A tribute to music icons (Kitchener)

A tribute to music icons (Kitchener)
Trinidad Express, Wayne Bowman, wbowman@trinidadexpress.com, Friday, October 3rd ,2008

For students, especially those exploring art forms of the Caribbean, and for the public at large, a visit to the Central Bank between now and October 31 will prove beneficial and wondrous.

The Central Bank, in collaboration with the Bank of Jamaica, on September 26 opened an exhibition simply entitled, Caribbean Music Pioneers Exhibition, celebrating the lives and works of local icons Kitchener, Ras Shorty I, Sundar Popo and JD Elder as well as Jamaican legend Bob Marley.

The impressively laid out exhibition features a mix of art, photographs, newspaper collages, video and audio clips along with memorabilia including books, instruments and album covers.

Guests at the opening ceremony, which included family members of the respective icons, enjoyed having their photographs taken with life-sized photographic cutouts as they slowly walked through the series of displays reminiscing on the days when these great men walked the earth.

The financial institutions decided to join forces to produce the exhibition because these men have, through their genius and artistry, enriched the lives of the Caribbean people and, in doing so, put their own countries on the world map.

The Central Bank is confident that this exhibition will serve to educate the public and deepen the people's appreciation for the works of these five men who have enriched the region's cultural heritage.

Providing concise biographies on each of the artistes at the launch was cultural researcher Prof Gordon Rohlehr, who also underscored the importance of noting that each of the honourees came up from humble beginnings and conquered adversity as they journeyed towards greatness.

Punctuating the speeches were musical interludes comprising performances in tribute to the honourees. First up was Kernel Roberts, son of Kitchener who passed away in February of 2000.

Roberts performed the timeless "Sugar Bum Bum," seeming to morph into his father as he sang, much to the delight of the audience that included a number of cultural elders such as calypsonians Bomber, Baron and Brother Resistance as well as master artist Leroi Clarke.

The Black Stalin remembered his deceased best friend, Sundar Popo, as he performed "Sundar", a calypso Stalin composed in tribute to the man hailed as the father of chutney music, who also died in 2000.

The Love Circle, led on this evening by Isaac Blackman, performed two songs in memory of Ras Shorty I, another cultural great who passed on in that year. Eldon Blackman opened the short set with "Push The Creator Out," which was followed by "Watch Out My Children", sung by Isaac Blackman.

As for the music of Bob Marley, following the official opening of the exhibition, the band, under the direction of Michael Nysus, performed some of his songs while the guests viewed the exhibition and enjoyed refreshments. Although not a performing musician, JD Elder dedicated his life to the preservation and promotion of local culture, especially folk music. His contributions continue to be remembered through the annual staging of the Tobago Heritage Festival.