REGIONAL CULTURAL COMMITTEE PAYS TRIBUTE TO LATE ARTISTS

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The flag ceremony with its pomp and fanfare that signaled the start of the 21st Meeting of the CARICOM Regional Cultural Committee in Suriname on Thursday, seguéd into a solemn and sombre minute of silence in honour of several Caribbean cultural icons who died between 2009 and 2010.

The Roll included Jamaica’s Dance Choreographer Rex Nettleford and Playwright, Trevor Rhone; Montserrat’s Mighty Arrow; Trinidad and Tobago’s Musicologist, Pat Bishop; Suriname’s Playwright and Artistic Director Henk Tjon.

Dr Hilary Brown, Programme Manager, Culture and Community Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, who articulated the tribute, noted their sterling contribution as artists and torch bearers for culture in CARICOM.

She eulogized Professor the Hon. Ralston “Rex” Nettleford as one of the Community’s brightest and most prolific intellectuals, and also a highly acclaimed dancer and choreographer, writer, orator, advocate, and founder of the internationally acclaimed National Dance Theatre Company, Jamaica. He died in February 2010.

The Meeting remembered Trevor Rhone who passed away in September, 2009, at the age of 69 as a master playwright. He was known for his co-authorship of the famous Jamaican film, The Harder They Come, and of the play Old Story Time, which has become a classic, studied by students across the region for CXC – CSEC examinations.

The internationally acclaimed Calypsonian, Soca artiste and performer Alphonsus Cassell, affectionately known to the world as “The Mighty Arrow” was saluted as the pioneering artiste who put Soca on the world map with his mega 1983 hit Hot Hot Hot. He died in September, 2010 in Montserrat. According to Dr Brown, his death at the age of 59, left a huge void in the tapestry of Caribbean music and culture and signaled the end of an inspiring half century of sterling contribution to this genre of music.

The late Pat Bishop, who died in August 2011, was lauded as a musicologist, teacher, vocal coach, conductor of choirs, pans and orchestras, artist and accompanist par excellence. Dr Brown said her legacy, through the world famous Lydian singers, would always be treasured and remembered.

Suriname’s Henk Tjon who passed away in September, 2009, at the age of 61 was honoured as the co-founder of the Doe-theatre, founder and artistic director of the National Theatre of Suriname and the Alakondre Dron Music Ensemble. Dr Brown noted that his critical role and influence in the cultural development of Suriname and the region was tremendous. Henk, she stated, was passionate about CARIFESTA and about the cultural integration of the region. He attended and actively participated in every CARIFESTA since its inception in 1972 and served seven times as designer and artistic director of Suriname’s cultural contingent to CARIFESTA, and as Artistic Director of CARIFESTA VIII in Suriname.

“We the Regional Cultural Committee honour them, we thank them for their sterling contributions, for the way in which they taught us to love, understand and appreciate ourselves and our unique identity and to be uncompromising in projecting and interpreting ourselves for the world and for future generations of this great Caribbean civilization,” Dr Brown concluded.

The Regional Cultural Committee – the CARICOM Advisory body on issues related to culture – is meeting in Suriname to discuss a slate of issues including CARIFESTA XI; the Draft Regional Development Strategy and Action Plan for the Cultural Industries; the implementation of the culture provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement; the free movement of artists in the CSME and the ongoing negotiations for a CARICOM-Canada Trade and Development Agreement.