Wordsworth McAndrew Awards 2003

GUYANA FOLK FESTIVAL 2003 paid tribute to that year’s winners of the Wordsworth McAndrew Award - 37 stalwarts, one to represent each year of Guyana’s independence. Representing Guyanese individuals and institutions, the awardees have made outstanding contributions to Guyana’s culture and heritage. The major themes for 2003 were music, radio and the recording arts, which are exemplified by the majority of the recipients. Also selected were representatives from the performing arts, the visual arts, and the literary arts. The honorees follow in the footsteps of 2002's 36 awardees. They come from close to 500 names generated by a panel of Guyanese residing across the Guyanese diaspora. Winners all, they make us proud to be Guyanese!

Wordsworth McAndrew is one of Guyana's leading folklorists, poets, and creative artists. Through his work as a broadcaster in Guyana during the 1960s and 1970s, he helped to make Guyanese proud of their mythological and folkloric heritage. He is a pioneer.

McAndrew's work transcend race, class, and geographic region in Guyana. His poems such as "Ole Higue" have inspired Guyanese youth for generations. Through his work, he has inspired a generation of scholars. He will always be remembered for his study and celebration of Guyanese language and culture.

RUDY BISHOP: Leader of the influential Chronicle Atlantic Symphony Steel Orchestra.

ART BROOMES: Guyana’s jazz legend who died recently. A fantastic drummer, Art had a soft voice and gentle manner. He held court at The Green Shrimp and performed with the likes of Harry Whittaker, Tom Charles and the Syncopators, Keith Proctor, Hugh Sam and others. In the twilight of his career, he was a drum instructor in the Guyana Defense Force.

DAVID CAMPBELL: One of our outstanding and original folk singers. Inspired by the history and traditions of his Arawak people in Guyana, his songs are topics of concern to native people from Guyana to Canada, where he is still active.

TOM CHARLES & THE SYNCOPATORS: Very popular and influential band leader and musical experimenter. He created the Guyana Bhoom. He helped to launch the careers of King Fighter, Annie Haynes, and Monica Chopperfield (Lady Guymine).

IVAN CRITCHLOW: One of the last authentic Congo/Cumfa drummers in Guyana.

MAHADAI DAS: Poet and artist. Like Martin Carter, she was a resistance poet. Passed away this year in Barbados.

DENNIS DeSOUZA: Popular pianist and recording artiste, a recipient of the 1998 Sunshine Award, giving him recognition for his contribution as a renowned Caribbean artiste. With over 15 albums to his credit, his work has been embraced by audiences the world over.

DES GLASFORD & COMBO 7: Leader of the popular Combo 7 string band in Guyana, Des Glasford was a trendsetter, drummer and bandleader.

GUYANA MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOC. This group has had a presence in Guyana since 1846. The formal association is probably 55 years old.

GUYANA POLICE MALE VOICE CHOIR: Had its origins as a singing group organized by the late Rev. James A. Phoenix in 1944, first appearing on Christmas Eve. They developed a repertoire of celebrated Guyanese folk music and toured the world as Guyana’s cultural ambassadors.

AYUBE HAMID: A pioneer in popularizing Indian music and steelband music in Guyana. The theme song for his program Indian Melody Hour was Sahani Raat which is an icon in Guyanese musical consciousness.

ANNIE HAYNES: A songbird who recorded with Ray Seales.

HILTON HEMMERDING: Educator and composer, he was an influential musician in the post-independence era. He was a part of the important EMMEL Singers. His song Oh Guyana is a Guyanese classic.

RAMJOHN HOLDER: UK based folklorist, folksinger and actor. Recorder of an important collection of Guyanese folk songs. He was very popular as Pork Pie in the British sitcom Desmonds.

LORIS HOLLAND: New York based Guyanese Emmy winning musical producer.

RAFIQ KHAN: Broadcaster and Media Manager. As General Manager of Radio Demerara, he commissioned Nesbit Chhangur’s Guyana Lament and Francis’s Farrier Tide of Susanburg.

