National Songs and National Unity

Jul 10, 2016 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By His Excellency Brigadier David A. Granger,
President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana

Guyana’s national songs have their origin in the centenary celebration of unification in 1931. British Guiana was formed from the three Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice – names that became the titles of the ‘counties’ before districts and regions were created. These colonies were unified under Sir Benjamin D’ Urban in 1831.
The centenary was a major cultural festival. It witnessed, among other events, the first public singing of the Song of Guyana’s Children, composed by Rev. Hawley-Bryant, a minister of the Congregational Church. The Song has become a musical icon. It

starts, powerfully and proudly with the words:
Born in the land of the mighty Roraima,
Land of great rivers and far stretching sea;
So like the mountain, the sea and the river
Great, wide and deep in our lives would we be;
The Song ends purposefully and poignantly with the words:
Thus to the land which to us God has given
May our young lives bring a gift rich and rare,
Thus, as we grow, may the worth of Guyana
Shine with a glory beyond all compare.
The cultural movement which was accompanied by the composition of national songs was a glorious historical process. It received a boost with the establishment of the British Guiana Music Teachers’ Association by Lynette Dolphin and others in 1948. This was followed by the conduct of the first Schools ‘Music Festival in 1952. Robert (RCG) Potter’s lyrical My Guyana El Dorado was composed in that year.
Guyana, by this time, was riding the post-Second World War wave for self-determination and independence. Our national songs, for the most part, therefore, are associated with Guyana’s growing self-awareness, its struggle for Independence and freedom from colonial rule. Valerie Rodway’s Guyana the Free celebrates the joy of freedom:
Guyana, Guyana, this fair land of ours
Has broken the bondage of far distant powers,
We love you Guyana from high land to sea,
And pray God make worthy your children to be.
All hail to Guyana, our country now free,
One people, one nation, one destiny,
We pledge every effort, we’ll cherish this earth
And make here a paradise – Land of our birth.
National songs form part of our symbols of nationhood. They constitute one of the most memorable of the cultural institutions created first by unification and, later, by independent statehood.
I had the privilege of listening to a group of schoolchildren from Coomacka sing one of our national songs. It was a most moving experience. The children exuded joy and love for their country as they sang one of Guyana’s national songs.
The rendition evoked feelings of the excitement which swept across our nation fifty years ago when our National Anthem was written and sung for the very first time. It made us feel proud.
National songs distinguish us from other nations which, although they may share common historical experiences, are different from one another. National songs help to create that uniqueness by fostering a distinct national consciousness.
National songs are an inalienable part of our patrimony. They shape our national consciousness. They define who we are. They:
– remind us of our common experiences as a nation;
– reinforce our pride by depicting our country favourably;
– re-affirm our shared values and aspirations; and
– recommit us to the duty to defend our motherland.
National songs recall the sacrifices and struggles of our three hundred and fifty year-long rough road to freedom. Rebellion and resistance were common historical experiences which are venerated in our national songs. They remind us of the price that our foreparents paid for the right to be masters of our own destiny and the price that our generation has to pay to protect our nation.
Cleveland Hamilton’s Song of the Republic, arguably one of our most militant national songs, is a call to arms:
From Pakaraima’s peaks of pow’r
To Courentyne’s lush sands,
Her children pledge each faithful hour
To guard Guyana’s lands.
To foil the shock of rude invader
Who’d violate her earth,
To cherish and defend forever
The State that gave them birth.
The defence of our motherland is a sacred duty. The success of any defence depends, however, on national unity and social cohesion. A divided nation is a weak nation.
Guyana’s National Anthem reminds us that we are a multicultural society in which people of different races co-exist. The diversity of our society must not, however, be viewed as a handicap. Guyana is enriched by its cultural diversity.
The National Anthem reminds us of our diverse origins and our common aspirations:
Green land of Guyana, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsman and free, laid their bones on your shore,
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one mother, Guyana the free
Great land of Guyana, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see –
One Land of six peoples, united and free.
National songs are unifying symbols of nationhood. Citizens sing our national songs not as Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, Europeans, Indians or Portuguese, but as Guyanese.
Citizens suspend, if not forget, differences of culture and class during the recital of our national songs. Citizens come together, setting aside differences that have traditionally divided our people.
The symbols of nationhood, including or national songs, must be preserved if we are to build a cohesive society. These precious songs must not be allowed to become victims of neglect.
The teaching of our national songs in our schools and places of worship must be sustained.

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