Dear Editor,
22:30 hrs, April 30, 2011. I have just returned home from the National Cultural Centre (NCC) – sated by a programme of exciting performances presented at the final sessions of the Guyana Musical Arts Festival, 2011. Yet already I am resigned to asking myself: how could such a satisfactory cultural experience instill such profound dissatisfaction, such utter frustration; and can so contrastingly symbolize a descent into the depth of philistinism which now obtains.
Here was a ‘festival’ of accomplishments which paced each other on the way to excellence; intending to retrieve and represent a more positive image of a contemporary artistic environment, in a society (wantonly) described as ‘civil’; an event which over five days invited children under 12 through to 18 year olds, primary schools and church choirs (and concomitantly parents and extended families) to participate in a public exposition of talents (albeit some less expressive than others), while simultaneously discovering their better selves – and once more to seize opportunity to project an image of one people holistically educated, cultured, spirited, spiritual, and sensitive to the values of which truly productive societies are composed.
Instead the evening at the National Cultural Centre was a palpable reflection of the sterility which defines our collective psyche. The chasmic separation of ‘cultural’ identities – evidenced by the sparse attendance (almost outnumbered by the performers) consisting of 99 per cent of one ostracised ethnic group – an ostracism that was as comprehensive as if it were orchestrated.
The perfunctory patronage of the subject Ministry was conspicuous by the total absence of representation; nor was there any compensatory presence by other government officials, whom in any case the leading opposition outnumbered by just one. Indeed from amongst the listed sponsors only GBTI was visible.
But to whom does one protest when not a single media house was recognisable – not a single public camera visible – to capture an iota of the evening’s performances, possibly because the latter were devoid of optimal violence, and lewdness.
The dereliction spoke volumes about the so-called priorities set for our cultural landscape by the more aggressive ‘promoters’ from the private sector.
There were no jingles from a Digicel, nor e-maginative contributions from a GT&T. The NCC bar remained unopened – neglected by the drinks manufacturers. But then they would have correctly assessed that the occasion did not offer a worthwhile investment, as compared to the inebriation supplied for the physical gyrations of a Mashramani.
The true measurement of such corporate insensibility, of this institutional indifference to the ‘civility’of the society about which we all dissemble, is the standard being set for the overlooked musical children who will grow to mimic the deficiencies they perceive; not to mention those adult performers who would have returned home to nights of unappreciation, palpitating humiliation and depressed self-respect.
Is all that is left us a determination to commit to Chair-man Dewar’s (non-superstitious) optimism that the musical arts will be better positioned in 2013?
Is this the satisfaction which the occasion’s legendary awardees, Elise Arno, Janette Hunte and Lunceford Bowen, must endure until then? How will they and we survive the current emasculation in the ensuing interval? Where and how would our successors locate the records of the Guyana Musical Arts Festival, 2011?
It is quite possible that by 2013 these aging, ageless legends, (and lesser known contemporaries) would have passed from hearing, and that in mourning for them, we may also mourn the loss of a nation’s musical progeny; of a fragmented cross-cultural people; of a crippled destiny of a community who, in profound contradiction, will be unable to match exactly the very arts of their Caribbean (and UNASUR) counterparts whom we artificially embrace, beyond 2013.
Without recordings however no notable legacy will exist. More likely generations of drought.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