LADY GUYMINE: (Monica Chopperfield): Lady Monica – Balladeer and calypsonian of exceptional talent spanning decades of participation.

LORD CANARY: (Malcolm Corrica) Calypsonian, he has won three national contests. He has a substantial body of work and performed at tents in Trinidad. He was once a Government minister as Coordinator of Cultural Affairs and member of parliament He has a sweet voice hence his sobriquet Lord Canary.

VESTA LOWE: Has made a major contribution to the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of Guyanese folk music.

IAN McDONALD: Corporate executive, poet, novelist and renaissance man. Cultural critic for decades. Our adoptive native son and a tireless editor. Took over Kyk-Over-All from A.J. Seymour.

BILLY MOORE: (William Moore) was a vocalist, musician and composer who died last year. He had been one of the lead vocalists in the male group ‘The Four Lords’ who recorded the Guyanese Christmas classic Happy Holiday. He also recorded other songs as a solo artiste.

CLEMENT E. NICHOLS: Guyana’s premier composer of military music. His Dear Demerara composed in 1929 was part of the repertoire of CASBO in the 1980’s.

PHILLIP NICHOLS: A musician who has his own drawing room studio in Brooklyn. He arranges, plays and records most Guyanese musicians who come to New York. A talented keyboard musician, he owns one of the popular music studios in Brooklyn and produces for Caribbean performers.

TONY PHILLIPS: An artist carrying on the diaspora work in Australia. His drawings and 3D model of Georgetown of the 60’s are priceless nostalgia.

ROLAND PHILLIPS: An outstanding lyricist about the beauty of the hinterland of Guyana. He passed on last year.

EDITH PIETERS: She has always taken music education to the people. Created the National Youth bands (Orchestra, String Band, and Steelband).

BILLY PILGRIM: Educator, composer, cultural administrator, and folklorist. Among his compositions is Salute to Guyana, one of the national songs. His work on the preservation of Masquerade is very important.

MASSE LALL POLLARD: Sitarist and pioneer in the fusion of Afro and Indi music in Guyana.

BASIL RODRIGUES: Prolific songwriter, retired Headmaster and Regional Education Officer who was recently honoured by Pope John Paul ll for his work in the Church in Guyana’s hinterland.

HUGH SAM: One of Guyana’s most prolific composers; classical/jazz pianist/musician. His background spans the spectrum of styles including jazz with the legendary Harry Whittaker, arranging a film score for the Invaders steelband, and releasing several CDs of Guyanese folk and patriotic music (he calls them “concertinos”).

AL SEALES: Influential band leader and record producer. His recording company was one of the earliest in the Caribbean. The Mighty Sparrow’s first recording was done on Al Seales’ label.

BING SERRAO & THE RAMBLERS: Pioneering string band, the Ramblers have been performing for audiences in Guyana and North America for over 50 years. Recipients of the Culture and Heritage Award, Guyana Independence Celebrations 2003, Toronto. Many Guyanese fondly remember their composition Three in One Saga and signature tune Spanish Eyes.

GEORGE SIMMONS & THE RYTHMAIRES: Like the Ramblers, pioneers in Guyanese string band music. Bursting on the scene in the mid 50’s, the fabulous Rhythmaires possessed the musical alchemy that produced hits like the haunting Sahani Raat and wistful Moon River.

TREV SUE-A-QUAN: An outstanding and unselfish historian. A North American based scientist, he has published the important history The Cane Reapers, on Chinese indentureship in British Guiana.

TASSA EXPLOSION: A well-known talented family group known throughout Guyana and the Caribbean for their exceptional tassa drumming ability. Performed at Guyana Folk Festival 2002 in New York and was an exciting part of the fusion with African drummers at an earlier event.

NADIRA & INDRANIE SHAW: For 20 years, they have returned to Guyana with different Indian dance shows. The two sisters team up for this unique unbroken run of cultural displays.

KEITH WAITHE: With Masse Lall Pollard, an early experimenter with Afro-Indi musical fusion. His influence is both national and international