The Great Bard, William Shakespeare, presumed music to be the food of love and adjured humanity to play on – and the family of mankind took heed: In various forms, in every language on earth, using multiple variations in synchronisations and symmetries and the God-given ability to identify musical patterns by ear, as opposed to the reading of notation, which is supposed to form a key part of a musician’s craft and are usually taught alongside music theory. 

Most aural skills courses train the perception of relative pitch (the ability to determine pitch in an established context) and rhythm. Sight-singing – the ability to sing unfamiliar music without assistance – is generally an important component of aural skills courses. Absolute pitch or perfect pitch describes the ability to recognise a particular audio frequency as a given musical note without any prior reference; and Guyanese have a peculiar musical memory – with the ability to remember melodious and melodic compositions, even improvising and improving original configurations, without ever having taken a single, in most instances, lessons in music theory, vocal training, notation and/or even having the ability to read music – or even read at all; but they let the food of love flow through their veins to enrich their souls, and then they pour it out through vocal renditions and/or musical instruments to uplift the soul of the world.
As Amar Ramessar and an intrepid team of musical artistes have been doing, using acculturated variances to render to Guyanese audiences a blend of music, with thematic confluences of original Indian compositions, Guyanised versions of “Raaghas and Rhythms” that have mesmerized and held enthralled audiences at the Theatre Guild for two consecutive years in what would indisputably become a calendar event in Guyana.
On July 5 last, in two hours of pure enjoyment of exquisitely rendered vocals and a unique combination of musical accompaniment, producers Amar and Rena Ramessar presented to their audience their second production of “Raaghas and Rhythms” – an evening of melodious enchantment in a setting that transported the Theatre Guild to a magical realm of fantasy.
From humble beginnings in 2009, Amar began to create a space for the preservation and elevation of music; a space where borders and limitations were challenged, where the global perspective of every “Din Din Tak” could be heard. Thus, the “Indus Voices” was born; rightfully named after the Indus Valley, the historic birthplace of the Indus Civilisation, from which originated the compositions that so freely flowed and interwove with Guyanese talent of a multiplicity of races and cultural backgrounds peculiarly Guyanese that have held two successive audiences spellbound in the Theatre Guild: and the names of the vocal artistes and musicians, as well as the musical instruments reflected the exquisitely-patterned tapestry of Guyana’s cultural diversity to mystically transport an enthralled audience to the abode of the Gods.
This effort was initially furthered with the weekly production of Sangeet Yatra, a 30 minutes television programme that took the audience through a careful range of emotions that came with the well-crafted composition of Ghazals, Qawali, Sufi, Bollywood and live Kathak performances.
In March 2013, the effortless team work of the “Indus Voices” brought their first production, “Raagas N Rhythms” to the Theatre Guild, where a spectacular showcase and exposition of the most popular semi-classical compositions, Ghazals, Bollywood songs, and Qawali graced the ears of those present – skillfully staged and delivered with a wonderful combination of individual star power and collaborative simplicity. This was the ease with which “Raagas N rhythms” was conveyed, suffused with the energy of youth.
After celebrating a new milestone, the team was afforded another opportunity to create another testing and ultimately satisfying programme on 5th July this year, this time crossing territorial boundaries and a time zone in Saint Laurent, French Guyana.
The invitation put into sharp focus the need for further expansion, and so the “Indus Dance Worqs” was introduced, with dancers from a diverse background in Kathak and folk dances ready to add flavour to the already dynamic group – a feisty ensemble of musicians and singers who presented to their mesmerised audience the melodies of the world through a celebratory mood their product of inherent beauty and melodic rhapsody.
The second production also celebrated the lyrical heritage that our fore parents brought to the shores of Guyana 176 years ago, with the recital of “Sakhi Uthi Kar” – a Chowtal created, among many others, by indentured servant longing for his motherland, Lalbihari Sharma, in a 1916 compilation called “Damra Phaag Bahar”, or Holi Songs of Demerara; and was made popular by Gaiutra Bahadu in her celebrated work ‘Coolie Woman’.  The piece was recorded by Amar Ramessar with subtle differences in style, music and composition.
“Raagas and Rhythms 2” was a musical journey with global influences, which featured the introduction of various percussion instruments from around the world, such as the Cajon, the Dhol, the Tunga Drum and the Djembe.
The Cajon is a six sided, box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru. The Cajon is the most widely used Afro-Peruvian musical instrument since the late 18th century. Enslaved persons of the west and central African origin in the Americas, specifically Peru, are considered to be the source of the cajón drum. Currently, the instrument is common in musical performance throughout some of the Americas and Spain.
The Dhol is a double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Gujarat, Kashmir, Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Sindh and Uttar Pradesh. The range stretches westward as far as eastern Afghanistan. The Punjabi dhol is perhaps best known abroad due to its prominent place in the rhythm of popular Punjabi bhangra music.
The Tunga Drum or the Chinese drum is an early 20th century Barrel shaped drum. Traditionally suspended on a wooden stand and struck with two large sticks.
The Djembe which is originally from West Africa; The Bamana people of Mali hold that their saying Ankedje, anke be, which translates to everyone gather together in peace, serves to give the djembe its name as well as define its purpose. Dje translates to gather, and Be translates to peace.
Musicians were from the Shakti String Orchestra and an ode to the Lord who clear all obstacles in one’s undertakings and life preceded the evening’s fare with a soul-stirring rendition of a “Ganesh Vandana”, followed consecutively by “Oh Rangrez. Tere naina bade qatil, Jab se tere naina, Mast magan, Tum hi ho, Mitwa, Eternal Magic – A tribute to the legends, A medley of Classics (Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar), Albelinaar (Manna Dey), Kiya hai pyaar (Jagjit&Chitra Singh), Dair-o-Haram(Jagjit Singh), “Sufimystical” – a Qawali medley  combining elements of soft rock and filmy qawali (Qawali is the best-known form of Sufi music, which is inspired by the works of sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.)

