(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) When the legendary musical maestro Trinidadian Lord Kitchener died in 2000 the Steel band in Trinidad and Tobago was dealt a serious blow from which it has not yet recovered. This view was expressed by Rubadiri Victor in a presentation under the theme “Journeys of Caribbean Imagination” in the continuing symposia series which is being held as a part of the 10th staging of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA).
He said the genius that Lord Kitchener- real name Aldwyn Roberts brought to the calypso art form by specialising in creating music for the Pan and “road march” was not captured during his lifetime and as a result Panaroma, the major steel band competition during Trinidad and Tobago’s annual carnival is suffering. He said too that the genius of the “godfather of Chutney”, Sundar Popo and ‘the mother of dance” Beryl Mc Burnie were not fully captured for future generations.
With specific reference to Trinidad and Tobago where his research project was conducted, Victor informed that a group of cultural activists in that country have made it their mission to undertake research with a view to institutionalising the work of persons of the Golden Age, namely persons age 65 and over.
Mr. Victor said persons such as Kitchener, Popo and Mc Burnie were from the Golden Age and with their work shaped national identity and cultural expression.
“We need to appreciate the work of persons of the Golden Age and their contribution to the way in which our societies have developed. Those persons are passing on. In Trinidad and Tobago every week we can read about icons passing on. In one week we lost Kitchener, Sundar Popo and Beryl Mc Burnie,” he emphasised.
He informed that according to the statistics most of the Golden Age persons would pass by 2010.
“That is a serious date with destiny and we are not documenting their contribution, we are not creating memory banks of their work, we are not archiving. Their work is not on curriculum. If we don’t collect their memory we are going to be in serious trouble,” Mr. Victor said.
He added that the work of the persons of the Golden Age was also important for the way in which society is ordered. He pointed to the much debated “no man’s land” in which many young men in Caribbean societies find themselves with many of them having no artistic outlet. He said the research informs that many of the cultural icons of the Golden Age were men who turned to various art forms in which they developed expertise and which served to mold them into model citizens.
“Today we have a lot of boys between ages 18-25 who have no direction and no outlet. History has shown us that the arts provide an avenue for the release of energy and in the Caribbean we have produced many a genius through the arts,’ said Mr. Victor.
He expressed the view that Caribbean countries need to develop and implement projects to capture the contribution of the Golden Age.
“These Golden agers have the recipe for how we deal with our young men. Look at some of the persons we have created- a person like Bob Marley for instance,” he added.
He said Caribbean nationals of the Golden Age have also made significant contributions on a global scale. He cited the contribution of Golden Agers in Trinidad and Tobago through whose work the country has given the world 300 carnivals worth billions.
“It is however ironic these carnivals are worth 15 billion US Dollars but we as a country get only a very very small percentage of the worth,” he informed. He added that it was important for a society to build upon the legacy and the genius of the Golden Age otherwise the consequences could be dire.
He added that persons who have witnessed the contribution of the Golden Agers to society should consider themselves fortunate. He stressed that it was now imperative that Caribbean governments got involved in setting up the institutions that would preserve the work of these persons for the benefit of present and future generations.
