Dear Editor,
On Sunday March 11, 2007 in Jamaica, the CWC opening ceremony at the newly built stadium saw a spectacular presentation of the culture the Caribbean has to offer in many different forms.
The main form on offer was the musical abilities of some of the Caribbean’s top bands and artistes who would have had to have international success or the right credentials to be a part of this show.
I have read all of the letters that have been written about Chutney music not being included in this spectacular event and the Indian culture not being shown off like the reggae, calypso and soca culture even though we know the Caribbean, especially Trinidad and Guyana, has a fair number of Indians. I did see a portrayal of Indian culture in dance form to Indian music at the show, but what I think all the writers who have written letters would like to have seen would have been an Indian artiste performing a chutney song from Guyana or maybe Trinidad.
I am surprised that not one person wrote about the only international superstar we have in Guyana, who would have stood tall in the presence of all that was on offer in Jamaica and come out on top because he is a first-class performer in his own right and has been for 39 years: Eddy Grant. The evidence is there in hit songs like “Living on the Frontline”, “Do you feel my Love”, “Gimme Hope Jo’Anna”, “Electric Avenue”, “I Don’t Wanna Dance” and many others.
Nobody has even asked where was Eddy Grant, our only international superstar when it comes to music. No letter writer, no newspaper columnist or entertainment writer, no culture minister, or even our President Bharrat Jagdeo asked why on this special occasion and in front of billions of people around the world, Guyana was not represented. If the Ministry of Culture in Guyana had nominated any artiste or band other than Eddy Grant’s, the CWC Jamaica entertainment committee would have turned them down and that would have been very embarrassing. It’s not to say that we don’t have any artistes or bands in Guyana that could play on the World Cup stage, but for this particular three-hour show, the bands and artistes in Guyana do not have the credentials to take part.
As an artiste in my own right, I am ashamed to be a Guyanese at this time because I see that the people in this country do not care about Guyana, all they care about is being represented for who they are, their religious beliefs and the ethnic groups they come from. I thought country came first, but maybe not for us.
If Queen Yasmin, Rupert Singh, Sammy Baksh or Sach Persaud had the credentials to appear on the CWC opening show in Jamaica I would be the first person to congratulate them and support them to the maximum. But none of the artistes or bands that I know in Guyana have those credentials at this time and we must not blame anyone but ourselves for having fallen short of the bar set for international success by international standards. We seem to blame the Jamaicans because we witnessed a reggae festival of star performers but it is not the Jamaicans’ fault. As hosts, they did what was best for them.
The Jamaicans would have had an entertainment steering committee that would have had all of the names of the famous artistes and bands coming out of the Caribbean. So to say the show was not balanced would be wrong knowing the criteria for appearing on the programme.
The Jamaicans had more artistes who could have appeared. I was reading Mr Allan Fenty’s article in Friday’s Stabroek News where he agreed with Rickey Singh and friends about the non-appearance of the Mighty Sparrow. He was also disappointed that Guyanese artistes were absent, but I am surprised, being a man of Guyana’s musical culture, he said nothing of Eddy Grant not being a part of the show. If the opening ceremony was held in Guyana or anywhere else in the Caribbean and Bob Marley were alive and not on the show representing Jamaica, you would have definitely heard from the Jamaicans.
In November 2006, Eddy Grant was asked by the Jamaicans to appear on the show to sing three songs and he said yes, but he would only do it if he could perform with his own band of musicians.
They said they had a band of musicians that would play for everyone on the show. So he asked them if they would have asked Bob Marley to play without the Wailers and the I Threes.
They then asked one of Eddy’s friends in Jamaica to speak to him, but the friend told them he knew Eddy very well and as a professional musician for 39 years, he would not compromise his status for worldwide coverage, Eddy Grant has already been on several worldwide satellite shows; and that was the end of the conversation.
Worldwide television coverage is not a joke. Television stations all over the world would have had to pay serious dollars for the complete programme, including the musical content because of the copyright laws. We in Guyana do not know if every country carried the complete three-hour show. Some might have only carried certain parts of the programme and left the musical content. One thing I wouldn’t want is a Jamaican or a Caribbean national saying to me that the only way a Guyanese artiste could appear on the show is with a Jamaican band, that would hurt me because I know we have an international superstar who would have given all of them, even Sean Paul, a run for their money.
What the letter writers should have dealt with first was which representatives in the musical field would have had the credentials to represent Guyana at a forum such as the CWC ceremony, knowing what Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean has to offer.
Yours faithfully,
Rudy Grant
