By Francis Quamina Farrier
THERE are many traditions of colonial British Guiana (BG) which are still kept. Public concerts by the Guyana Police Force Band are one of them. Growing up in the McDoom Agricola area on the East Bank Demerara gave youngsters like myself of that colonial era the joy of being entertained by the country’s premier musical organisation right within their community. The Band made scheduled annual tours to such places as Agricola, Demerara and New Amsterdam, Berbice. The annual Band concerts by the Militia Band at the Agricola playground, located at the eastern extremities of the village, attracted villagers not only from Agricola itself but also from Meadow Bank and Rahaman’s Park to the north and Peter’s Hall and Providence to the south. Attending those Annual August concerts were many music lovers – and romantic lovers also attended. Those concerts provided the opportunity for “Secret Loves” to become boldly exposed on Saturday evenings in the bright sunlight on the Georgetown seawalls as the Band provided beautiful music to nurture romantic love.

In the musical “The King and I” is the line “Be brave young lovers, and follow your star” and that bravery is regularly displayed out on the Georgetown seawalls and many other locations around Guyana. The Atlantic waves beyond the Georgetown seawalls to the north of the city wash the shores, providing background sounds which enhance the music from the Police Band musical instruments in the Bandstand. It is the right environment for young lovers to keep so close to each other that “Breeze kyan even pass between dem” as some elders would say with a chuckle. It is also safe to say that the cool breeze off the Atlantic Ocean also makes it comfortable for audiences, including citizens who are yet babes, to learn good music as they are cuddled in their mother’s or father’s arms. The adults, including elders 80 years of age and sometimes even older, also attend those Saturday afternoon Band concerts. In the past, citizens enjoyed a quality of life in what could be aptly described as “Guyana’s era of innocence.” No one ever thought or was told to “be careful.” Personal safety was a given in the past, and as the song from the musical “The Fantasticks” states, “Try to remember when Life was slow and oh, so mellow.”

Those many fans of the British Guiana Police Band and the music they played back in those long-gone annual August months attended regularly and enjoyed the wide range of musical selections, from the classics, items from musical shows to jazz, calypso and local Folk music.

In the past, Saturday Afternoon Band concerts in the Georgetown Seawall Bandstand were a family fun afternoon social event, when many of those attending would turn up early to secure the best seats in the house. Many of the older members of the audience took boxes to sit on. Some even took chairs in order to be as comfortable as possible during the one-hour duration musical event. Those military-type concerts included many classical selections from European composers such as Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi. Those classical selections were always played during the first portion of the one-hour programme, after which items from American and English musicals and West Indian and Guyanese music rounded off the concert.

In the case of the popular annual August concerts at Agricola, the large truck which took the members of the Police Band from the band room in Georgetown along the dusty red-brick East Bank Demerara Public Road into the village, was always greeted by a large group of young boys; teens and even pre-teens, who would run alongside and behind the vehicle with shouts of “WELCOME”. There were also some light-hearted jeers at the heavy-set drummer. He was a 300-plus-pound gentleman who always sat at the very back of the vehicle and seemingly absorbed the taunts of the boys with pleasure. They would tell him how they were sorry for the rear wheel over which he sat and bounced up and down as the vehicle slowly made its way to its destination. In hindsight, it seemed as though he really enjoyed those taunts. He would wave and smile as the vehicle slowly made its way along the unpaved, red-brick street to the playground, which was the venue of the open-air August Band Concert.

In those years of the 1950s, not many homes in the city, and certainly in the country areas, had a radio, and the principal means of hearing recorded music was from a juke-box which was played by someone who owned such a music-playing instrument; most times at a business enterprise which sold beverages. At that time, the music was recorded on round black discs, which were played at three speeds on a record player. The speeds were 78, 45 and 33-1/3. The latter records were the smallest in circumference. The 78s were the largest and were fragile and easily broken. However, mention must be made of the Long-Playing records, which were referred to as LPs. They had many ‘cuts’ with songs or tunes recorded on each side of the record. That apart, live music by the BG Militia Band was extremely popular in the country during those pre-independence years, and so the annual August concerts at Agricola were most welcome by the people and attracted extremely large audiences at every performance. However, when women began to join the Police Band, there were strict rules regarding official attire, and that was standard by orders, be it January, December or August, for that matter, as the Band remains a vital element of Guyana’s musical culture.