Perrie K. Allen told “the
story of Christmas in song” in
rendering “Birthday of a King”;
Donna Ash sang “Jingle Bells”;
and Pastor Cornelius Olive, of
Trinity Apostolic Church on
Pacific Street in Brooklyn, sang
“I Wanna Do Thy Will.”
Pastor Olive then teamed
up with three members of his
church – Minister Erva Harold,
Jael O’Garro and Waveney
Depass – in singing “Christmas
is not about Santa.”
Pastor Olive, who wrote that
song, also played the Q-Cord.
Vincentians Naydine Bascombe
and Lafleur Gumbs and
Jamaican Emily Sykes sang an
impromptu “Jingle Bell Rock.”
There were also Doo Wop
entertainment, and presentation
and gift exchange by
UVCGB members, among other
things.
Irish-Morris thanked Pastor
Olive, who also opened the
event with a prayer, and Minister
Harold and “the ladies”
from Trinity Apostolic Church,
who supported UVCGB during
November’s Tea Party.
She also expressed gratitude
to those who traveled with the
group to St. Vincent and the
Grenadines for its medical mission
in July.
In addition, UVCGB gave “a
token of our gratitude” to each
volunteer for their “commitment
to serve with us”, Dr.
Caribbean L 38 ife, JANUARY 10-16, 2020
Irish-Morris said.
“Now, it is a new year, and
we believe that God’s blessing
is on us,” she said. “We are
looking forward to bigger and
better things in 2020.”
During last November’s Tea
Party, a Jamaican national, for
the second successive year, was
crowned the “Miss United Vincie
Cultural Group of Brooklyn.”
Lillian Lettman, a Canarsie,
Brooklyn resident, originally
from St. Catherine in Jamaica,
was adjudged “Best Dressed.”
Lettman edged out Barbadian
Denise Callender (first
runner-up) and another Jamaican
national, Daisey Frith (second
runner-up) to take the top
spot.
The Tea Party also featured,
among others things, models
and renditions by the UVCGB
Band.
Besides the annual Tea
Party, Dr. Irish-Morris, said
UVCGB also raises funds for its
missions by hosting an annual
Cultural Concert. It’s first concert
was in 2003.
“Since we started, we already
spent over US$50,000.00 in
medical supplies,” she said,
adding that, by 2018, all 40
clinics in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines received medical
supplies from the group.
colonial experience.”
Cambridge said Mashramani,
as a national festival, is
an example of “a community
based idea taking root and
blossoming into something
that is organic and nationally
significant.
“This development is to
me as significant as the postemancipation
village movement,
in terms of agency and
efficacy,” he said.
From the first Mashramani,
organized by the Jaycees of
McKenzie and held in McKenzie
(now Linden) in Guyana,
in 1970, to the present, Cambridge
said the festival arts
“have held pride of place in the
festival.”
During Saturday’s night
launch in Brooklyn, GCANY
members masqueraded in
colorful costumes, dancing to
pulsating soca music.
“Over the past 50 years, the
annual Mashramani season
has experienced and overcome
a divisive political discourse,”
Claire Goring, GCANY cultural
director, told Caribbean
Life. “Despite that stressful
discourse, the Mashramani
idea – celebration after a hard/
tough collaborative effort – has
remained alive.
“This jubilee celebration is
moment to reflect, refresh and
replenish,” she added.
GCANY is also celebrating
its 19th anniversary.
Cambridge said Guyana’s
Mashramani season is “an
attractive and increasingly
organic tourism product,” stating
that “the key job is making
the enabling environment
more supportive for participation
in this season and beyond.
It calls for systems alignment.
“For us, Mashramani at 50
calls for a year of celebrations
– a year to recognize and celebrate
our designers and their
supporters who integrate (costumes,
floats, choreography,
animation, music, lights, etc.)
– the festival arts – to realize
imagination and create spectacle
for the delight of spectators,”
he said.
“For us, 2020 is a year to
begin a process to create a
more enabling environment
for Guyanese festival artists,”
he added. “This one that is
rooted in the curriculum of
national art school and engages
an all-of-society approach to
practice.
“We have been working at it
for the past three years,” Cambridge
disclosed. “We called it
the ‘Celebrating the Festival
Arts’ project.”
He said the high point will
be the celebrations of the festival
arts during Folk Festival
2020 and Eastern Parkway.
During 2020 Folk Festival,
Cambridge said each signature
event will be “an opportunity
to isolate and showcase a specific
element of the festival
arts – a light show, and clean
audio mix, costuming.”
“We are very proud to be
part of the efforts to encourage
the preservation and celebration
of masquerade, a quintessential
Guyanese art,” Cambridge
said.
Goring said GCANY appreciated
the support it received
Saturday night from its friends
and supporters, “who came
out to celebrate the launch of
Mashramani@50 with us.”
“It was also a time to update
them about our 2020 Guyana
Folk Festival season, which
will continue to celebrate our
festival arts,” she said.
Continued from Page 37
Members of Trinity Apostolic Church sings “Christmas is not
about Santa” composed by Pastor Olive, on Q-Chord; from
left: Minister Erva Harold, Jael O’Garro and Waveney Depass.
Photo by Nelson A. King
Continued from Page 37
GCANY members don costumes at ceremony. Photo by Nelson A. King
Mashramani
Vincy
culture
Donna Ash sings “Jingle Bells.” Photo by Nelson A. King
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