Dear Editor,
Preventing a calypsonian from performing her/his work is reprehensible, the age of the performer and the message are the proffered excuses that ring hollow. It is time for Guyana to decide what its ‘culture’ is all about, calypso is an imported element, much like all the other elements, it is difficult to find any element of Guyanese culture that is unique to our shores save and except for the dance that is performed by the national school, you know, the one that seems to depict a bird with a broken wing and a deformed foot trying for flight…
The imported culture of calypso has never been fully explained or understood in Guyana despite Guyanese being integral and historic players in the evolution of the art form in Trinidad: for example, it was the Mighty Growler, a Portuguese man from ‘BG’ who sang what became the first advertising jingle in the world, the story goes that the President of Dan Cow Milk was in Trinidad at carnival time and attended a ‘tent’ (a venue where a troupe of calypsonians and entertainers (standup comedians) would perform and compete.
So impressed was the Dan Cow Man with the quick wit and repertoire on display during the extemporaneous segment of the night’s entertainment, that he (Dan Cow Man) offered a $1000 to the performer who could sing the best song about Dan Cow Milk… Growler blew the competition out of the water, won the money, and was also paid to record his ‘Dan Cow jingle’ which was used to market the product worldwide. So when next you hear an advertising jingle, feel some Guyanese pride.
The flip side of the Guyanese and calypso coin is that locally it has (like carnival) never meshed with the local mores; ‘Mashramani’ is a bastardized version
of carnival that lacks the religious
underpinnings of the other festivals worldwide, was transposed from Mackenzie (where it was an independence celebration) and imposed on the denizens of the Capital by Forbes Burnham, the ‘floats’ were comprised of government ministries and agencies, a situation that largely persists to this day.
Our political class has never appreciated criticism of themselves by calypsonians, they do enjoy a joke at the expense of opponents, however, as evidenced by Burnham’s appreciation of ‘Run, Rodney, Run’ a song urging Walter Rodney to represent Guyana at the Olympic Games after he ran up Orange Walk when police approached the stage as he was making a political speech. To the young calypsonian who has been denied her chance to shine, I offer the lyrics of Machel Montano “They say I too young to soca, oye yoe yoe they making joke”; keep singing and as you grow, your country may mature to meet you somewhere in the process.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
