Rose October-Edun, Malini Shah and Verna Walcott-White do a dance item.

IT WAS an evening of nostalgia Wednesday as tributes, praise and a great feeling of being Guyanese filled the courtroom of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall in New York where hundreds of expatriates gathered for the annual Folk Festival awards ceremony. The event, which saw 39 Guyanese being awarded for their sterling contribution to dance, kick-started the fifth such event to be held to date which happens to coincide with the much-anticipated Labor Day weekend festivities.

Winston ‘Jeggae’ Hoppie in action.

One of the pioneers of interpretive dance, Doris Harper Wills, was emotional as she accepted the Wordsworth McAndrew Lifetime Achievement Award, and a proclamation from Deputy Borough President, Yvonne Graham, for her work that continues to be an inspiration to audiences around the world. In addition, an Exemplary Award was named for the late founder of the National Dance School, Lavinia Williams.

Ambassador Bayney Karran addresses the Awards Ceremony.

Community activist, Colin Moore, in turn, was presented with a proclamation from Senator John Sampson, as well as an award from the folk festival committee.

The awardees looked on in awe as their life’s work was beamed onto a screen during a computer-generated presentation, and Co-Chair of the awards committee, Ronald H Lammy, narrated their stellar work.

Verna Walcott-White receives her award from Guyana’s Consul General, Mr Brentnol Evans

Awardees included Bonny Alves of the famed Yoruba Singers; Sonja Valz-Abbott; Dr W Lloyd Andries; Dr. Vibert Cambridge; Godfrey Chin; Andrea Douglas; Vivienne Douglas Daniels; John ‘Slingshot’ Drepaul; Dr Juliet Emanuel; John Fredricks; Neil Chan; Dudley Charles; Trenton Mack; the late Phillip McClintock; Rose October-Edun; Margaret Lawrence; The Woodside Choir; Beryl Perreira; Sandra Primus; James Richmond; Akoyah Rudder; Ray Seals; Malini Bose-Shaw; the late Helen Taitt; the late Gora Singh; Pritha Singh; Sandra Stuart-Shaw; Verna Walcott White; and Ras Camo Williams. In his keynote address, Ambassador Bayney Karran of the Guyana Mission in Washington, congratulated the Guyana Cultural Association (GCA) for its outstanding tribute on the award recipients, and commended the team for hosting an event, for the first time, in the Indo-Guyanese community of Richmond Hill, in Queens. He said the initiative is a great move, and one which is evidently aimed at promoting greater unity within the Guyanese community in New York.

Noting that the festival has developed in scope and impact, and that it has grown to become one of the biggest annual Guyanese cultural events outside of Guyana, Karran said it serves to accord due recognition to those whose labors have made a contribution to “our wonderful cultural heritage, [and that] it is only by standing firmly and united together, that we will be able to maintain our traditional ways and values in communities overseas.”.

Mr. Colin Moore receives his proclamation from Senator John Sampson. Looking on are Councilwoman Evette Clark and Una Clark.

Doris Harper-Wills receives her ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Woodsworth Mc Andrew.

And, in the spirit of dance, GCA President, Malcolm Hall, said: “We are here to teach and to educate each other on the aspects of Guyanese heritage that will let us put into perspective our national treasures, [these being] our human resources, our beautiful music, our bold canvases, our flirtatious dances and complex rhythms and beats, and our unique dialogue and sense of humour.”

Part of the audience at the Awards Ceremony.

Emceed by popular radio personality, Franklin ‘Bobby’ Vieira, the evening resonated with rhythms and outpourings of cultural expression. Winston ‘Jeggae’ Hoppie, one of the award recipients, brought the audience alive with drumbeats that were carried through to an inspiring collage of Indian, modern and African dance movements by Malini Bose-Shaw, Rose October-Edun and Verna Walcott-White.

Presenting Wordsworth McAndrew with a substantial monetary contribution on behalf of the committee, GCA Financial Director, Claire Patterson-Mohan thanked the folklorist for his sterling contribution to ‘Folk’ that continues to inspire a new generation of Guyanese.

The evening culminated with a cocktail reception in the Rotunda, where the audience sang folk songs and danced to the spirited drumming of ‘Queh-Queh’ music.

