Music Festival 2009
‘Those who made merry were thought to be quite crazy by those who could not hear the music’.

This came pretty close to home last week when Music Fesitval 2009 unfolded at the National Cultural Centre and the Bishops’ High School, before very select audiences.

At the Festival performances by mixed voices choirs, tenor soloists, mezzo soprano soloists, duet ladies’ voices and duet men’s voices, there was a genuine interest among those in attendance.

The Music Festival, which ended yesterday , saw a full five days of musical expositions, with varying competence, but with always a marked fervor among performers.

After the opening of the Festival on Tuesday, the following three days featured performances held in the Oswald Parry Hall of The Bishops’ High School which culminated with a closing ceremony at the National Cultural Centre.

The first Guayana Music Festival was staged in 1952.

Since then it was held bi-annually until 1979 and was managed by a committee with support from public and private sector organisations.

Similarly this year the Festival saw the sectors’ support as well as the patronage of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, in addition to the assistance by the Guyana Music Teachers’ Association (GMTA) and the Woodside Choirs International.

Mrs. Magda Pollard, part of the Woodside Choir, said that the Music Festival was an integral part of Guyana’s history and highlighted the fact that the Woodside Choir, then The Bishops’ High School Old Students Choir, performed at the first ever Music Festival.

On the 40th anniversary of the Woodside Choir in 1995, they resuscitated the Guyana Music Festival and these efforts were followed by supportive gestures by other groups who recognised the importance of the cultural event.

One of the performers in this year’s Festival, Mr. David Dewar, agreed that more and more the importance of the Festival is being recognised as “the Festival had received a good response from the public.”

He added that the continuance of the Festival is imperative as the echoes of such a happening reverberate throughout the country and cause generally the musical standard of the country to be raised.

“It not just a Music Festival, it is something that multiplies itself across the country,” Dewar said.

The youngest performers in the Festival, teenagers Ms. Abedminanad Seaforth and Ms. Ernesta Nelson, who also won the duet ladies’ voices segment, reiterated Dewar’s position.

The girls noted that their involvement in the Festival was a means to challenge others to get involved in something special.

They pointed out that from an early age they participated in several music competitions including calypso competitions, as they pursued their love for music.

In recognising the contributions and the significance of the Music festival, these teen girls have tasked themselves with the undertaking to incite a passion in youths to get involved in music so they too can “make merry.”

The Festival is open to Guyanese at home and in the Diaspora, as well as to other Caribbean persons who sing and/or play a music instrument.

The Festival this year was coordinated by the Guyana Music Festival Committee, headed by David Dewar, in collaboration with the Guyana Music Teachers’ Association (GMTA), Woodside Choirs International, MS, and Pastor Errol Insanally, President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana, and under the patronage of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony.

The Guyana Music Festival has a long history and its first edition was held in 1952. Since then it was held bi-annually until 1979 and was managed by a Committee with support from both public and private sector.

On the occasion of their 40th Anniversary celebrations in 1992, the Woodside Choirs M.S. resuscitated the Guyana Music Festival with sponsorship from the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI). The GBTI was also the main sponsor of the two festivals held in 1994 and 1996.

In 2005, in an effort to revive this important cultural event, the Lutheran Church of Tulsa through their Partners Programme, led by Dr. Erv Janssen, collaborated with the Committee of the Guyana Music Festival and the Guyana Music Teachers’ Association. The Lutheran Church which had been sending musicians to train members of the Lutheran Church across Guyana, especially in Berbice, during the summer months, offered assistance in music training. The Guyana Music Festival was considered an important vehicle to the development of music which could be supported through this project.

The Guyana Music Festival 2009 was subsequently launched on 17 October 2007 at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown, with guest performances from the designated Adjudicator Mr. Don Ryan and Mr. Greg Lynch, violinist from Tulsa, and performances from local artistes. According to Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, the Festival has been neglected despite the fact that since its inauguration in 1952, the Festival has benefited many Guyanese. He made reference to the many contributions of Guyanese and Caribbean artistes to various music styles such as soca, calypso, shanto and reggae. Recognizing the need to strengthen the area of music through the hosting of the Guyana Music Festival, he has pledged his support for the continuing resuscitation of this event.