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Beloved songstress Czerena Ali laid to rest
A wide cross section of Guyanese gathered to bid the songstress farewell
Though expected, following a bout of illness, the demise of Czerena Ali has broken many hearts and many agreed, silenced a silky smooth contralto forever.
A vocalist for 40 years, she was among the more celebrated local personalities in her heyday, but after years of battling kidney failure she succumbed last Friday at her home.
To many, hers was a unique melodic voice of comfort, inspiration and entertainment that will surely be missed.
Yesterday local artistes, entertainment industry stakeholders and well-wishers joined her relatives in their numbers at the Theatre Guild to celebrate her life.
Mother, friend, confidant and good sport were among the descriptive terms used in tributes to the woman many dubbed a true Guyanese icon.
Reflections on her life contributions were many, from all strata of the local music and entertainment fraternity, including veteran entertainer Hector Stoute who recalled losing out on the “in search of a star” title to “a pretty Indian song bird.”
Many and varied were the mostly moving tributes, but noteworthy among the lot was veteran calypsonian ‘Singing Lurlene’ Nestor’s emotional rendition of “Somewhere around the throne of God.” This evoked lusty singing from the numbers gathered.
From the testimonies, it is obvious that Ally’s demise is an historic blow to the music fraternity as she was one of those who lived for music.
While Guyana has seen many female singers come and go, at one stage in her life she was the only Indo-Guyanese female singer performing English pop music on the local shores for close to two decades.
Last year she was among the line-up of artistes who entertained at the inaugural Accolade Music awards. On that occasion she sang the lead vocals for Timeka Marshall’s ‘Separate’ and Pamela Maynard’s ‘Lost, lonely and helpless.’
A true fighter, her illness did not stop her from performing at the opening of Carifesta X at the National Stadium.
She also toured Guyana with the Yoruba Singers Band for the ten days of celebrations.
Ali’s career began in the 1960’s as a performer on the Saturday radio programme “Tensile” hosted by Vic Insanally.
Her career included singing backup for international artists, such as The Mighty Sparrow, Steve Wonder, and Johnny Braff etc.
In the 1980’s she was the lead female vocalist for the Xanadu Ecstasy Band and toured North America with Eze Rockcliffe and the Yoruba Singers while the 1990’s saw her doing guest appearances with the Mingles Sound Machine.
Ali also performed at City Hall for some of the Sunday evening concerts in the company of Lady Guymine.
From all accounts, Guyana’s music fraternity has lost a stalwart whose versatility made her the lead female vocalist with the Ewing and the Penguins in the late 60s.
She leaves to mourn her daughters, Delronne, Loriann and Wendella, along with other relatives and close friends, Delma Lynch and Sammy Baksh. She was interred at the Le Repentir Cemetery.
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