This article was first published in the Guyana Chronicle
www.guyanachronicle.com/pepperpot.html

July 21, 2005

GUYANA FOLK FESTIVAL CELEBRATES ~DANCE~ AT ITS 5TH ANNUAL LABOR DAY WEEKEND OF EVENTS

BROOKLYN, NY. July 20, 2005 - The Guyana Folk Festival is happy to announce its 5th annual weekend of activities scheduled to begin on Wednesday August 31, with the Awards Ceremony at the Rotunda of the Historic Brooklyn Borough Hall, located at 209 Joralemon Street. Thirty-nine outstanding Guyanese who made significant contributions to the development of culture in Guyana will be honored, one for each year of Independence.

Come To My Queh Queh" - a wedding eve ceremony of jollification, with song, dance, eating and drinking, provides instructions to the Bride & Groom for marriage, and emphasizes the new relationship to be created by the union. Patrons will be treated to an evening of spirited drumming and dancing led by The Lio Britton Queh Queh Group from Guyana, and the Akoyah Queh Queh Jammers of New York. The spacious Courtyard, located at 926 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, will come alive with music on Friday September 2, from 8:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M. This event will also provide an opportunity for Brides & Grooms to be married within the next year, to win a honeymoon trip (airfare and one week stay at a resort in Guyana). The winner will be the Bridal Party with the most invited guests to the "Come to My Queh." event.

Dr. Vibert Cambridge, and Dr. Juliet Emanuel will spearhead a scheduled Symposium on Saturday September 3, at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, at 199 Chambers Street in New York City. Discussions, demonstrations and dance presentations will highlight the nine-hour session that begins at 9:00 A.M. A registration fee of $25.00 will be collected.

The festival will wrap-up on Sunday September 4 with an exciting Family Fun Day at the Meyer Levin School Grounds, located at the corner of Ralph Avenue and Beverly Road in Brooklyn. Patrons will enjoy, live performances, competitions, and food.

The festivities will run from 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. An admission of $10 will be charged for adults. Children under 13 will enter fee.

Guyana Folk Festival Committee

1368 E. 89th St., Brooklyn, NY 11236
718-209-5207
www.guyfolkfest.org
Contact: Claire Goring

The Old Boys and Girls High School Ground, Rutland Road (between Troy and Schenectady Avenues), Brooklyn will be the scene of friendly rivalry among villages at the fourth annual Family Fun Day on Sunday, September 5, 2004.

Family Fun Day is expected to be the biggest event of Guyana Folk Festival 2004. It will celebrate home town associations and their roles in preserving, promoting, and celebrating Guyana's cultural heritage.

Folk Festival 2004, which also includes the Wordsworth McAndrew Awards Dinner and Dance, will begin on Friday, September 3, 2004, at 1:00 p.m. at Columbia University with the opening of the symposium. The opening session will end at 3:30 p.m. The symposium will reconvene on Saturday, September 4, at 10:00 a.m.

The theme for the symposium is "Guyanese Words: Spoken, Written, Sung, and Drawn." More than 40 Guyanese from around the world will make presentations and provide performances on topics related to the theme.

The symposium, which is co-sponsored by the Guyana Folk Festival Committee, the Columbia University Center for Ethnomusicology, the Ohio University Department of African American Studies, and eCaroh Caribbean Emporium, will conclude with performances by some of Guyana's leading spoken word artists and dancers.

The Awards Dinner and Dance will be held at the Rose Castle Ballroom, 380 Flushing Avenue (corner of Flushing and Franklin Avenues), on Friday, September 3, 2004.

The evening will start with a cocktail reception from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This will be followed by a dinner featuring Guyanese cuisine.

The evening's entertainment will feature the show "Tracing the Good Times" with Margaret Lawrence, Desiree Edgehill, Henry Rodney, and Nazim Hussein. Other performances will include Indian Classical dances by 11-year-old Rupa Prashad, who won the hearts of the audience at last year's Family Fun Day.

Music for dancing will be provided by The Sound Dimensions Band, featuring John "Slingshot" Drepaul and Hannah John Supreme Sounds.

The Guyana Folk Festival Committee encourages home town associations to contact Ms. Claire Goring at 718-209-5207 for further details.

