Dave Martins, a legend of Guyanese music, culture, and literature celebrated his 90th birthday last week.
Such is the life-force, the relevance and national importance of Martins’ music to the popular culture and consciousness that it reverberated on the airwaves as well as on the lips and in the memory of the Guyanese population late in 2023 when the nation rallied its people in a patriotic stand against Venezuelan sabre rattling and other forms of recent aggression in its outrageous claim to Guyanese territory. That is because a few of Martins’ most popular songs appeal directly to what the writer himself calls “the love of country”. Guyana immediately remembered “Is We Own” and the immortal hit “Not A Blade of Grass”, which came to be hailed as Guyana’s unofficial second national anthem. Such songs lend themselves to a sense of patriotism and national identity, making up a great part of the reason why the nation celebrates Dave Martins – the prevailing and unstinting power of his contributions to national music and literature.
