonies of Africans and Indians respectively, were dialogues where the facts unfolded in an engaging manner.
Then (although I said ‘then’ it was not the next item as such – everything just flowed almost seamlessly) it was the Shanto by Roger Hinds, Calypso by the Calistro Band, steel pan explanation by Roy Geddes, accompanied by master player, Michael Smith.
Yours truly in conversation with Lancaster and Cambridge gaff ‘bout Balgobin and the use of storytelling and the role of community spirit. Balgobin is not unlike the more familiar shape shifting figure of Anancy. Like the Anancy stories, the Balgobin stories were used to ease the pains of the displaced indentured Indians and also helped them deal with trauma of living under a system that is said to be slavery by another name.
The National Library in this its centenary year continues to supply the answers by empowering the nation through literacy. Although the library is an institution dealing with printed material, it is cognisant of the role played by the oral traditions; much of the printed material came out of the oral traditions and both the oral traditions and the library have similar roles. The mandate of the National Library is ‘to satisfy both nationally and internationally, the informational and recreational needs of the library’s users through the collection, organisation, dissemination and preservation of information in printed and other formats’. The oral traditions collected, modified/packaged, preserved and disseminated.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

What’s happening:
• The Guyana Annual magazine is inviting entries to its eight literary competitions namely Open Story and Open Poetry, Youth Story and Youth Poetry, Henry Josiah Writing Story for Children, Rajkumari Singh Writing Poetry for Children, Martin Carter Essay (under 13), Egbert Martin Poetry (under 13) and to its art and photography competitions.
• Be a part of the centenary celebrations of the National Library; see press for details. Make a tangible contribution by submitting relevant photo and recollections for possible publication in the Centenary Souvenir Magazine.
• Coming soon Janus Creative Writing Clinic on poetry, short fiction, drama and feature journalism; for more information contact ruel.johnson@gmail.com

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