Fenty overlooked the Chutney Ambassador

Dear Editor,
I thank Mr A. A. Fenty for his tribute to the Guyana Folk Festival in New York captioned "Celebrating Guyana in America".

His piece highlighted the creme de la creme of Guyana's cultural pundits and achievers. And they must be congratulated for their brilliant contributions, enormous sacrifice, and deserved achievements in showcasing, documenting and celebrating the "...multiple roots of Guyana's cultural heritage..."

If the dual purpose, of both Mr Fenty's writing and the Guyana Folk Festival organization, is "to preserve, promote and propagate Guyanese creativity", and to bridge the widening cultural gap between the artistes themselves, then, in all appearance, as is reflected by the roll call, they have succeeded tremendously. Guyana could not have asked for better cultural representatives!

That being the case, I will have to accept that Mr Fenty's "poor eyesight" is to be blamed for overlooking a fantastic performance from that "chutney ambassador of Guyana", Mr Terry B. Gajraj. His name was not mentioned among the luminaries of Guyana's cultural creativity. I can only assume that he is not as yet "discovered and recognised". Nor is he a household name. For sure he is definitely not on the "Who's Who" list in Guyana's social and cultural milieu, as are the many urbanized names alluded to in Mr Fenty's tribute.

Then, too, the poor Hindu and East Indian musical icon grew up in Fyrish, a small village along the Corentyne Coast. This geographic flaw may have sadly prevented him from hobnobbing with the "brothers in Georgetown". This, I suppose, has also exempted him, to an extent, from achieving some sort of cultural bent, creativity and recognition ... sans sheepskin, of course!

Being, myself, from No. 63 Village, another poor agrarian and fishing enclave, located miles and miles and miles away from the cultural hubs of Guyana, (Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, or the "West Bank"), please allow me to be among the first to offer heartiest congratulations to those creative artistes, performers and progenitors of Guyana's cultural heritage.

Yours faithfully,
John `Slingshot' Drepaul

Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/ September 20, 2003

Celebrating Guyana in America
Folk Festival 2003
By A.A Fenty

It is common practice to assess success or failure against the stated mission and objective of any given project or event. To me, the Guyana Folk Festival 2003, convened and staged by the Guyana Cultural Association of New York Incorporated, achieved most of its recorded objectives as well as one powerful success not explicitly written down.

Generally, the organisers stated that their mission "is to showcase, document and celebrate the multiple roots of Guyana’s cultural heritage". They wish to preserve that heritage and in short to "preserve, promote and propagate Guyanese creativity". At once you can appreciate that all of the above could never be fully realised in three events over three days in one borough of New York City. However, even though fleeting and kaleidoscopic at times, glimpses of the Guyana cultural heritage hovered, inspired and stamped identity.

From the art of Hazel Shury and Australia based Anthony Phillips, through the humour of evergreen Ken Corsbie, the outstanding dance contributions of the consistent Shah Sisters, the "discovery" of one Loris Holland, the music and compositions of the Ramblers, the Chronicle Atlantic, the Trade Winds, Lady Guymine, Keith Waithe or Masquerade bands, the nostalgic reminiscences of both honorees and presenters and the inspirational presence of Wordsworth Mc Andrew, the cultural reality of Guyana was presented in stark productions in the Caribbean Capital of America. Did I feel or sense Guyanese pride and patriotism pervading over partisan politics? Yes, for a few, genuine golden hours.

The awards ceremony, dinner and dance

I bought a new shirt in Brooklyn. They allowed me in to the Flatbush Crystal Manor even though I am allergic to their recommended jackets and ties. And the event was glittering enough. Trivial lapses like delays in seating some guests or the fact that there was no Guyana rum at this Guyana Gala paled into insignificance against the primary objective, to present awards of recognition to Guyana’s cultural heroes at home within the borders, or abroad. Many honorees said it best when in acceptance, they expressed pure pleasure at being "recognised by their own".

For that entire night I had some "embarrassing fun." My relatively poor eyesight and the span of time, in some cases decades, made me not recognise immediately some faces once like brothers back in Georgetown.

