I’m writing this in Toronto a few hours after a concert at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, designed to help raise funds for the Burn Care Unit at our Georgetown Public Hospital. Entitled ‘Caribbean North,’ the event, now in its third year, was organized mainly by Harry and Pam Harakh, two Guyanese living in Toronto, who have been generating funds and training for the Burn Unit at the GPH for several years.
The show, with a $50 admission, featured a roster of Caribbean talent, including MC Bill Newman from Guyana (he also sings calypso as ‘The Crooner’); the very talented pop vocalist George St Kitts, a Mahaica boy; the comedy of Ken Corsbie; the Shak Shak band led by Bajan Roger Gibbs, and a limbo dance troupe. In my section, I closed the show doing some of the well-known Tradewinds songs, accompanied by guitarist Raymond ‘Chinny’ Lee-Own (former Guyana cycle racing champ), Brian Huntley from St Lucia on bass, and Phillip Crighton of St Vincent on drums.
The Richmond Hill Centre provided good acoustics and good audio in a comfortable and well-appointed theatre, and it would seem the show, virtually sold out, has once again succeeded in its cause of helping raise funds for the Georgetown Hospital. I donated my services, as
