Members of the Calibro Band are currently assessing their losses, which amount to approximately $1 million, after a taxi driver who offered to take them to the hospital following an accident at Burma, East Coast Demerara, vanished with their equipment.
The Calibro Band was returning from playing at a 60th birthday party at Number 51 Village, Berbice, when the car they were in hit a culvert between 03:30 to 04:00 hrs on Sunday, at Burma, East Coast Demerara. Valdero Calistro known as Valdo, a 40-year-old musician of Best Road Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, sustained multiple injuries including a broken arm, as a result of the accident. The other occupants sustained minor injuries.
Calistro told Stabroek News yesterday that the driver of the car might have fallen asleep and lost control. After the accident, a taxi driver rendered assistance to transport them to the Mahaicony Hospital. Calistro explained that the car involved in the accident was in a deplorable state so they transferred their equipment from that car to the taxi.
At the hospital, Calistro was wheeled into the building and the taxi driver then attempted to leave the compound. When asked where he was going, he left a phone number with the nurse and promised to return, but had not done so up to the time this newspaper spoke with Calistro. Fortunately, as the car entered the compound, the security officer had recorded its licence plate number.
The equipment the taxi driver left with includes a Yamaha PSR s970 keyboard, Behringer mixer, 15-inch EV speaker, a case with 3 microphones and multiple cables, and a keyboard stand among other items. According to information gathered, the car involved is a grey Primo, HC 8623, registered to Carlius Gonslev of 42 Relief Public Road, Supply, East Bank Demerara.
The Calibro Band originated in the Pomeroon, Region Two, and comprises five brothers and one sister. Founded by Neville Calistro known as the Mighty Chief, the first Amerindian Calypsonian in Guyana, it is the first Indigenous band in the country. The band would usually perform at Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations, weddings, birthdays among others.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the taxi driver can contact the Calibro Band on 674-3606, 680-9588 or the nearest police station.