I quietly sought to put names to changed features, now fatter, leaner, balder, including Hilton Hemerding, Joslyn Small, Mr. Luard, Allan Martindale, Chuck Girard, Bing Serrao and a few others. (I guess a few felt I was merely fooling....). Of course even after introducing Bobby Vieira to Bing Serrao, I had no trouble recognising my erstwhile comrade/boss RHO Corbin who they seated quite near to me after he had ‘dropped in’!

It was a great evening, a meaningful event. Whether yearly or biennially the awards ceremony and the family fun folk day will institutionalise the Guyana Cultural Association as a significant Guyanese overseas entity. Just keep politics, however subtle, out folks! Impossible?

Our musical heritage

The more cerebral, intellectual (?) component of the three-day festival was the symposium which had as its theme "Preserving our Musical Heritage". This was convened at the Medgar Evers College of CUNY and co- sponsored by that College and Ohio University.

I caught the latter half of the event but had accurately anticipated that there was no way the five sessions planned, including a rather comprehensive intervention by the Guyana Broadcasters of North America, could be properly completed in the time allocated. The interplay of ideas, however, the cross fertilisation of proposals and the preservations of contributions on tape and in print can only add to analysis and lessons from our musical history and heritage in Guyana.

The Guyana Broadcasters’ platform "Guyana Radio at the confluence of music and folk culture" which attempted to address the pivotal role of early radio in virtually moulding Guyana’s musical destiny, through eight subheadings, was most stimulating, however ambitious. Dr. Calvin Brutus tried manfully to keep the "community conversation" civil and constructive as both panellists - Angela Massiah, Joslyn Small, Terry Holder, James Sydney and audience contributors - Cuthbert Monchoir, James Cummings, Pat Cameron, Ray Seales, et al shared their own views with respect to what Guyana Radio "did" to Guyanese music.

I’ll preserve the sub-themes of that particular discussion, " Local Music, Popular Voice", "Radio as Catalyst," " Music and the National Persona" and "Radio as Recorder/Archivist" were just some topics touched upon. Some day I am sure these themes will be woven into a comprehensive record of the role played by Guyana’s radio between the forties and seventies, for starters.

Related to the foregoing, as time fled, panellists attempted to explore such areas as "Popular music in Guyana; the icons, their styles, their works", "Music and musicians of Guyana - the global dialectic" and "Twentieth century genres of music in Guyana". To me it was too much reminiscences as Reggie Paul, Terry Holder, James Cummings, Angela Massiah related what obtained and challenged in the seventies and eighties. They never got to the unfortunate state of affairs still extant in Guyana whereby so-called popular music is dominated by the Barbadians, Trinidadians and especially, the Jamaicans who package better and perhaps market for the deejays.

Pity too the symposium couldn’t develop such critical issues - which they listed as "Local music as cultural creation - definition, preservation", and "Who Influences content? Spontaneous or orchestrated?" "Who determines taste? Just what changes taste? Preferences in music and other cultural forms". "What are the roles of class, ideology in cultural gate keeping?" The document is there but it was rather "ambitious" to think all that could have been fruitfully explored in the time allocated.

From Hemerding to Holland

I’ll understand if readers consider this a diversion but I think it’s a "relevant aside" Hilton "Hitman" Hemerding, son of a Bartica preacher, teacher, Calypsonian and Balladeer has made his indelible and lasting contribution to Guyana’s musical history and heritage. He is a "big boy" in my age group living in Brooklyn now. I suspect it’s been tough, competitive going for him in New York.

Compare him to one Loris Holland, a discovery to me and many others during the NY folk festival. He was truly proud to be "discovered" and recognised by his own at the awards ceremony and he made lots of grateful old-fashioned sense at the Saturday Symposium. Now, Loris is a Georgetown boy whose Christian mom made sure he did piano and listened to Bach, Mozart, Schubert and all those fellows. He knew when to sneak in his road music reggae, played in a local band or two before migrating. In front of Billy Pilgrim he reiterated to me his gratitude that early Guyana radio did expose him to all genres of music and the fact that even the British influence obliged him to learn varied musical forms.

All that knowledge and versatility stood him in good stead when he arrived in the states and ventured into the vitriolic American popular music industry. Today the Guyanese composer, arranger and producer is the owner of four Grammies and two Emmies. Full recognition by the Americans. He also scores for films and soon for such TV hits as "All My Children". Someone is about to write the continuing "Loris Holland Story", I’m sure.

