Coil: Music Amid the Discord
The man next to me said that I should listen to the Oh Holy Night by Mariah Carey and the one by Lucianno Pavorotti.
We were talking while another man was singing Oh Holy Night at a Christmas Concert on the day before President Granger met with Bharat Jagdeo.
I followed his advice and listened to both versions while contemplating this Coil and wondering how to write about music without writing about music.
The man is a singer. I got a bit nervous, I had to try hard during the sing along at the Concert because
I am sure that I sing off key. Fortunately though, there was no indication from the man (well no grimaces or so) that I was off key. There was no invitation either to join the man’s excellent singing four man acapella group.
The four man acapella group is reminiscent of this nice picture after the meeting this week between President Granger and Bharat Jagdeo.
It seems to be an official picture. I swear I saw a 42 second video which started with that nice tinkly music with the Department of Public Information logo and which had a glimpse of the two men shaking hands.
The State Media and other official media must have decided not to dare publish the handshake.
The Jagdeo supporters who have been told that the elections were rigged and the salary increases are bad and the benefits to Messrs Jagdeo and Ramotar should have no limit would not have been happy.
The Granger supporters who have been told that Jagdeo is a corrupt criminal and would be heading to jail would not have been happy either.
Maybe the handshake did not happen and the music this week is getting to me.
But the journey to the four man acapella group imagery is warming for the Christmas spirit for those who celebrate.
Look how the body language was in the old days when former President Ramotar met with Mr Granger – the smiles and the almost embrace, you could imagine a waltz.
Like the handshake which has not been recorded for posterity, no one knows if the President had said to the Leader of the Opposition.. Let us join hands and sing ‘Let us Co-operate’ or ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’.. and that was how the four men ended up standing relaxed and smiling like how a quartet would show when they finish their singing.
Christmas brings out a lot of music. Some schools this week probably had Christmas concerts. The Christmas concerts are usually breeding grounds for many singers. The Guyana Secular Humanist Association has written about considering a moment of silence instead of interdenominational prayers in schools. There is no discussion yet about banning Christmas concerts (which would include music which are in effect prayers) . One senior secondary school though cancelled all Christmas socials due to the subversive lighting of squibs since Diwali.
There were rumours on Facebook that instead of musical fanfare to usher in Guyana’s 50th anniversary of its independence….“The planning committee of Guyana’s 50th anniversary wants all cars, buses, trucks, ambulances, police cars, jeeps, fire trucks and ships in our rivers to start sounding their horns and sirens at exactly ONE MINUTE to MIDNIGHT to usher in the year of our 50th anniversary. An official announcement of this plan is expected to be made very soon.”
It seems it was a leaked test of what people would think as there has been silence since about this which will hopefully continue until after the jubilee passes.
Maybe the students at the senior secondary school have been practising for the celebrations. It must be tough for the Ministry of Education – should there be prayers or have a moment of silence? How to get the militant teachers to stop beating children? how to mix noise and music with the 50th Anniversary celebrations to be inclusive?
Ruth Osman’s Rain , inspired by Mahadai Das’s poem “Call me the need for Rain”, was the music which young children danced to at the G-Jazz Festival this week.
Amar Ramessar had also taken the chowtaal written in Guyana by Lal Bihari Sharma in 1916 and created Sakhi Uthi Kar almost a hundred years later.
Guyanese poetry, music , dance across generations do not make the headlines as much as SCANDAL and OUTRAGE inspired by one of the singers in the acapella picture this week at Ministry of the Presidency.
Music this week did not make the news in Guyana. A woman spontaneously gave a standing ovation during Festival of Carols in Brickdam Cathedral after the beautiful Ave Maria played by Eugene and Diego Gonsalves on their guitars. Not many Guyanese perform in groups with the classical guitar.
Another man who performed before Oh Holy Night at the Concert writes his own songs. He does not perform often due to the bad intellectual property regime.
He apologised that the third string was not good. Apparently guitars need caring – the wood can warp and so. But to the untrained ears his songs and music sounded good.
It could be that the sincerity and patriotism of the singer overshadowed any glitches and appealed to those of us who wish that uplifting music was a part of Guyanese life.
It could be that the discord of a bad third string on a guitar is beautiful because of the effort to produce something good as compared to other kinds of discord.
Maybe music will make the big news if the men in the suits in that picture this week ever decide to sing together. Or Maybe, the official informers would make sure we never hear about it.
More music this week (I have heard )
The G- Jazz Festival concludes Sunday 13th December at Eucalyptus Gardens Theatre, (Theatre Guild)
(To be confirmed – 17th December – the Members of Parliament may or may not be singing after their session – this is not related to how the Ganja legislation goes )
Friday 18th December , 7pm – Love and Faith in Sophia will be the venue of a musical event.
Christmas Day, 6pm – I was told that Circle of Love and others will be at the Central Seventh Day Adventist Church, Georgetown
Sunday 27th December, 6pm – Woodside Choir has a concert on Christ Church starting 6pm
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