Far across blue waters
Guyana is calling you
Come into the bosom of this land
And prove what you can do
Come Guyana is calling
There’s a welcome at her shores
Come all you young people
And show the world course
These words by Pamela Ali, encapsulate the essence and the excitement in which thousands of artists and onlookers joined to celebrate and display the ‘potpourri of West Indian culture intermixed with a rich flavouring of South American traditions’, in Guyana in 1972.
On 24 February 1970 a convention of Caribbean Writers and Artists at the Critchlow Labour College, under the theme ‘Independence and the Freedom of the Artist, was hosted in Guyana under the chairmanship of the renowned national poet, the honourable Martin Carter, then Minister of Information and Culture. In addressing the participants at the opening of this convention Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, stressed the need for the new nation to develop a tradition of artistic independence, since the nation must have its own practising artists, `I believe that we have in the Caribbean our cultural mecca and I am convinced that we can have a successful Caribbean Festival of Art. Our Caribbean festival can be, nay, must be, a place to which other people can come, learn, admire and enjoy’.
During this convention the participants lamented about the absence of an appropriate vehicle to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Region and at the same time give recognition to its outstanding artists and art forms. The previous attempts at staging a regional cultural festival in 1952 in Puerto Rico, 1958 in Trinidad and that of 1967 in London were not totally successful in attracting full participation from all countries. In the circumstance, the idea of staging a local festival was suggested by the participants to showcase the Caribbean’s artists. This was readily endorsed by then Prime Minister of Guyana, Hon. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham who then bestowed the task of planning this activity on the National History and Arts Council. In September 1970 the Secretariat was established and in May 1971 Lynette Dolphin was appointed as director and Frank Pilgrim was selected as commissioner. This duo was also assisted by numerous members of the council including A.J. Seymour, Basil Hinds, Rajkumari Singh, Ken Corsbie and others. They were joined in April 1972 by Bunny Fernandes as the Secretariat’s co op business manager.
In their annual report for the proceedings of the Council for 1970 the secretariat noted that the name of the festival CARIFESTA: Caribbean Festival of Creative Arts was selected. Additionally they announced a competition for the design of a logo for which the prize of $500.00 was offered. Schools, auditoriums and other buildings were inspected and estimates were quickly prepared to determine their suitability for performances by the wide spectrum of artists which the festival was going to attract.
By mid 1971, the secretariat noted that CARIFESTA, under the theme The Artist in Society with Special reference to the Third World would be staged in Georgetown 22 August – 15 September 1972. In the course of 1971 a number of countries were visited by the secretariat to determine their expectations of the first festival of its kind to be staged within the region.
1972 became widely known as CARIFESTA year. The country was bustling with activity as the anticipation of the region’s first true cultural exposition was about to commence. To accommodate the artists and visitors to Guyana Festival City was constructed. Additionally with the absence of a venue to stage the dramatic performances, it was decided to erect a National Cultural Centre, using the consolidated funds of the immigration repatriation scheme, a decision which was and still is widely criticised by the East Indian community. Throughout the year, local artists were given the opportunity to showcase their talents in a series of CARIFESTA warm up concerts.
The downtown shopping areas; Company Path, J. P Santos, Bookers of Main Street and other selected spots in Regent Street were selected for a series of spot concerts by steelbands drawn from Georgetown and its environs. Examples of participating bands included the Guyana Police Force, El Dorado Steelband, Guybau Invaders, and the Demtoco Silvertones. The staging of CARIFESTA was complimented with the hosting of the Conference of the Non Aligned Movement in August of that year. Workers toiled around the clock to ensure the timely completion of the necessary infrastructure was completed to accommodate the visiting artists to the nation’s shores. Festival City, whose construction was overseen by Bunny Fernandes was completed. ‘It boasted some 250 houses, all made from the country’s finest hard woods, a bank, post office, resident doctor and nurses, police station, fire service, laundry, shopping centre, transport pool, communal dining hall and a 24 hour canteen service.’ Many recalled that Festival City never slept there was always a party.