Family folk and fun

Atop the roof of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum on the last day/Sunday of August, the association hosted the folk festival family day. And this time the Guyanese families and friends turned out. Objectives achieved!

Folk games, music, songs, dance, Guyanese foods, literature, fashion games and camaraderie. That is the unwritten objective and achievement I wrote about in the very first paragraph of this piece. Guyanese of two or three generations made time to come together. I understand that this is not as easy to do as when in Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam or the "West Bank". And visitors, like myself and Donald Sinclair’s group, were in high visible numbers too.

It was pure unadulterated Guyanese folk fun. From "Nancy" Tory and proverbs to the top notch compositions of Chuck Girard and Rickford Dalgetty to Lady Guymine’s T-Back/Thong, it was vintage Guyana. I met, mixed and mingled with Wordsworth, Rudy Seymour, Claire Goring, Edgar Henry, Dennis Nelson, Keith Waithe, Maurice Blenman, Rudy Bishop, Patricia Trim, Godfrey Chin, Ken Corsbie, some long lost relatives and some more "recent exiles." Whew! I treasure the moments of personal conversations with Icon Dave Martins and I never use that word loosely. (He reads me, I read him).

As usual my joy, my nostalgia was always tempered with regret; my people are settling with their creativity, brawn and brains in the American Habitat. The USA becomes better for that as Georgetown receives the barrels Oh well.....

On to next year Vibert, Claire, Ron, Tangerine, Verna, Malcolm, Bobby and Godfrey. Reach out. Smooth out the kinks. You and folk festival in the USA are there to stay!

Footnote: The Passing Parade
As I was preparing this and another column, news of the death of former Prime Minister Ptolemy Alexander Reid and Afro-American internationally acclaimed artist illustrator Tom Feelings reached me. Add to their passing over the past eight weeks Maurice Fenty and Emerson Samuels and you have four men who in one way or the other have contributed to the Guyana identity and reality. All the more meaningfully significant that folk festival seeks to preserve the heritage...

Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/ September 14, 2003

Guyana Folk Festival 2003-A Resounding Success

The Guyana Folk Festival in Brooklyn is emerging as one of the Labor Day weekend highlights. At its third festival celebration where an Awards presentation, a symposium and a Festival Fun Day were hosted, Guyanese and West Indians alike, enjoyed a cultural explosion never before experienced in Brooklyn.

After President Bharrat Jagdeo declared the Festival Fun Day open, and was presented with a Festival Tee shirt by Malcolm Hall, and a copy of "Is We Ting" CD of Guyanese music from Ron Lammy, the rooftop of the Brooklyn Children’s museum came alive with music from the ever popular Chronicle Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.

President Jagdeo was also treated to an Indo-Caribbean dance presentation before he was taken on a tour of the museum grounds to meet, greet and be photographed with Guyanese from the diaspora.

This was followed by a medley of Guyanese popular folk songs rendered by Hilton Hemerding and Wrickford Dalgetty who evoked memories of growing up in Guyana.

Sitting in the audience visibly having a grand time, were Opposition Leader Robert Corbin and his wife Carol, who were entertained by Slingshot Drepaul. Flying the Guyana flag around his neck, Slingshot wowed the audience with selections from his latest CD: Christmas in Guyana, Number 63 Beach and Berbice Gayl.

The excitement in the voices of emcees Bobby Vieira and Ron Bobb-Semple was evident when they introduced hit music maker Terry Gajraj and the Supertones. This group put on a masterful performance of "Guyana Baboo" setting the tone for an exciting afternoon of cultural bliss.

The packed audience of Guyanese danced, screamed and waved their flags as artist after artist put on a great show to highlight what a good time they were having. This was evident in a performance by the ex-National Dance Company of Verna Walcott, Sandra Primus, Michele Pedmore-Singh, Wayne Daniels and Rose October who presented a pulsating African Fusion.

The return to the stage of calypsonian Lady Guymine, with her timeless hit "Granny Fit, got the audience on its feet, singing and dancing along with the energetic granny, who threw in a striptease act down to her gym attire to keep Guyanese excited.

