Guyanese have been raving about Jackie ‘Jaxx’ Hanover’s beautiful rendition of “Guyana” since she performed it at the inauguration of the 9th executive president Mohamed Irfaan Ali last Saturday at the National Cultural Centre (NCC). Her melodious voice saw the NCC erupting in applause at the end.
The four-year-old song has been performed locally by the singer on numerous occasions as well as in North America, the Caribbean and Asia. Anyone who had never heard the song or the singer prior to last Saturday, surely know of her now. Many have posted to social media that the outstanding execution of the song gave them “goosebumps”, while others have dubbed the song Guyana’s second “national anthem”.
‘Jackie Jaxx’ came on the local scene in 2010 as a newcomer in the Carib Soca Monarch Competition under the Ssignal Productions label. Her song “Guyana” is one of ten original releases by her.
“I feel great! It was an honour to appear at a very prestigious event. I got a call four days prior to the inauguration and I was so delighted. Plus, I already had Guyana recorded and released so I was prepared,” said an enthusiastic Jackie Jaxx.
The lyrics are original while the melody of the song was inspired by “Oh Guyana”, written by singer Ivan ‘D’Ivan’ Harry in 1990, the same year Jackie was born. Part “Oh Guyana’s” chorus was included in Jackie’s song. The words, “So rise up, rise up for your land, Rise up won’t everybody stand” is a bridge Jackie added to make the song even more personal.
“I knew at the completion of this song, it would be phenomenal,” Jackie said.
While many have heard of history of the song, little do they know what led to it being written. “I was going through mental depression in 2015 and had prayed that God help me find a song that would help me to feel better, that would save me and I literally heard in my head ‘Guyana, Guyana’”, she shared.
The singer/songwriter noted that usually a song would take her a week to write and record, but “Guyana” took six months. Hanover said she was determined to produce a remarkable song that would captivate the hearts of its listeners. The song was written to be sung for Guyana’s golden jubilee the following year and Jackie intended for it to be an outstanding piece knowing that the jubilee would be extravagant.
During the time of the recording and release of the song in April of 2016, in addition to her health issues, Jackie was devastated when her cousin Simone Hackett went missing and later turned up dead; she had been murdered. “My cousin had gone missing on a Saturday. On Monday I had to go to the studio to record the last chorus for the song to be released on the Friday,” she said. “That last chorus captured much of my emotions. We still hadn’t found her. I was in the studio bawling and crying but I had to finish the song. I recorded that chorus with a heavy heart. They found her the next day. Because her body was really decomposed, she was buried on Thursday. ‘Guyana’ was released the following day.
“A lot of things happened during that time. The Monday after the release of ‘Guyana,’ my song ‘Money’ was featured on ‘Love & HipHop: Atlanta’ [an American reality show]. Then Thursday of that same week was my birthday and I flew to Antigua that same day to perform my first foreign gig for the celebration of Guyana’s Golden Jubilee there.”
Her cousin’s death took an even further toll on Jackie’s health. “Guyana” is the last song she has penned to date.
By January of 2017, the singer realized that she needed to focus on her health and deleted all her social media accounts, reinstating them this year. There is a lot of taboo in Guyana when it comes to mental health, the artiste said. She recalled telling her family about her mental health issues and being shunned by them. “They didn’t know what to do with me. I started doing research on childhood trauma and emotional trauma and began doing self-directed healing. Right now, I feel better able to handle my emotions effectively. I had to and am still trying to unlearn a lifetime of issues. Also, my relationship with God has helped me immensely. Now that I understand how to heal myself emotionally, I can share with other persons. This has become part of my purpose,” said the singer.
Jackie has come a long way and is working on building herself and others. At the beginning of this month on Emancipation Day, she launched her clothing line, Jaxx’s Apparel, with t-shirts and facemasks she custom designs. On the same day, Jackie launched Topside Band, which includes herself as the vocalist and Jeremy Sobers, Christian Sobers, Jaheim Jones and Rondell Glasgow. Jeremy played the piano onstage at the NCC last Saturday while Jackie sang.
The singer added that she is well on her way to becoming one of the wealthiest artistes in Guyana.
Plans are in place for the production of a video of “Guyana”. The video will be produced by Clinton Duncan and directed and shot by Director Kenny and Jay Carter. Meanwhile the video will feature exquisite designs by House of Pearson including the stunning ‘El Dorado’ gown Jackie wore to the inauguration. However, the video will not only display Guyanese talents but also captivating places like Lethem, Orealla and other Guyana beauties.
“I’m asking the local community to donate towards this project as well as the corporate community and the public sector to contribute financially as we would need to travel to these places for footage. This is Guyana’s song and I’m inviting Guyana to be a part of it,” said an excited Jackie.
Currently Jackie and the band are in studio recording several new singles set to release in the upcoming months. The first is “Hero”, which was written just before the COVID pandemic and which tells people to find that hero within themselves as well as to be thankful for our everyday heroes. An album will follow the release of the singles and it will be Jackie’s first.
She revealed also that she is working towards releasing a Guyanese-themed Christmas album to be out in time for November.
Jackie performed “Guyana” at the Caribbean Style and Culture Fashion Award 2016 at the University of Maryland; at the Guyana Embassy in Washington DC in July 2016 where a number of ambassadors were present and in 2019 in China at the Beijing Horticultural Expo, a trip that was sponsored by the Embassy of Guyana in China where Hanover, and other Guyanese representatives including Clinton Duncan and Gavin Mendonca were present. A total of 183 countries were said to be represented at this event.
Jackie Jaxx can be followed on Facebook at Jackie Jaxx Music and Jaxx Apparel while on Instagram she can be followed @itsjackiejaxx and jaxxapparel