The National Cultural Centre, was however, not completed in time. In the circumstance three large tents were erected to provide the unfinished structure with a temporary roof, together with the construction of a stage 75 feet wide by 55 feet deep and a temporary proscenium 25 feet high. Lights curtains, wings and flies among other infrastructure inclusive of dressing rooms etc had to be put in place for the hosting of this festival.
On 25 August 1972, after many months of preparation, Guyana was finally on show as thousands gathered at the various venues to celebrate the grandest cultural spectacle this country has ever hosted. The programme over this period took the form of plays, monologues, poetry, dancing, folklore, steel band music and calypsos, lectures, concerts, pop shows, pageants, discussions, sculpture, art and international exhibitions, child art exhibitions, demonstrations of carving, ceramics, painting and singing. A commemorative stamp designed by Guyanese artist George Bowen was released on the first day of the festival.
On this date a large crowd of approximately 10,000 descended on the National Park the venue for the opening ceremony. Shortly after the flags of the participating countries had been raised by the detachments of the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force, President Arthur Chung declared CARIFESTA open and against the backdrop of music provided by the Police Force Band an unforgettable carnival style parade depicting the strains of the Caribbean’s regional culture took place.
The Pre Columbian civilization, for example was represented by large impressive temples and figures depicting the Aztec temple of the sun and other legendary civilizations of the sun. Massive mosques were used to represent Africa’s civilization based on genuine costumes from West Africa together with Guyana’s masquerade bands. Asia was similarly depicted with mosques and temples including gods and temple attendants followed by a Chinese dragon. From all sides carnival attendants depicting the symbol came dancing on stage singing the Festival song. They were soon joined by the participants of the attending countries. The ninety odd events staged within the twenty two days of CARIFESTA 1972 were spread out over sixteen venues all of which were outfitted with the necessary lighting, curtains and decor to cater for the auspicious occasion. The host country displayed three one man exhibitions, these included Philip Moore at the Queen’s College rooms, Aubrey Williams at Critchlow Labour College and Stanley Greaves at the Freemason’s Hall.
City Hall, Ursuline Convent, University of Guyana, Lecture Hall, Guyana Teachers Association and the National Library, in addition to the aforementioned also served as venues for the staging of other activities and performances during this event.
These venues were outfitted with decorative backdrops, lighting and sound to allow for the staging of these events. At the National Park, a new
stage 80 feet by 50 feet was erected together with dressing rooms and a special VIP section to accommodate approximately 500 persons. In addition the park was given a general facelift as landscape artists were contracted to enhance the area with flowering plants and lily ponds.
The very first show held at the opening of CARIFESTA at the Cultural Centre was Guyana’s All Kinds of Folk, depicting all aspects of the host nation’s culture. This involved creole market scenes, Hindu wedding, pork knockers, bush songs, Amerindian dances and song, a Queh Queh wedding ceremony and African spiritualist dances. What made this production unique was that most of the participants of this production were selected from genuine folk groups from all parts of the country. With little or no stage experience, according to one report, they performed their untutored dances and songs with tremendous flair exceeding all expectations. Another production which capitalised on the tremendous talent of the nation’s populace was ‘An Evening of Indian Dance and Music’; most performers were drawn from senior schools, but many were not necessarily of Indian heritage,
Guyana’s first presentation was not entirely critic proof as letters appeared in the press stating that there was little or no participation by the Indo Guyanese community. In a report in the Chronicle, the festival organizer noted that a lack of communication was responsible for this. According to one report there was a call for a boycott by the Guyana Council of Indian Organizations due to the misuse of money from the Indian Immigration fund, which was taken by the government to finance the construction of the National Cultural Centre.
The same report also noted that the Amerindians who just danced and danced and did not want to come off as they were no rehearsals. In addition the Silvertones Steelband refused to play in the orchestra pit stating that it was ‘an insult for them to be hidden from the view of the audience.’