The kiddies were delightful as well. From the Impressions Dance Theatre with a choreographed movement to Guyanese folk song Timber Bruck a me Back, to the prettily dressed Tots and Teens whose colorful Maypole display melted hearts of all - the afternoon was phenomenal.

While Ten-year old Rupa Prashad’s magnificent Indian classical interpretation, of "Gajavadana" left the audience in awe.

And leading up to the festival's biggest draw, Dave Martins, the audience enjoyed the versatility of singer Chuck Girard. Flutist Keith Waithe, and singer/guitarist Reggie Paul who came all the way from London and Miami, respectively, to be a part of this cultural explosion, were dynamic on stage.

Also making impressive presentations were Folk writer Alan Fenty and Eze Rockcliff of the Yoruba Singers fame who traveled from Guyana to entertain the gathering.

But by far, however, the evening belonged to the man now resident in the Cayman Islands, Dave Martins. That was clear from the moment the leader of the Tradewinds hit the stage. Strumming on his guitar, backed up by the Night People with Henry Validum, Dave showed his versatility as a composer.

As he let loose with Not a Blade of Grass and Is We Own, the audience went wild, singing along as they made requests for more of the witty singer’s collection of popular recordings, such as A Honeymooning Couple, and You Can’t Get.

A highlight of the set was Wong Ping - a song about sexual prowess in the Caribbean - which Dave sang to the pleasure of the large crowd, who scurried to the official booth after the show in search of his CDs.

At the end of it all, and after the Guyanese Broadcasters of North America’s simulcast was heard all over Guyana, the organizers felt gratified that they had accomplished what they had set out to achieve - to preserve, promote and propagate Guyanese creativity.

The committee would like to thank the community for supporting the festival, and look forward to seeing them at a new venue in 2004. Ongoing updates and information is available at www.guyfolkfest.org.

September 10, 2003
Contact Information -Tangerine Clarke
GUYANA FOLK FESTIVAL
1368 89^th Street, Suite 2
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Tel: 718-763-6313 Fax: 718-209-6157
Website: www.guyfolkfest.org
E-mail: info@guyfolkfest.org

'Preserving Our Cultural Heritage'
Scenes from Guyana Folk Festival 2003 in New York

THE just-concluded Third Annual Guyana Folk Festival in New York is believed to be the best overseas gathering of the sons and daughter of the 'Land of Many Waters' in recent times.

The activities began on Friday, August 29 and concluded on Sunday, August 31 after inspiring appearances by Guyana's Head of State, President Bharrat Jagdeo, who was on his way home after a visit to India, and Opposition Leader and Leader of the People's National Congress Reform Mr. Robert Corbin.

During the weekend programme, 37 Guyanese stalwarts were honoured with the Wordsworth McAndrew Award at a special dinner and dance. There was also a roundtable conference in which academics and cultural exponents participated.

In keeping with the theme, "Preserving Our Cultural Heritage", the programme of events featured such time-honoured traditions as the 'Plaiting of the Maypole', performances of folk songs and modern ballads by Guyanese composers; dramatic poetry and skits; and displays of handicraft made from Guyana's indigenous flora and fauna.

Today we present glimpses of the marvellous three-day Guyana Folk Festival.

September 2, 2003
Click here: Welcome to guyanachronicle.com

Folk Festival in New York was a huge success
Stabroek News 9/5/03 Letters.

Dear Editor,

All who were fortunate to be there in person during the last weekend of August in Brooklyn, or to hear the Sunday broadcast to Guyana, will confirm that there was what can only be called a "Guyana outpouring" at the recently concluded Guy-folk-fest event in New York.

Starting with the emotional awards night and dance with the Tradewinds, moving into the Saturday seminars on culture, and concluding with a day-long party on Sunday, this event drew thousands of Guyanese together in a setting where the feeling for our common roots became something tangible; you could see it in the faces; you could hear it in the reactions to the MCs; it was running through conversations with you and around you.

Space does not permit listing the array of Guyanese involved in the various events over the three days. Suffice it to say the gathering was probably the largest collection of significant contributors to our culture ever assembled in one place outside Guyana. Hundreds of people have to be credited for the work, but I have to mention Godfrey Chin, Claire Goring, Vibert Cambridge, Malcolm Hall and Ron Lammy. The spotlight must also be put on the final Sunday when there was truly an all-day Guyanese explosion such as I have not seen outside the homeland in my 36 years of cultural work.

