Introduction
[We are honoured to present today a short analysis of the life and work of Caribbean calypsonian, musician, playwright, dramatist, comedian, band leader and cultural administrator Dave Martins written by former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar. The value of this article is enhanced by its difference from others that extol the cultural genius. That comes over in a post-colonial critical perspective that places the artist in the context of the growth of nationalism and consciousness that accompanied the rise of the colony of British Guiana to nationhood.
Dave Martins can be seen as one growing up and learning against that background as well as contributing as an artist to that consciousness both at home, in the Caribbean, in the Cayman Islands and in Canada.
Donald Ramotar has researched the 1950s and early sixties from a political standpoint but with a clear and valuable interest in how culture and the arts developed around those times. Some of his articles have been published in “The Thinker”, a fairly new magazine published quarterly by the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute.]
By Donald Ramotar
– Former President of Guyana 12/09/2024
The news on the morning of August 19, 2024, announced the passing of Dave Martins, the leader of the famous musical band, “The Trade Winds.” That announcement cast a sombre feeling in the whole country and throughout the Caribbean and the diaspora.
During his lifetime Dave was able to touch almost all of our lives through his songs and the music of his band.
What made Dave the phenomenon that he became? To identify this, it is necessary to go back to his early childhood days in Guyana and the region.
Dave Martins was born in 1934 on the West Demerara. His parents were descendants of Portuguese indentured labourers. His father was a farmer and had his cultivation in the Pomeroon river, some distance away from his home.
This allowed Dave to visit those places as a boy and he obviously loved it as we see reflected in his songs e.g. “… not a drop of water from the Pomeroon…”
Growing up on the West Demerara, Hague and Vreed-en-Hoop allowed him to engage with a lot of working-class youth in the area. His early association with children of sugar workers must have allowed him to develop a deeper understanding of the life and struggles of workers. His regular visits to the Pomeroon exposed him to a different way of life than the one he knew on the coast and Georgetown (where he went to school). He got acquainted with the life of people in the riverain areas.
This must have had a big impact on the young Dave since riverain people are really the greatest of story tellers. Some of this is also caught in his songs. “… the labba that run from Gouvia gun is we own…” That must have come from a story he heard in the Pomeroon.
He grew up at an important period in our country’s and region’s life. His early childhood coincided with the revolutionary awakening of workers in our region. It was the beginning of the awakening of the political awareness in the Caribbean. The struggles of the working-class exploded in the West Indies and in British Guiana huge demonstrations of workers hit the streets and the plantations. Working people were beginning to organise themselves, this gave rise to the Trade Union Movement in the West Indies.
The West Demerara where Dave dwelled was a hot bed of resistance and rebellion. By 1939, the struggles of the workers led to the formation of many Trade Unions. Recall, it was the strike at Lenora which eventually forced the sugar gods to accept the unionisation of the sugar workers, indeed many workers were shot and killed for this gain.
The 1940s, which we can consider as the formative years of Dave Martins, was also extremely eventful. It was the time of the Second World War, and many Caribbean people were recruited to fight for Britain. Many came back with a different outlook and began to question their working and living circumstances.
In “The West On Trial”, Cheddi Jagan described the atmosphere in the following way, “… Since the closing years of the war, British Guiana was a ferment of ideas. The interruption of shipping from time to time and the consequent food shortages had thrown the territory back on its own resources and had produced for the first time a national consciousness …”
Dave was quite a young man (19 years) when in 1953 the first democratically elected government came into existence in April and was removed in October of the same year. The unity which the PPP forged in that period had a profound effect on the country. No doubt Martins was among those who caught the vision of Cheddi Jagan and the People’s Progressive Party, and it really never left him.
That was reflected in his songs “Hooper and Chanderpaul,” “Is we own,” “Not a Blade of Grass” and many of the songs he sung about West Indian cricket.
He left Guyana just about the time of Independence to seek for a better life, as so many did in that period. However, Guyana and the region never left him.
It was in Canada that he honed his creative skills. His songs were a unique blend of Country and Western and Caribbean music, particularly calypso. Those art forms are distinctive but have a common feature, they tell stories of life.
He was obviously a very gifted song writer and an outstanding vocalist and musician. Those who had the good fortune of watching him perform will never be able to forget those experiences. One can say he really gave it all.
He was versatile. Some of his songs were purely for entertainment, like “Honeymooning Couple”. Some others were very entertaining but with some serious messages, a good example is “Copy Cats.” In this song he made us laugh at ourselves but at the same time it was telling us to be ourselves, to be authentic. He was the best example of this, recall the concluding line in “Copy Cats” which goes like this, “…even when the maker calls ah gon walk into heaven put down me roti and seh wah happening deh…” Others like “Civilisation” had messages of the importance of morality in life and not for us to be too pompous about our achievements. We can learn from the life of animals and try to be in concert with nature.
The message underlying many of his songs is the need for unity in our country and region. One could see his longing to see the unity of the Guyanese people that he experienced in the 1940s and 1950s. Mention was already made of “Hooper and Chanderpaul” where he was telling us that working together will bring successes and being together is the best way of overcoming adversaries. Here he was showing us the great possibilities that our multi-culturalism can bring if only we recognise it.
Dave Martins was rooted in our history and our culture. He was a philosopher of sorts. He managed to capture the individual streams of our people’s culture and wove them into a colourful fabric which reflects a unique Guyanese and Caribbean way of life.
Guyana has produced many talented artists, too many to list in this short article. Among them standing in the front rank was the genius, Dave Martins, a true son of the soil, a real Caribbean Hero!
