Dear Editor,
A hearty thanks to all the teams for their performances in the recent ICC Twenty/20 competition, and congratulations to England on their well-deserved win.
I’ve watched most of the matches and monitored the press but I was bothered by something during the recent event as well as when previous matches were played in the Caribbean. Our population might not have reached a million people as yet, but we love ‘we’ cricket and no matter what teams are playing Guyanese give the game a lot of support. Yet in intervals between the overs or when a wicket is lost the sound system plays songs to keep the crowds alive, which is very nice, but is disrespectful to Guyanese. Watching all the matches on television I cannot recall hearing any Guyanese songs being played, and that is very hurtful. When the game was played in Barbados a lot of songs sung by Bajans were played; in Trinidad you hear the Trinidadian songs and the list goes on.
I would like to know why this discrimination against Guyanese; the last time I checked we had a lot of good Guyanese singers whose songs can be heard echoed by others all around. Only recently Dave Martins was on a television programme talking about his music and a new CD he’s releasing; he composed a song about cricket I believe. Why aren’t they given equal time like the other Caribbean countries give to their artistes? Why are our artistes silent on this matter? Do they believe their music is not worth being played there, where they could get more exposure? Why is the government silent on this matter? Aren’t they the ones who hired the sound system?
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
