Nostalgic is the word that describes how I felt last Sunday evening when I made rare visit to the National Cultural Centre and listened to some lovely folk songs.
The two-hour production put on by Ministry of Culture as part of this year’s Mashramani celebration was worth every minute I spent there and if I had paid for the ticket I would have said it was worth my money.
But it was a free event and it was sad that there were so many empty seats instead of a packed audience. I felt sad because this was part of our rich culture on display for free and many did not grab the opportunity to be truly entertained, Guyanese style.
The singing of the folksongs was done in a tenement yard setting and many of the songs were acted out much to the delight of those of us smart enough not to miss out on worthwhile entertainment. The performances of the Korokwa Singers, musician Marilyn Dewar, comedian/ actor Henry Rodney and calypsonian Young Bill Rogers to name a few were superb.
As I listened to the sweet melodies of those long ago songs and laughed at the funny lyrics some of part of my childhood was replayed in my mind. I remembered how as children my cousins and I would sit and joyously sing those songs. You know, songs like “Bamboo fire a wah kind a fire?”, “Dis time nah long time” and many more.
Those are the songs that brought laughter to our faces when we were children and while as I got older I would probably more often be caught trying to pull Whitney Houston (God rest her soul) note (and failing) or humming a Celine Dion song, those folk tunes remained part of me. It is unfortunate that many of the children of today don’t know these songs and as result do not have an appreciation for them.
They can faster belt out the latest Jamaican reggae or the new pop or R&B rocking the airwaves than sing a folk song. Well, my four-year-old did come home from school recently singing “Dis time nah long time” and I guess it is because Mashramani is in the air that folk songs are being taught in school. But hearing him sing “Dis time nah long time” brought joy to my heart, I joined him in the lyrics and we had a good laugh together at the end.
Now hearing him sing, “Oh lord don’t let me cheat on my girlfriend” is another matter altogether. I don’t play that song in my house or car but I did watch the GT&T jingle competition in his presence and we both viewed Brandon Harding’s performance of this song. Now when he sings it—and I know he must have heard at other times—he would say ‘Mommy you memba Brandon sing this song?’
But back to the cultural centre: listening to the folk songs triggered a lot of things in my mind and one that was foremost is that our children these days don’t have an appreciation for this part of our culture (I say this part because I shudder to think they have no appreciation for any of what makes us Guyanese). I realize that we as parents and those older than us have to take the blame because firstly, parents don’t teach their children about these things (maybe they themselves don’t know); secondly the opportunities to immerse ourselves in this part of our culture are few and far between and thirdly parents are caught up with buying the latest gadgets for their children, exposing them to cable TV and then there is the computer. All of these have combined to make ‘folksong’ an alien word to our children.
As I watched to performance I also realized that most of the performers were from the older generation. This begs the question: when they are gone who will carry the mantle?
Tears came to my eyes when a group of children took to the stage and acted out the many games we played in the schoolyard. Those include, “There’s A Coloured Girl in the Ring”, “The Farmer Rings the Bell”, “Drop it Peter boy” and “Dog and the Bone” just to name a few. Who plays those games at school now? The answer should not surprise any of us; as we are well aware that just a few of our children play these games today.
Getting back to basics is what we need to do, and if we want our children to have an appreciation for what makes us truly Guyanese then we must create that environment. The children in the remote areas where access to gadgets and computers are not common may stand a better chance than those in the urban areas. It must start with all of us and I am pulling up my socks and getting with it by ensuring that my two sons are exposed to the things that make us Guyanese. Let’s all do something and make ‘this time long time’. (thescene@stabroeknews.com)
