Eddy Grant mural welcomes travelers to Guyana
By Tangerine Clarke
A towering image of Guyanese
born, international
superstar, Eddy Grant, on a
“Welcome to Guyana” mural at
the Cheddi Jagan International
Airport, (CJIA) was commissioned
on July 30, in partnership
with the award-winning
performer’s Ice Records, and
Ringbang Production Company.
The 20 X 12 ft. picture of
Grant, holding a flag emblazed
guitar, poised in the arrivals
gangway for travelers to view
as they disembark, is a tribute
to the singer’s contribution to
Guyana’s performing arts.
According to a release, the
management of CJIA is hoping
that passengers interface with
the image and world-beating
music while snapping as many
pictures, as they wish.
Minister of Public Infrastructure,
David Patterson
said, “Guyana owes a debt of
gratitude to Eddy Grant for
his sterling contributions to
this country. He has also been
instrumental in bringing much
needed international recognition
to Guyana through his
many achievements worldwide.
Therefore, it is without a doubt
that I believe that he is worthy
of our acclamation.”
Edmond Montague Grant,
72, who was born on Guyana’s
Caribbean L 16 ife, August 7, 2020
East Coast of Demerara,
a founding member of The
Equals, one of the United Kingdom’s
first racially integrated
pop groups in gratitude to Guyanese
said, “I wish to thank the
people of the most beautiful
country in the natural world,
at this time, for providing a
mirror, for the benefit and use
of all the least fortunate children
of the people of Guyana,
for I am from among them. I
have had the simple privilege of
swimming in our many trenches,
canals, rivers and streams
of every kind. I have climbed
our trees, high and low, to
pick sweet, sour and bitter fruit
and just as in life, fallen from
them after the many stings
of the vast array of Marabuntas
and bees, only to get up
and climb them again, to show
who is boss in Hopetown and
Plaisance, where my ancestors
were enslaved and the coming
together of which villages produced
me.
Grant, who has released 15
studio albums, 13 compilation
albums, and 19 singles, said he
was pleased see any achievement
of “mine as a mere stepping
stone for you, as I expect
that you will vastly overtake
them. You will bring a greater
glory and deeper understanding
of the many spiritual and
material things that the Creator
of all things, has imbued
this precious land with.”
He added, “Know, as your
young inexperienced eyes gaze
up and into this mirror, that
the face you see experiencing
such transcendent pleasure, is
none but your own, regardless
of your tribe.
“I am just the template from
which you will be molded;
Time looks after any and all
other matters, because time
and nature work together in an
unerring perfection, of which,
just like myself, so will you
be.”
A mural of Eddy Grant located at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana.
Michelly Rall
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