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Program
SYMPOSIUM THEME - Celebrating our Musical
Heritage
Co-Sponsors
- The Caribbean Research Center, Medgar Evers
College/CUNY, NY
- The Department of African American Studies,
Ohio University, NY
Saturday, August 30, 2003
8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Medgar Evers College/City University of New York
1650 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Rationale
Music has had an important place in Guyanese
life throughout the ages. It has connected us with the wider
world. Guyanese musicians have acquired international fame and
recognition. Through many genres of music, Guyanese composers have
spoken to our aspirations and our disappointments, reflected on
our landscape, documented our achievements and celebrated our
multicultural heritage. Despite ground breaking work by Guyanese
music scholars, the story of music in Guyana is still relatively
unknown. Our musicians are passing on and with them important
memories. Given the importance of this aspect of our heritage, the
Guyana Folk Festival Committee is dedicating Guyana Folk Festival
2003 to the exploration and celebration of our musical heritage.
Guyana Folk Festival Statement on Use of
Copyrighted Material
Guyana Folk Festival (GFF) is a Not For Profit
entity committed to the preservation, propagation and promotion of
the cultural heritage of the people of Guyana. In furtherance of
this effort and its related activities, GFF will from time to time
solicit contributions from various artists reflecting the rich
mosaic of Guyana. GFF is resolute in its commitment to respect the
intellectual property rights of all contributors to GFF sponsored
activities.
GFF will in all instances of commercial use of
contributors' works seek to negotiate reasonable compensation for
the contributing artists. In other instances of non-commercial use
where GFF uses, adapts, translates, modifies and/or distributes
the contributions of artists or any parts thereof in furtherance
of its goals, GFF will endeavor to ensure that such use
constitutes "Fair Use" of such copyrighted material as provided
for in Section 107 of Title 17 of the United States Code.
The Symposium Committee 2003
- Dr. Vibert Cambridge
- Dr. Aubrey Bonnett
- Dr. Juliet Emanuel
Guyana Folk Festival 2003 Team joins the members
of the Symposium Committee in acknowledging the generosity and
cooperation of Dr. Edison O. Jackson, President, Medgar Evers
College/CUNY and members of his administration in the realization
of this symposium. Further, the Guyana Folk Festival Team and the
Committee Members of Symposium 2003 acknowledge the commitment of
the Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College to the
preservation, propagation and promotion of the cultural heritage
of the region and, in this instance, the music of Guyana. With the
Committee Members of the Symposium 2003, Celebrating Our
Musical Heritage, the Guyana Folk Festival Team is grateful
for the sponsorship of The Caribbean Research Center.
In addition, the Guyana Folk Festival and the
members of the Symposium Committee 2003 appreciate the sponsorship
of the Department of African American Studies, Ohio University,
Ohio. This level of involvement has permitted not only the
exciting exploration of a vital genre but has contributed
immensely to the preservation of Guyanese musical history.
Catering: Mrs. Karen Stoute
8:00 am
Front of Auditorium:
Registration.
Registration continues throughout symposium.
Registrar: Dr. Juliet Emanuel.
Associate Registrar: Dr. Yvonne McCallum-Peters
8:00 - 9:00 am
Front of Auditorium
ONE STOP MUSIC SHOP
Coordinator: Dawn Moore Bonnett
8:00 - 10:00 am
Breakfast available
Music at Breakfast
Mr. Moses Josiah, the internationally acclaimed performer on the
Musical Saw.
THE AUDITORIUM
9:00 - 9:30 am
Welcome: Dr. Vibert Cambridge, Coordinator Guyana Folk Festival,
Symposium 2003.
Introductions and acknowledgments.
Remarks: The Consul General of Guyana, The Honorable Brentnol
Evans.
Logistics: Dr. Aubrey Bonnett, Committee Member, Guyana Folk
Festival Symposium, 2003.
Accompanist: Dr. Patricia Cambridge.
Selections: Kurleigh, Kevin and Kenrick Hunt.
THE SESSIONS
All symposium sessions are held in the
auditorium.
All sessions allow for a question and answer/discussion period
with the audience.
Morning Sessions
Session #1
9:30 - 10:50 am
Twentieth Century genres of Music in Guyana:
Beginnings and Developments.
Panel Chair
Dr. Ivelaw Griffith, Florida International University
Panelists
Seorie Autar, Singer, Scholar, Folk
Arts: Traditional Women's Songs.
Serena Hewitt, New York City Board of Education: Of the Folk
and Other Forms of Music in Guyana: a Report on Church and
Schools.
Dr. Kean Gibson, University of the West Indies: The Social
Meanings Of Kwe-Kwe Songs in Guyana.
Terry Gajraj, musician: Chutney as a form
of expression in the evolution of music in Guyana.
