Early last month, three of our more prolific artists in the genres of music, film and theatre publicly laid bare their disappointment at the neglect that has been shown to them by successive governments of this country.
Terry Gajraj, who styles himself as the ‘Guyana Baboo’ – the name of a song he made popular – started the ball rolling with an introspective post on Facebook after he was honoured with a Global Icon Award by Trinidad and Tobago. The chutney singer, who has been performing for some 35 years, said in his post among other things: “I have spent my entire life promoting Guyana around the world and it is ironic that other countries are giving me awards and accolades for promoting my Guyanese culture but the Government of Guyana has never even offered me an award, a recognition…”
After this newspaper reported on Mr Gajraj’s Facebook post, President Irfaan Ali reached out to him and in their conversation, the chutney singer said, the President agreed that the issues he raised needed to be addressed.
Perhaps President Ali was a bit too precipitous in his outreach. No sooner had he smoothed Mr Gajraj’s ruffled feathers than filmmaker Mahadeo Shivraj added his own tale of disillusionment.
Aside from producing indie films, Mr Shivraj has acted in scores of plays, directed several, as well as written numerous plays and film scripts. His lament involved the recent past and current governments, although if one reads between the lines, he too has never been recognised by any over his decades-long contributions to theatre, film and culture.
Mr Shivraj recounted reaching out and being burned not once, but twice. In 2015, he produced the film “Protection Game”, which he said was dedicated to Guyana’s Golden Jubilee being celebrated that year. He wrote in a letter published in this newspaper on April 13: “I proposed the idea to three APNU+AFC ministers when I met with them and who promised to showcase the movie as a proud Guyanese product. On completion I reached out through emails, through letters and even had the emails printed and taken to them. Not a single reply…” As a result the film was never shown.
The second slap in his face was in February this year when he premiered his film “Brown Sugar Too Bitter for Me – The Oil Dream” during the Mashramani celebrations. Mr Shivraj said he invited members of the government and the diplomatic corps to the screening at MovieTowne and received responses from two prominent diplomats, Prime Minister Mark Phillips and three government ministers. However, only the diplomats and the Foreign Minister sent representatives to the event. Though disappointed, he thought all was not lost as he was able to meet President Ali just days later who promised to help as well as to involve Minister of Culture Charles Ramson Jnr. Up to the time of writing his letter, Mr Shivraj had not heard from either of them.
Yet the same President Ali was able to reach out to Mr Gajraj following his complaint. No one could be blamed for assuming that the President was attempting to quiet the adverse publicity from Mr Gajraj’s Facebook post. If that was not the case, then what is his excuse for ghosting Mr Shivraj? If the President has since also contacted Mr Shivraj that is information which has not been divulged.
Rounding out the trilogy of disenchantment a day later was theatre personality Gem Madhoo-Nascimento. Well known for co-producing “The Link Show” Mrs Madhoo-Nascimento reminded that she has been in local theatre for more than 42 years and staged over 250 productions. Also a writer, director, stage designer and actor, Mrs Madhoo-Nascimento perhaps chose not to mention her contribution to training young dramatists which she did in the early 2000s. Nor did she refer to her annual publication of Guyana Where and What, a tourist guide, the first of its kind here that also began in the early 2000s.
In her letter to this newspaper, she wrote: “I have lived and worked in Guyana and I am yet to receive funding from our governments, in spite of submitting a number of professional proposals for any of my productions, save and except when the Ministry of Tourism, under Geoffrey DaSilva, commissioned me to produce a musical ‘Guyanese Roots and Rhythms’ which I wrote and directed for World Cup Cricket in 2007…” Mrs Madhoo-Nascimento has also been overlooked for a national award despite her many accomplishments. And there has been no indication that President Ali contacted Mrs Madhoo-Nascimento in the wake of her comments.
Incidentally, there are several other artists in these and other genres who could echo similar laments if they were so inclined. Indeed, were they all to express their disappointment the chorus would be deafening.
The fact is that successive governments’ attention to the arts has ranged from disinterest to disdain to near desecration except when they needed displays of culture to boost their image. Who can forget the twice near destruction of Aubrey Williams’ Timehri murals in 2007 and 2017? Or the planned removal of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology in 2016 so that the building could be used for government offices?
Moreover, in spite of there being proven links between human cultural development and mental health from hundreds of studies over the years, the official outlook in this country seems to be less is more, when the opposite obtains everywhere else. The teaching of music in public schools, for example, has declined to the odd steel band or choir and not in every school. A check of timetables would reveal visual art relegated to one period per week if at all available, sometimes even when students have opted to take it at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams.
Various art genres stimulate the mind and inculcate discipline and empathy. We ignore this stasis in the arts and wonder why violence seems to have taken over our schools. Parents should be clamouring for change as forcing rote learning and endless exams clearly aren’t working. The answers to the many of the current problems are right before our eyes, if we could but see them.
