Dear Editor,
Will our Guyana jubilee be a true 50 year celebration of our sovereignty: or will we in fact be unwittingly celebrating an 80% musical invasion by our Caricom neighbours led by Jamaica this May, 2016? I was told that Guyana had the first advanced radio system in the Caribbean. While middle class voices were prevalent on the air to ensure a national grasp of good English, lots of local music, Creole story-telling and Guyanese Talent Shows added a vibrant cultural home flavour during the 60’s and onwards. Any visitor could hear, smell and taste the musical flavour of Guyana through the likes of Bill Rogers, Johnny Braff, Nesbit Changuur, King Fighter and others. Local bands, studios, promoters and artistes sought incessantly to fashion the Guyana sound identity.
But instead of strengthening our desire to grow and to excel along progressive paths of self
determination and self reliance as advocated by an earlier leader, we have idiotically morphed and disintegrated into senseless pursuits in regards to the way we treated with our music and our musicians officially. The signs along the way were appalling. The new administration of 1992, quickly abandoned support for local music; they perhaps saw social commentary in many of the songs as a political tool. Colonial divisions which had encumbered the minds of six people at an earlier time were silently being revived. Rapid deterioration ensued. Not having to pay royalties to local or to foreign artistes our leaders became comatose, unaware of the dynamic economic giant they were inhibiting at home and brainless to the vast debt of royalties they were amassing for the outside world along with their culpability as a signatory to international copyright. Bootleg music entered the fray massively and escalated and the national taste bud succumbed.
Radio and music licences for homes, hotels and public places of entertainment had ceased. The copyright protection body, Performing Rights Society, (PRS), through which local artistes received royalties up to 1992, was scuttled. With no quota allocation for airing local music (65-75% – required by international radio), Guyana lost out to the unlimited quota of foreign music. Conscious Guyanese wrote many letters to the press and had private meetings with leaders at several levels urging them to see music as part of the national product which prospective tourists expect as an intrinsic part of their package as a visitor. These fell on deaf ears. Many past leaders treated the music industry as a hobby. Little did they realize that their backward mindset caused us to lose out on such manufacturing industries as, tapirs, stoves, freezers, fridges, batteries, radios, canned fruits, juices and fish; meat and fish sausages and cheese, etc. In fact, many high ranking leaders of the then administration joined with some local entrepreneurs to flood the local market with Jamaican and TT music stars at live shows.
The brain damage now is so severe that many young Guyanese and fledging DJs cannot name four local singers and one international Guyanese Music Star. It gets worse, at least up to last year, at government sponsored shows and creative exhibitions for children and adults; one would have been hard pressed to tell from the music that was blaring at the functions, whether you were in Jamaica, Trinidad, USA or Barbados. I agree that the people from the other territories grew up welcoming tourists as a way of life, while we who have not been exposed to such a situation have a greater battle dealing with the colonial stupor which had long since clouded our natural instincts for self reliance and self sufficiency. Judging from the sounds I hear blaring around the country, I fear that our Jubilee visitors will be entertained mostly by the Jamaican musical revolution. However, I am hoping that despite this sad reality our intelligent instincts will prevail in time to restore national pride and to provide a turnaround for the next generation of Guyanese, to value self respect above the total consumer psyche, sometime soon. Pray along with me and may God help Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Lee Houston