I trust the many media covering the event will be able to convey, in Guyana and outside, a better sense of the scale of what happened in Brooklyn last week, but this event has cemented two things for me: There is a powerful and abiding connection to Guyana residing in many of us in the diaspora, and it is a resource with enormous potential to help with the problems our homeland faces. The potential is there not only for financial help with projects (some ideas are already in train) but also to take advantage of the desire of many Guyanese to give back to their homeland (two weeks, two months) of the skills and disciplines they have acquired in their time away. The diaspora dwellers (to coin a phrase) feel powerless, and are powerless, to affect matters politically, but they can contribute and want to contribute something directly to the society outside the political arena; I heard this expressed many times last week.

Secondly, flowing from that last point, I see the Guy-folk-fest organisation, with its non-political ambit, as a significant hope for helping to generate the accommodation between all Guyanese without which our country will certainly come to grief. The presence of both President Jagdeo and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin at the function, mixing informally with Guyanese of all stripes, was referred to by many as a symbol of this concept. On this occasion, there was no question of Black, Indian, Putagee, Chinee, etc. This was a day, to quote Lord Canary, to feel that "all o' we ah one family".

To taste the vibrant Guyana cuisine; to take in the stage backdrop with scenes of our memory; to hear the music of our artistes (Lady Guymine and Terry Gajraj had the place going); to watch that crowd, standing in the Brooklyn night, and singing the words of Not A Blade O' Grass and Is We Own at the top of their lungs while I played the guitar, was to know that as a Guyanese, wherever you live, Guyana lives in you. To the Guy-folk-fest group in the US: You have a powerful engine here waiting in the station. It has already outgrown its present venue. Take effective charge of it and it will take us far.

To those who criticised from afar, know that something was ignited this last weekend in Brooklyn that can be of major benefit to the country we love. Come with your suggestions to make things better; you will be welcomed.

To our political and business leaders: Get behind this event and support it. Mr. Jagdeo and Mr. Corbin were there; ask them. They will tell you it has the potential to make a significant contribution to Guyana. The Guyanese in the diaspora are willing, many anxious, to do something for our homeland; Guyfolkfest, with its pan-Guyanese approach, can become the ideal channel for that outreach.

Yours faithfully,
Dave Martins

LAUNCH PARTY

Popular folk entertainer Wrickford Dalgetty once again gave a rousing performance when he reminisced about Guyana with a medley of songs that included: Lilly Gal, A bin a bamboo dam and Sancho lick he lover pon de dam to kick-off an evening of cultural pride at Guyanese owned, JRG Restaurant and Café, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Thursday, July 17 marked the launch of the third annual Folk Festival Season, where the community came out to toast the success of the festival and to celebrate the up-coming three-day event, which is scheduled for August 29, 30, and 31.

The event was well attended by the who's who in Guyanese music. Some included renowned pianist Hugh Sam, Organist Keith Proctor and "Granny Fit"- calypso singer Lady Guymine, who graced the outdoor deck of the café to join hands with the organizers to unveil the 2003 Festival.

Also entertaining the gathering, were songs from Is We Ting - a compilation of Guyanese music recorded for limited release during the three-day festival.

The cultural explosion is expected to attract Guyanese from all over the U.S., and from around the world.

Some of the well-wishers included: Consul General, the Honorable Brentnold Evans, Cheddie Joey Jagan, Colin Moore, former broadcaster of GBS James Sydney, Lorna Neblett, Matt Baptiste, Matti Singh of Caribbean Voice, Godfrey Wray of Impact News, dancer Rose October, business owners, Edgar Henry and Carl Gilliums, to name a few.

The organizers would like to extend a special thanks to Junior Giddings for the gracious way in which he opened the door of his Cafe to welcome the Festival.

Junior you are now an honorary member of the Guyana Folk Festival.

Again, Thanks!

Tangerine Clarke

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

Reprinted from the Stabroek News edition of 6/18/2003 by Miranda La Rose.

