Johnny Braff, known for hits such as “It Burns Inside” and “I Don’t Care” played with city band The Dynamos at a show on the weekend of the three-day Mackenzie Fair that ended on November 1.
The fair resumed this year after an absence of about two decades.
A humble Braff told this newspaper News before he graced the stage for his singing engagement on October 31 at the Mackenzie Sports Club Basketball Court, that he was pleased to be visiting Linden after so many years. However, he noted that everything had changed, especially the economic situation of the community. He pointed out that this was the case in many parts of the country he had visited but he would like to see a more even spread of economic prosperity around the country.
It was in Linden at the then Demba Recreation Hall in Mackenzie, that Braff as a teenager sang for the first time before an audience after a friend had insisted that he should.
Although Braff said he was not a singer, the friend insisted and a star was born from the 25 cents that Braff had paid to enter the concert.
He was in his work clothes and as he made his way to the stage, some in the audience made fun of him because of his attire, but in the end he earned a standing ovation and calls for encore.
Braff described the moment thus: “It’s like a mystery…it had to happen.”
At 18 years old when Braff, a Kitty resident, began singing he was working as a plumber at the then bauxite company Demba in the late 1950s. He was a city man, born in Kitty. Braff also proudly recalled that he helped build the now defunct Alumina Plant.
Since then he has played to sold out crowds at Madison Square Garden, New York City, Mexico, Canada, London and across Europe.
He left Guyana in the 1970s after recording a number of hits in the 1960s.
In September this year he returned to Guyana and played shows in the city with plans to do the same in Berbice and Bartica.
Even at 72 years old he is not calling it quits; Braff has a new song coming out in February 2010, called “Jump on My Wings, Let’s Go For a Ride to Heaven”, under his self-titled label, Braff Recording, in Brooklyn.
His advice to young musicians and recording artists is to sing their own music and to “stop imitating the Jamaicans,” because according to him, it is difficult for local musicians to gain a foothold in the Jamaican music scene.
And the reason why local artists are not singing their own music, in his view, is because of the absence of copyright laws to protect their music and to ensure that they are paid. For instance, he said, anyone can take their music, play it and the artists get nothing. His other contention is that musicians are not being treated properly by promoters.
In clarifying this statement, he explained that in his early days of singing on the local scene, as soon as one is placed on a stage to perform a payment is negotiated. Braff is encouraging recording artists who receive airplay for their work to become members of the Performers Rights Society of London to ensure that they gain something for their music.
However, he cautioned that since there are no copyright laws in Guyana, the society will not send the monies to Guyana. But another country with such laws like Trinidad and Tobago can be used as a transit point for the money.
This internationally known artist has also received a number of honours over the years, among them is the Guyana Folk Festival 2002 Wordsworth McAndrew Award. He was among 36 Guyanese who received awards at this event.
He was awarded for his pioneering role in Guyanese popular music. Billy Pilgrim, Dave Martin, Eddy Grant, Sister Noel Menezes and Ian McDonald also received Folk Festival Awards in 2003.
