Today marks a very important date in the history of this country. Exactly 50 years ago, the independent nation of Guyana became the Cooperative Republic of Guyana with all the post-colonial political and cultural consequences of that status. This is celebrated by the festival of Mashramani, which, likewise, is registering its 50th year of observance and represents the cultural expression of a political statement.
Just as it will be taking to the road in the celebratory revelry of the Mashramani festival, it was very appropriate that the nation took to the stage to make a statement in the proclamation of the Golden Jubilee of the republic. This was done in the performance of “An Evening of National Songs, Poetry, Stories and Dance”, a variety concert produced and directed by Dr Barbara G Reynolds, an academic, administrator, cultural connoisseur, and singer, at the National Cultural Centre last week.
Dr Reynolds was assisted by musician Derry Etkins and a team of stage managers in bringing together a broad range of performers representing an impressive depth of national talent. As hinted in the programme’s title, this artistic tribute to the Republic was articulated in a variety of music, dramatisation, dance, performance poetry, narratives and storytelling. Many of these were careful selections which drew on the unfathomable reservoir of oral literature, folklore, performance traditions and classical compositions to tell the story of 50 years of nationhood.
The size of the audience that this attracted was impressive and encouraging as the production played to a near full house. This crowd was privileged to be entertained by a cast that included some of the most established and accomplished performing groups, companies and ensembles. Appearing among these were the National Dance Company, the National Drama Company, the National Steel Ensemble, the National School of Dance, the Guyana Police Force Band, the ageless Woodside Choir and its folk arm Korokwa.
These were complemented by several of the most accomplished individual performers, starting with the distinguished, Prof Joycelynne Loncke, and including Michael Khan, Amanda Reynolds and Barbara Reynolds herself, Carlene Gill Kerr, Calvin Bernard, as well as some members of the National Drama Company: Keon Heywood, Nirmala Narine and Kim Samuels.
The quality of the entertainment was fortified by the quality of instruction as exemplified by many of the selections performed. In many cases there was the usually expected celebration of patriotism in national songs, predictably in keeping with this tribute to the Cooperative Republic. There was, therefore, the usual and the expected corps of national songs such as “Song of the Republic” done by Paul Cort, “Song of Guyana’s Children” rendered by a combination of choirs, “O Beautiful Guyana”, and “This Is Guyana” performed by Kellon Rover.
Some of these were poems such as those from the colonial period when the growing identity of nationalism in Guyanese poetry was led by Walter McA Lawrence and AJ Seymour, whose “Legend of Kaieteur” has stood out since that period in the 1930s and 40s. These helped the programme to tell the story of the nation through its music and poetry, defining one aspect of national pride in the large corpus of praise songs for the Republic.
Even in the period of contemporary compositions there were the patriotic pieces of spoken word performances such as Gill Kerr’s very popular “Guyana We Blessed”, and Heywood’s rhythmic, crowd participatory “Journey to El Dorado”.
But what was most striking on the programme were those classic selections not so expected. Supreme among them was the single most outstanding and impressive item in the show – Valerie Rodway’s “Kanaima” played on the piano by Joycelynne Loncke. Apart from being impressive, it was among the instructive pieces that helped the production to make statements about the nation. Kanaima is a force in Amerindian belief, walking the earth in real life as an ordinary man, but secretly a predatory creature most feared by the people among whom he moves. He is an assassin, a shapeshifter, hunter, ventriloquist and murderer. He is at home in the forest where he is a master at hunting, and at changing himself to a bird or a jaguar.
Loncke, a Professor of French and Music at the University of Guyana is the best concert pianist in Guyana and brought to terrifying life every note in Rodway’s music. “Kanaima” is an extraordinary classical piece that dramatises nature of the assassin. Most of it is dark, sometimes supernatural, often mysterious, sometimes lilting and imitative of the whistling birds in the forest. This performance told its audience something of Guyanese music. It can be infinitely more interesting than the patriotic national music to which Rodway has also made great contributions. Loncke’s great contribution that night was the demonstration of one who profoundly understands the music as an academic as well as a piano performer.
After that, was the gem of a performance of Amerindian oral literature, “Kanaima” by Ingrid De Vieira. The audience learnt a lot. It was a story of the kanaima, very instructive about Guyanese storytelling and Guyanese myth. Here was another of the items that helped the programme to articulate the biography of the nation. This was a sample of the profound depth of national literature, culture and traditions. Placed alongside the piano piece it rendered in words much of what the music was telling in abstract expression. De Vieira’s performance, too, was priceless.
There were further dramatisations of the mythology, the folk and the supernatural, such as in the immortal “Ole Higue” performed by the National Drama Company. That was at the same time traditional and post-modern. While drawing deep on folklore it demonstrated the avant-garde in theatre and in another form of storytelling, enhancing the variety in the production.
The folk motif continued with oral literature rendered by Michael Khan who performed “Balgobin Tales”. Balgobin opens another chapter in the biography of the nation. He is a folk figure from the East Indian tradition who is a virtual satire of colonial society, particularly the education system. A better-known hero to the audience was Anansi whose exploits were narrated by Kim Samuels, yet another act of drawing on the oral literature and folklore.
It is difficult to satisfactorily capture all that was represented about Guyana in the wide sweep of this “Evening of National Songs Poetry Stories and Dance”. But even the political and the social problems were targeted in performance items like “End The Racism” by Nirmala Narine. Calvin Bernard attempted a blend of different Martin Carter poems in “I Come From The Nigger Yard”. This added to the programme samples of the work of the country’s greatest poet, in the kind of explorations of the literature that were presented.
“Festivals of Colours – Unity and Diversity” was a dance by Jewan Ka Nritya taking off on the Phagwah festival. Yet another face of the country was displayed in that as a part of a continuous narrative performed through the evening. The folk traditions also included the masquerade and the folk songs which the production duly presented.
There was the generous serving of patriotism, love of country and praise songs, but a more memorable tribute to the country on the 50th Republic Anniversary came from the variety and the instruction. Reynolds served the Department of Culture very effectively in what she achieved in that “Evening”. Many important statements were made through cultural manifestations. Mashramani is popular for its revelry, but a concert like this reminded its audience that there is an intellectual side to the celebration and there is more meaning to the festival than fun and frolic. It was thus truly appropriate to pay tribute to the nation in the post-colonial performance of its culture, traditions, myths, folklore and life story on the Golden Jubilee of its attainment of republican status.