Billy Pilgrim, former Director of Music,
Department of Culture, Guyana: Musical
Trends in Guyana during the Twentieth Century.
Session #2
11:00 am - 12:20 pm
Our People, Our Music: Discussion and Performance
Moderator
Roopnarine Persaud, poet and lyricist
Panelists
Dr. Patricia Cambridge, Ohio University:
Premiere: My Native Land:An
arrangement for solo piano.
Introduced by Terry Holder, Former General Manager, Guyana
Broadcasting Service.
Ramesh Kalicharran,CEO, Kaligroup; music historian: Our
music in this land: as the youth see it:
Tassa as an evolving idiom.
Mildred Lowe: Former Director of
Culture, Guyana: Guyana Folk Music
Performance: the last Forty Years.
Taij Moteelall, Poet, President: Rajkumari Cultural Center:
Related Fields.: Poetry, Hip Hop and other Urban Rhythms.
Dr. Maurice St. Pierre, Morgan State University:
The Nexus of Poetry and Music during the Anti Colonial Struggle.
12:20 - 12:30 pm
PREMIERE: IS WE TING: Music Orchids For You
with an introduction by Ron Lammy
Member, Guyana Folk Festival Planning Committee and Creative
Director, PanOnTheWeb.com.
12:30 - 1:25 pm
LUNCH
Front of Auditorium: ONE STOP MUSIC SHOP
This shop closes at 1:30 pm
This shop re-opens during Break @ 4:25 pm
Music at Lunch Time
Is We Ting continues.
Terry Gajraj
The Ex-Police Male Voice Choir
The Tassa Band
The Brothers Hunt
TRIBUTES TO THE STEEL BAND PROFESSIONAL
Video recording of greetings to Roy
Geddes, who for the past fifty years has been one of Guyana's
leading steel band professionals begins.
1:30 - 1:35 pm Logistics: Dr. Juliet Emanuel
1:35 - 1:40 pm
Prelude: Selection, Ken Corsbie.
Afternoon Sessions
Session #3
1:40- 3:00 pm
Roundtable:
Guyana's Radio at the Confluence of Music and Folk Culture: A
community Conversation.
Moderator
Dr. Calvin Brutus, University of Wisconsin
Participants
Dr. Keith Proctor
James Sydney
Terry Holder
Angela Massiah
Guyana Broadcasters North America
with taped interviews and commentaries: Bertie Chancellor, Pat
Cameron and others
3:05 - 4:25 pm
Session #4
Popular Music in Guyana: the Icons, their Styles, their Works
Panel
Chair
Kojo Nnamdi, Host: Kojo Nnamdi Show,
WAMU(an NPR affiliate, Washington, D.C.); Host Evening Edition,
WHUT(a PBS affiliate, Washington, D.C.).
Panelists
Dr. Deryck Bernard, University of
Guyana: Composing in the Guyanese Folk
Tradition: the works of Gerrard, Hemerding, and Phillips.
John "Slingshot" Drepaul, singer,
composer, arranger: Guyanese Music from
May 26, 1956 - May 26,1966: An Indo - Berbician Perspective.
Romanee Kalicharran, Tradition bearer: Indo-Caribbean Music/Dance:
Taan.
Maurice Serrao, Member of The Ramblers,
Executive: St. Stanislaus Alumni; Member Executive Group: Last Lap
Lime, Toronto: Pre-Rambling and
Transitions: Assessing the Contributions of Specific String Bands
to the Music of Guyana.
4: 25- 4:45 pm
Break
Refreshments.
Recording of Tributes to Roy Geddes continues.
ONE STOP MUSIC SHOP
This shop closes @ 4:40 pm sharp for the day.
All artistes must pick up their remaining merchandise from Dawn
Moore Bonnett at this time.
4:45 - 4:50 pm
Alexander Douglas, Scholar and Jazz
Musician, U.K: Video: Considerations of
the Musical Heritage of Guyana.
5:00- 6:20 pm
Session # 5
Strategies and Tactics: The Music and Musicians of Guyana: the
Global Dialectic.
Discussant
Dr. Yvonne McCallum-Peters
Panelists
Loris Holland, Grammy and Emmy winning composer, arranger and
producer: Making it in the International
Music Industry
Reggie Paul, musician: Recording and the
Live Performance Sector: getting started; preparation and
promotion.
Mahadeo Ramprashad: CEO, Savart Inc.,:
Difficulties Producing And Promoting Guyanese Musicians.
James Canning, Grammy nominee:
Perspectives of the Contemporary Music Industry.
6:20 - 7:00 pm
JAM SESSION
Announcers: Members of the Committee
Participants
The Tassa Band
The Police Male Voice Choir
Terry Gajraj
Alexander Douglas
Dave Martins
Keith Waithe
Keith Proctor
All Guyanese musicians are invited
All voices are encouraged
(Some of these details are subject to
modification) |