After a short intermission the magical journey of melody continued with A. R. Rahamania (“Music is language itself.  It should not have any barriers of caste, creed, language or anything.  Music is one, only cultures are different.  Music is the language of languages.  It is the ultimate mother of languages.”-A.R Rahman), Azeem-O-Shah_Shahenshah  (The Mughal leadership of India during the late 15th, early 16th century under Jalalluddin Akbar had some notable developments one of which was forging cultural and religious cohesion which resulted in forming ‘Din-i-llahi’ meaning ‘religion of God’ which promoted tolerance of other faiths and prohibits lust, sensuality, slander and pride, considering them sins),Tere Bina, a delicious rendition of the eternal classic – Mann Mohini, Kun Faya Kun(‘Be! And it is.’ easily one of A.R Rahman’s finest sufi works. ”KUN” is an Arabic word referring to the act of manifesting, existing or being.  The beauty of this song is not just the words or the music but in the complete conceptualisation), Folk Galore – a collection of folk music from across India (As a result of India’s vast cultural diversity, folk music tradition is very rich, which creates endless variety of styles and the style of each region constitutes an indispensable component of functions such as weddings, engagements and births.  Also, there is a plethora of songs for such occasions and many are associated with planting and harvesting where villagers routinely sing of their hopes, fears and aspirations.)

Artistes whose talent created a symbiotic magical journey for their captivated audience were singers: Producer and Director Amar Ramessar, Suraj Narayan, Ian Hardat, Sagar Patil, Hubert Mellville, Seema Budhram, Sonie Gobin,  Arisha Pooran, Yogeeta Budhram; and musicians: Vishal Khelawan, Avinash Roopchand, Nigel Lynch, Francis Bailey, Darshan Ramdeen, Ian Gonsalves, and David Astwood.

May the drummers of the Food of Love supersede the drummers of war beating across the globe, so that the family of man is transported to the world of love and not the realm of hate that is tragically destroying the world and its children.