Guest blog : Talent and Nature gave life to first Jazz Festival

Left : Fingersnap - Guy Davies and David McAlmont; Right Down South with Francis Bailey and Mark Hall

by Rae Wiltshire


The curtains came down on the G-Jazz Festival concert -- not literally. The festival was held at the Theatre Guild's Garden Theatre. An event that transpired on December 11-14 2015 . The concert was mosquito free, thanks to three eucalyptus trees. The sky was black, a few stars were twinkling.

"My friends that came loved that they could have laid under the stars and listened to the sweet melodies," Quinton Anthony said. Anthony was one of the many volunteers dressed in blue, who were shuffling around to get things done. "I haven't been to any jazz shows/concerts before, but I must say, that after this; I want to see more. The artists were amazing. They chose the right pieces to perform," Anthony said. 

Vidyaratha Kissoon, was sitting on a red rug, where shoes were not allowed. He was zoned into the musicians, who took centre stage. He was in between conversations with some audience members -- sometimes he asked their opinions on the festival.  I recognised him because of his active social voice. He told me it would have been good to get comments from the young people. A young person told us, she does not like Jazz, and was only there because Paloma asked her to help. I guess Jazz is not for everyone. Many audience members did not agree with her, most of them twice her age. Though I did not ask, I am assuming based on their facial features. The concerts started at 9:00pm. Before that, there were Jazz infusions with different art forms. This included Poetry, Dance and Pan-Jazz. (Also known as Steel Pan with Jazz). The winners of the competitions received monetary prizes. The concert went past midnight. The audience sat and listened. I thought some of the older folks would have left. I was wrong. Some people did shuffle out on the first night. But this was because a stubborn band went over the time, that was allocated to them. The remaining days, things were managed better. 

"I am not sure if it was the music, or the live music in the outdoors, or sitting on the ground listening to the music, or hearing the different stories, the festival was special," Kissoon said. "The festival had all kinds of special moments for me, one thing was having a long conversation at 1:00am with a man who likes to write about death and grave yards and who said his head is not good, while the moon was uncertainly gleaming." Like Kissoon, many artists left an impression on me. Two of them were David McAlmont and his, musical partner Guy Davis. McAlmont sings and Davis plays the piano. He said he sings occasionally.

"You can start off on the piano, you just get your hands, you do this" Davis said, while tapping his hands on his legs. He said he does the exercise for about forty-minutes and he has created melodies by doing it. I found the idiosyncracy interesting. Our conversation then touched on philosophy and and the importance of the G-Jazz Festival. 


"(Jazz) gives me flight, I guess, Yes I mean umm, it is like Courtney Pine, our top British jazz musician, he has all these Kung-Fu films in his studio, and it is because all these Kung-Fu-Films are about some guy, who needs to fight in a certain, so way he goes away to his cave and learns his craft, then comes out and does his thing, with success and with power and Courtney learned circular breathing, from I think those Mongolian men, who does that whistle (imitates whistle) and you go and see a Courtney show and you just recognised that there is a tune at the beginning, and there's a circular breathing thing going on and you fly," McAlmont said. "I heard someone said once -- people who listen to music are self-medicating, when we come to music, it's because we need to recover, to feel better, it's almost like that line in spiderman; with great power comes great responsibility, you are actually seducing your listener." After that, my mind drifted to the Garden theatre. Cool breeze and smiling faces rocking back and forth to Jazz. I wondered how many of them were self-medicating. 

Something that kept popping up was the free inventive nature of Jazz. All the Jazz musicians I spoke with appreciated that characteristic. It reminded me of life, as much as we try to structure our lives, there will always be unforeseen circumstances that calls for improvisation. 

"It is the one you can reinvent because it suggest non-description, non-tagging, not putting a thing in a box, to sit under the umbrella of Jazz which is apart of our music and our music is very wide, we cover pop, soul, classical and jazz, but it all comes under the umbrella of Jazz because it is just freedom" Davis said. "I just think -- I am more connected to myself more than I have ever been through a lot of self-inquiry; it kind of represents what the soul is -- which is to do the indescribable. I became very interested in philosophy where science ends and always gets stuck -- it has to turn to philosophy because it has to inquire in a non-structured way."

McAlmont said, "Before I came I was pushing the imminent return away, now the flowering of the experience is beyond expectation. I started remembering people that I haven't seen in years. Some of them are no longer here, but then some of them are, it is great to be back, it is amazing. We can take this anywhere and to have the reaction we have had last night, it is very special to speak and to have the same feeling anywhere in the world, I will always have that feeling. One of the best things that happen to me was last night, I sang in Guyana."

Davis said, "I think [the festival] is a great concept, It is really required, the local people need it, on a very simple level we will do everything to promote it to the Guyanese community, it is really really important." 

Dr.Paloma Mohamed, the organiser of the festival, said she decided to do the festival for several reasons, raise funds for charity, showcase Guyanese music and musicians, create new music in the genre, test the Eucalyptus Garden as a venue, and give artist a moment to showcase their talent. "I love jazz, I wanted to find a way to support the form," Mohamed said. She had always wanted to do such an event, but the energy was just not there, Mohamed said. After the Queens College 170th anniversary, things began to solidify. She said Herself, Vibert Cambridge, Edun Gadraj and Alfred Granger had begun to discuss ways to raise funds. 

Mohamed said she was satisfied with the quality of the festival. "The proof of the pudding is always in the response of audiences --- people are begging us to do it again, begging for recordings, footage of the shows they may have missed. We have received a large number of notes, emails and calls from people who are genuine in their good comments, suggestions, thanks and encouragement. The benefiting charities are now  reporting on what they have achieved with the sums they made from ticket sales. It was a beautiful event and experience," Mohamed said. "We could have had more support from business and sold some more tickets but it was a test and it achieved all of the objectives."

She continued, "We expect not to have to fight so hard to get it done the next time around. It was meant as a gift to Guyana. We want it to grow and be self sustaining.

 (Contact Rae Wiltshire on mobile tel 626-3139 or mobile 688-1813 or email at japhetalexander1993 (at) gmail (dot) com )