It’s not new. I have sounded this trumpet before—on the need for us in the Caribbean to recognise the ones in our story, past and present, who have made significant contributions to the cultural fabric. This is for two reasons: expressing gratitude to them, hopefully while they are still alive, and, perhaps more important, for the role it would play in national pride, and thereby motivation, for young people growing up in the society now and dealing with questions of confidence and self-worth. It is vital work and it has been on our social media stages here recently with commentary from musician Derry Elkins, among others, that the revamping of our education system should include such a subject.
I can be forgiven for shouting loudest for such an approach here in Guyana, but the need is there regionally. I may be mistaken, but in my travels I cannot recall seeing a reminder anywhere in Trinidad of the calypsonian Lord Kitchener, or musician Andre Tanker; or in Antigua, one to Swallow; or in Monserrat, a recall of the legendary Arrow. In other words, it is a regional lapse and this week intimations of it came again, this time from Dean Straker, son of Emil Straker from the famous Merrymen musical group, rightfully raising the question with regard to his father and to the band.
There are many others, of course, but the Merrymen one rang a bell here. I grew up in a Caribbean where in the early years, for me anyway, music bands looked like a football team coming on stage with a complement of brass instruments, and a three-piece percussion side, in addition to guitars, keyboard, and of course vocalists. It was only in later years, with the arrival of electronic instruments that we saw the emergence of combos, across the region, challenging the large groups and, with the advent of recording studios, often reaching the hit parade themselves – something not known previously. For me, searching out a music career in Toronto with three other musicians from Trinidad, and noticing the array of combos in that city’s entertainment scene, the arrival of the Merrymen, with four musicians, served as further encouragement. I am not privy to the formation of the group, but I knew that Emil Straker had been living and performing for some time in Montreal, in a Trini band, and I believe he went back to Barbados with the idea of starting his own group there, which led to the combination that included guitarist Robin Hunte in the Merrymen. To put it more directly, the Merrymen served to clear the way for the groups like mine that came along a few years later, making our own way without the football team on stage. Part of it, of course, was musicianship. Caribbean combos had a tendency to similarity because of their limited size, but part of the Merrymen’s success was their unique sound, propelled largely by Emil’s tenor voice but the often overlooked contribution of Robin Hunte was a key piece of the music. Tenor guitar, or banjo, although found in Jamaican music, was generally not known in pop music bands in the Eastern Caribbean, and to look back the Merrymen’s popularity is to see that the distinctive sound they generated instrumentally was largely due to Hunte’s guitar cutting through the music with its pulse. Emil’s voice was the trademark, but so was that attacking guitar, up front in the mix, pushing the music.
Other contributors to Caribbean music are dispersed across the region and among them one would have to include musicians such as the late Byron Lee in Jamaica, Mano Marcellin and Joey Lewis and Andre Tanker in Trinidad, Sparrow, originally Grenadian, the Tropical Islanders big band in Barbados, Mighty Swallow in Antigua, Lord Canary and King Fighter in Guyana, and, in later years, G. I. Brass in St. Kitts. (Apologies if I did not mention one of your favourites; the list is too long to cover completely here.)
Suffice it to say that we have an array of formidable talent in our past, musical and otherwise, and the call, therefore, from Derry Etkins in Guyana and others, to have such a chapter in our schooling, is eminently justified. We have formidable achievers in our past, and we should be taking steps to so educate the ones now growing up in the region.
That said, although I am not sure what propelled Dean Straker’s bemoaning the lack of recognition for his famous father, let me take one of those steps by calling for Barbados to honour Emil, and indeed, the Merry-men, for their distinctive contribution to Caribbean culture. Having lived in Toronto, I can attest to the number of Canadians who would time their vacation trips to Barbados to coincide with taking in a Merrymen show; they were a definite tourism engine, apart from Accra Beach and Sam Lord’s Castle. And so, I don’t know when your birthday is, Emil, but, take a bow now for what you and your group (including Robin’s cutting tenor guitar) have done for Bajan and Caribbean culture. You are contributors to be recognised.