Despite these hiccups, for twenty-one days Georgetown was transformed into a cultural spectacle, a riot of colour and rhythm. Lovers of the performing and creative arts were treated with unforgettable experiences. For lovers of music, the drums, according to one report, emerged as the clear favourites of the large crowds gathered.
‘The carved Apinti drums of Suriname, the painted assator drums of Haiti and the drums of Cuba, Jamaica, Bahia and Trinidad created compelling rhythms of the folk manifestations in song which entertained and thrilled the large audiences at the Cultural Centre, National Park and Queen’s College.” Those gathered on the streets and the Merriman’s Mall were equally treated to the performances of the Steel bands and masquerade dancers from Nevis, Montserrat and Guyana displayed their skill to thunderous applause.
Apart from these there were other forms of music. Pop bands belted out their rhythms for dancers at Youthville in the National Park in nightly concerts. Guyana’s staging of the Legend of Kaieteur by Philip Pilgrim in 1944, re-scored by Billy Pilgrim was splendidly staged with a massive choir of 250 voices, three soloists, two pianos and a steel band. It was so enthusiastically received that it required an encore presentation. The esteemed Guyanese pianist Ray Luck also performed to a standing room only crowd in his piano recital of music of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Madrigualistas de Aragua of Venezuela, the folk singers of Antigua, Dominica and Grenada and the Kingston Chorale of St. Vincent all received outstanding reviews in the press.
Lovers of the performing arts flocked to the Theatre Guild and the St Rose’s auditorium to view the variety of plays staged by the participating countries. Reviews in the press indicate that ‘Smile Orange’ a full length play from Jamaica and The Maids put on by the US Virgin Islands and Couvade staged by Guyana were crowd favourites.
Of all the arts performed CARIFESTA 72 was most definitely recorded as the showplace for some of the region’s leading dance companies. In the eyes of many the dancers stole the show. The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica directed by Rex Nettleford, the Conjunto Folklorico Nacionale of Cuba, the Viva Bahia group of Brazil, the Southern Dance Company of Trinidad and the Aruba Ballet Company. Suriname was represented by four different dance groups; the Soekoe Makendra Ballet, a Javanese Dance Group, Djuka fire dancers and a Hindustani group. From French Guiana there was the Group Folklorique and from Guadeloupe there was the Folk Dance Group. Both groups were said to be popular favourites and made numerous appearances, to a large and appreciative audience.
On 15 September 1972 the festival closed with an elaborate ceremony, which lasted for over 45 minutes at the National Park. The crowd exceeded expectations and the seating proved to be wholly inadequate. The large crowd was treated to the renditions of songs by combined Guyanese choirs, dances by the Brazilian groups as well as those of St Lucia, Martinique, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Many of the performances were unscripted as performers spontaneously danced to the thunderous applause of the massive crowd gathered. The presentation made by Guyana was a dance of Indian and African unity performed to the words of Litany, the poem by George Campbell. Following the speeches made by officials and the lowering of the flags of the participating countries approximately 1000 children splendidly attired in their costumes took to the stage to bring the curtains down with the singing of Lord Canary.
‘The Caribbean Festival of Arts is for and about the people of this region; the folk’ who remain the foundation and the driving forces of our collective nations. These are the unsung ones, who remember the solid values, the respect, the honesty and the simplicity.
In August 2008 CARIFESTA returns home and the spectacle, excitement and cultural fanfare that will be staged here for the first time since 1972 will most certainly set a new frontier for those who host the regional art festival in the future.
For 11 days, cultures will merge, crowds will dance, sing, applaud, review and preview as artists from around the region showcase the Caribbean’s distinctive culture under one umbrella, where it all started, Guyana. Welcome home CARIFESTA.
The writer of this article is interested in recording the experiences of those who participated and or attended the events held in Guyana during 1972. Feel free to contact me at lloydkandasammy@yahoo.com to record your stories and memories of this unforgettable spectacle.