Brooklyn to host Guyanese folk festival

Brooklyn to host Guyanese folk festival The New York-based, Guyana Cultural Association is currently promoting the third Guyana Folk Festival in Brooklyn and is also seeking local Guyanese sponsorship to raise money for a CD showcasing the country's musical heritage.

The association has also named 37 Guyanese for the Wordsworth McAndrew Award for their contribution to the arts in Guyana and in the diaspora. One awardee will represent each year that Guyana marked its independence anniversary.

One of the organisers of the `Folk Fest,' Ronald Lammy, in Guyana to promote the folk festival, told Stabroek News that the awards would be part of the festival from August 29 to August 31.

The CD, `Is We Ting,' will feature 22 Guyanese recording artistes who have waived their rights to fees. The funds from sales will go to provide support to those artistes who contributed to Guyana's musical heritage and for other efforts to promote and celebrate Guyanese music.

Among those to be featured on the CD are King Fighter, Harry Whittaker, Dave Martins and the Trade Winds, Ivor Lynch, Terry Gajraj, Al Seales, Yoruba Singers, Lady Guymine, Dennis De Souza, The Ramblers, Tony Mangra and the Chronicle Atlantic Symphony Steel Orchestra.

Asked why the association was trying to raise the funds in Guyana for the CD, Lammy said that this was being done in a bid to involve the local corporate sector even though the sum could easily be raised by the diaspora. Sponsors would be able to showcase or advertise their product overseas through their sponsorship as well as make a tangible contribution to the arts. Their sponsorship would also be identified with the folk festival. He said so far the response from the local business community had been disappointing. It is hoped that the CD will be launched on August 16 and could be bought online at www.guyfolkfest.org or at the Folk Festival.

The Folk Festival will be held over the Labour Day weekend and will include an awards dinner dance at the Crystal Manor, on Flatbush Avenue, a symposium and the Folk Festival 2003 Family Fun Day.

The awardees were chosen from 500 names submitted by Guyanese at home and abroad. The thirty-seven named are Rudy Bishop, Art Broomes, David Campbell, Tom Charles and the Syncopates, Ivan Critchlow, Mahadai Das, Dennis De Souza, Des Glasford and Combo Seven, Guyana Music Teachers Association, Guyana Police Force Male Voice Choir, Ayube Hamid, Annie Haynes, Hilton Hemerding, Ramjohn Holder, Loris Holland, Rafiq Khan, Lady Guymine, Lord Canary, Vesta Lowe, Ian McDonald, Billy Moore, Ivan Nichols, Philip Nichols, Tony Phillips, Roland Phillips, Edith Pieters, Billy Pilgrim, Masse Lal Pollard, Basil Rodrigues, Hugh Sam, Al Seales, Bing Serrao and the Ramblers, George Simmons and the Rhythmaires, Trevor Sue-Quan, Tassa Explosion, Nadira and Indranie Shah and Keith Waithe.

The symposium will be held at the Medgar Evers College and is being co-sponsored by the Caribbean Research Center of the college. It is themed `Celebrating our Musical Heritage' and hopes to identify, discuss and demonstrate the various genres of music in Guyana during the 20th century. It will also explore the role of radio in diffusing music and promoting Guyanese talent as well as discussing the stylistic and other musical contributions of Guyanese popular music icons.

Notable Guyanese performers who have indicated their participation in the seminar include Terry Gajraj, Keith Waithe and Reggie Paul.

The Folk Festival is to be held at the Brooklyn Children's Museum at Brooklyn and St Marks Avenue. There will local cuisine and Guyanese folk games such as one-tip-two tip cricket, double dutch skipping, Hot bread and Butter and Jumbie lef' e pipe hey.

The contact persons in New York are: Claire Goring, Malcolm Hall, Claire Patterson, Tangerine Clarke, Maurice Blenman, Hazel Shury, Wrickford Dalgety, Verna Walcott, Hilton Hemerding, Ken Corsbie, Ashton Franklin, Bobby Vieira, Carol Bagot, Patricia Trim, Pritha Singh.

In Ohio it is Dr Vibert Cambridge; in Florida, Godfrey Chin; in Toronto, Bernard Heydorn; in Boston, Ronald Lammy. The contacts in Guyana include Francis Farrier, Negla Brandis, Margaret Lawrence, Desiree Edgehill and Phyllis Jackson.