OVER the last 50 years, the musical culture of Guyana has experienced a serious decline.  Such decline is apparent in all the musical traditions in the country.  The Indian tradition with its Ragas and rich religious music; the African tradition, which is reflected in folk songs and in drumming;  and the Western Classical Tradition with composers such Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin have all but disappeared. Vocal music such as ballads or arias or other songs from the Operas are never heard today, and there have been no local performers for many years. The vocal tradition was once so vibrant that whenever great performers such as Pavarotti were touring South America, they would try to include Georgetown in their itinerary.

In all the primary and secondary schools, singing was done every day with classic songs, primarily British and universal classical hymns.  In the main secondary schools, such as Queen’s College and The Bishop’s High School, music was a school subject, and the Royal College of Music examinations were taken.  When a student reached the Grade VI, he/she was well on the way to developing into an able musician.  Every year a member of the Royal College would visit to hold practicals and would give at least one recital for the public.

Performances by local artistes were staged every weekend and the venues were the Assembly Rooms which stood where the Bank of Guyana now stands.  The Assembly Rooms had a good theatre where plays were often performed, and its concert hall had excellent acoustics.  The other concert hall was the auditorium of the Town Hall, where the acoustics were also good, the floors were polished, and the impressive stairway leading to it was carpeted.  The stage was furnished with a small concert piano and an organ and it accommodated an audience of 400 persons. Performances were usually on the piano and violin and by singers. Artistes such as Lynette Dolphin, Lynette Katchay, Billy Pilgrim, the Loncke family and Rosemary Ramdeholl were among the legends of those times.  Many young persons had their first exposure to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and other classical composers by these concerts.

The Militia Band and the Police Band gave regular performances at the Seawall Bandstand and the Botanic Gardens and their repertoire consisted of semi classical music like Strauss’ waltzes or Delibes’ Sylvia and Pizzicato, the current hit parade top tunes and one or two folk songs.  These bands were a nursery of Guyanese musical talent and many members who emigrated to the USA and Europe were successful musicians in their new countries.
African folk songs and drumming were popular in the villages and resonated on Emancipation Day and during the Christmas Season.  Becoming an expert drummer was an accolade after which many village youth strived to achieve.
Church music was also of high quality. Classical and universal hymns were heard in all churches and the bigger churches and cathedrals had organs while the smaller ones had pianos.  During the Christmas and Easter Seasons, Gregorian chants were heard at St George’s Cathedral and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Brickdam.  All churches had choirs.

The Mandirs and masjids also maintained their Indian musical tradition.  In the Masjids, qasidas were sung, and melodious chanting of the Holy Quran was heard primarily at Juma (Sabbath).  Many mandirs maintained the Raga classical music played on the sitar as well as devotional bhajans from Kabir and Rajrani Mira and others.  Every temple had its own group of amateur musicians whose instruments were usually the sitar, drums like dholak and tablas, tampouras, sarangis (Indian violin) or occasionally even Western violin, flute occasionally replaced by clarinet and harmoniums.  Bhojpuri and chutney music were heard at home celebrations such as weddings and janewas(“christenings”).

Popular music, a great deal of it American, was heard at house parties and on occasions like weddings;  at the big dances organised by the various sports clubs on occasions like Old Year’s Night and Twelfth Night;  and on the regular boat “excursions” where a Transport and Harbours Ferry boat was hired for river cruises.   On all these occasions, live music was played by the small three or four-piece bands for house parties and big orchestras like Washboards, Tom Charles and his Syncopators and Sonny Thomas and his band for the big occasions.
In the 1960s and for a generation thereafter, the musical culture of Guyana was caught in a tailspin of decline and had apparently disappeared by 1990.  The reason for this decline was the massive economic disaster which overwhelmed the country with shortages of the necessities of life and unemployment.  Violent crime grew at an enormous rate and people feared for their lives and property.  The population tried to emigrate to whatever country they could until Guyana was emptied of half its people.  In this situation of social and economic collapse, the musical culture which had existed in the 1950s   became an almost forgotten memory,
In the last decade, Guyana has been steadily making social and economic recovery and political stability is returning.  It is now becoming possible to resuscitate the rich cultural life of the country and this could be achieved if the State authorities, the various NGOs, the churches and other religious bodies and the Private Sector and the Media were to jointly help in this process of the cultural Renaissance of the country.  In such a Renaissance, musical life and culture would be revived.