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Fusion of cultural performances highlights Independence anniversary celebrations
By Zena Henry
Thousands turned up to witness a fusion of cultural performances and the 
inaugural speech of President Donald Ramotar. This was the highlight of the 46th Independence Day celebrations at the National Park Friday evening.
A packed programme containing material that educated and entertained about the Land of Many Waters mounted to the final leg of the celebrations; the flag raising and fireworks.
But before this could get underway, the quickly filling stands of spectators were treated to a series of cultural, military, local and international performances and then the customary fireworks.
The warm up events that rocked the crowd prior to the President’s arrival came from our well known locals. The GT&T ‘Feel the Beat’ finalists contributed their piece to the celebrations by providing the crowd with well choreographed dance performances that grabbed their attention.
The flamboyant Charmain Blackman had the crowd on its feet when she performed her latest tune to the haters, ‘Gi dem mo fi talk’. Truly a Guyanese hit, the musician received thunderous applause and cheers.
Adrian Dutchin rocked the crowd with many of his well known tunes including that contagious piece ‘I am a Guyanese’. Vanilla, Teneisha De Freitas, and Young Bill Rogers also contributed their piece to the festivities, singing their notorious calypso tunes.
Vanilla grabbed crowd attention and got them moving when she sang her Mashramani hit ‘Rage’. ‘Colours’ was the next tune and to that, the crowd related.
Rogers rendered a calypso tune, ‘Paradise’, a very fitting tune for the national celebration, the tune detailed matters that the country may be facing– corruption and political influences, but among it all, Guyana is still a paradise, the tune revealed.
The lovely and very talent DeFreitas sang the national songs ‘O Beautiful Guyana’. The crowd was very attentive and even sang along, a beautiful song complemented by a beautiful voice.
As the night grew on, the Nyrityageet Dance Troup wowed the crowd with colourful costumes and performed a piece presented to the nation recently.
Jovanka Williams and Prashanti Mendez, a foreign violinist performed a national song to which they received a favourable response. It was an ingenious idea by the programme coordinators to fuse the ringing sound of steel pans with that of the soothing stings of the violin.
At that point the Park was quiet and everyone focused on the clear sounds of the sweet melody.
The Park later witnessed the entry of the Joint Services of Guyana, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Police Force. The men and women of the military looked smart, sharp and proud neatly dressed. They marched with their heads high.
Minutes later, His Excellency Donald Ramotar and First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar made their way into the National Park. He later inspected the Guard of Honour.
The Yoruba singers who are celebrating their 41st anniversary gave a powerful performance. The Afro centric group sang and danced to the cultural folk tunes. That later led to a baton twirling performance by the trainees of the Guyana Police Force.
About 500 of the country’s youngsters then came for a colorful and exciting exhibition. The President was entertained by the youths whose costumes represented a specific aspect of Guyanese life, folklore and history.
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