Arts on Sunday

The culture of the contemporary Caribbean is multi-ethnic, or more importantly cross-cultural (according to Wilson Harris), and one can usually highlight the contributions of different ethnic groups.

Aagus maanin come again                              Aagus maanin jubilee Queen Victoria set we free Jubilee jubilee Queen Victoria jubilee .

At the end of May, the subject of Guyanese art as a label, concept, movement, or school was revisited.

Bastille Day – Georgetown                       Not wanting to deny, I believed it.

[Suite of 5 Poems]                                                       1.   Unwritten histories of human hearts Who knows one day the books will write themselves in magic language soon transforming us to image, symbol and the ultimate silence.

Jamaica                                                            I saw my land in the morning And O but she was fair The hills flared upwards scorning Death and failure here.

Among the most valued achievements of the Caribbean Press, while it flourished between 2009 and 2015, was the reprint of the early volumes of Kyk-Over-Al.

There is an important monument at the University of Guyana (UG) that was established years ago to honour historian Walter Rodney, who was assassinated on Friday, June 13, 1980 by a planted bomb in Georgetown.

It is not unusual on anniversaries to reflect on what is and what has gone before, and the independence commemoration is no different.

The independence anniversary in Guyana last Tuesday crept by without flourish or fanfare – quiet, but under a pall of disquiet, imposed by the still threatening coronavirus in collusion with a pervading political siege.

The Mouse’s Tale                                                      “Fury said to a mouse         that he met in the     house, ‘let us both go to law    I will prosecute you – Come I’ll                                        take no denial:                                     We must have                                 a trial; For        really this   morning I’ve nothing to do.’  Said the mouse     to the cur,       ‘such a trial, dear Sir, with    no jury or judge would        be wasting our breath.’         ‘I’ll be        judge, I’ll be jury,’ Said cunning    old Fury,       ‘I’ll try the whole      cause, and condemn          you   to     death.’”  – Lewis Carroll    Last week we explored the way literature can employ techniques of the fantastic and enter the realm of child’s play as a way of making serious commentary and judgment on the real world.

At the end of the great novel Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding, the hero, Ralph, a 12-year-old schoolboy, cries.

My Boy Lollipop                                         My boy lollipop You make my heart go giddy up You are as sweet as candy You’re my sugar dandy My boy lollipop Never ever leave me Because it would grieve me My heart told me so   I love you, I love you, I love you so But I don’t want you to know I need you, I need you, I need you so And I’ll never let you go   My boy lollipop You make my heart go giddy up You set my heart on fire You are my one desire My boy lollipop   Millie Small Today, the legacy of this music rules popular culture around the world, but especially in every corner of the Caribbean region.

Sonnet 55 Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.

Drama in the time of Coronavirus is a long dark play.

Last week we began an analysis of the state of theatre in Guyana, with particular reference to how it relates to theatre elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Although Guyana has made significant advancements in drama and theatre, in some areas there has been a decline, and the country’s position in a Caribbean and international context is less than favourable.

This year’s celebration of Mashramani in Guyana was especially enhanced and accentuated because it was the Golden Jubilee of the nation as a republic.

Guyana is currently plagued by two pestilent emergencies demanding immediate and effective collective action which is imperative for the health of the nation.

World literature has never failed to provide insights into politics and the human condition.