Memories of Yore

Recognized this flag?

Vogue in Black Face...

Vogue Paris in Black Face

Monday Oct 12, 2009 – By Sky Obercam

Is this ever going to stop?! Just a few weeks ago, we saw a designer feature models in blackface (more like brown face). Now, French Vogue has decided to join in on the racist, outdated minstrel foolery by showcasing Dutch supermodel Lara Stone in blackface. What is wrong with these people?

We’re also baffled as to what why blackface is so damn appealing to non-black people.

It’s tired, futile, and meant to be highly degrading to people of color. If these individuals value the beauty of our beautiful skin tone, why don’t they feature one of the many of beautiful black models in the world who would love to book a Vogue shoot.

http://clutchmagonline.com/newsgossipinfo/vogue-paris-in-black-face/#2

Guyana Family Fun Day 2009

Brooklyn comes alive with Guyana Family Fun Day

By Allison Skeete

Dr. Juliet Emanuel & Jamela Edoo showcase Guyanese products

Michael Hadaway Image

Brooklyn, NY: Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 – The Guyana Cultural Association wrapped up its Annual Folk Festival on Sunday. The Festival now in its 10th year has become known for it’s preservation and promotion of Guyanese culture and folklore, this year GCA added a summer day camp for children called Heritage Camp; the young people learned what it means to be of Caribbean and Guyanese heritage and participated in the GCA Awards ceremony which heralds the start to this weeks’ folk festival.

This day boasted a decidedly familial and close-knit atmosphere with squeals of surprise and joy from as many adults as children. I often overheard conversations of attendees exclaiming their delight in seeing family, old friends and enjoying the entertainment of Guyanese performers, people stood, sat and chatted of ‘ole times’ and present times as their children met and experienced some of what they did in their childhood days. Many felt that this was the best festival yet, enjoying KWE-KWE night performances by drummers Akoyaw Rudder and Winston ‘Jeggae’ Hopie. Designer Donna Ramsammy-James enjoyed the accolades for her fashions. Accomplished in her work, she is an icon in international fashion; most recently she was mentioned in Vogue Magazine.

Performers like flautist, Keith Waithe brought joy to the crowds; he arrived from London for the folk festival with his newest CD, Gathering Echoes which is a collection of Jazz and Caribbean folk music. The album was introduced at the Ealing Jazz Festival earlier this year. Guyanese who grew up only hearing his music on radio flocked to speak with the entertainer or to take a photograph with him. He graciously took time to respond and accommodate them; “I’m leaving to fly back to London tomorrow, so I want to enjoy this as much as possible,” he said. This has been a great visit and event, he added. (Keith Waithe & Councilman Mathieu Eugene-Michael Hadaway Image)

A fitting tribute performance of Granny Fit was done in honor of the late Monica Chopperfield aka Lady Guymine who passed away earlier this year. Guyana’s Indo-heritage was showcased with a Tassa Drum performance as well as in the lively and colorful youth dance performances. Adding to the fun of the day was Jamaican performer E. Wayne who guest hosted with Rose October-Edun introducing several acts with humor and bantering.

The highlight of the early afternoon came when Terry Gajraj aka Guyana Baboo took to the stage and got the crowd going with lively performances of soca, reggae and Indo tunes; young people flocked toward the stage in rhythm to the beat then went wild with the surprise appearance of the hottest Soca King out of Guyana Adrian Dutchin. Dutchin drove the crowd to a frenzy with his limber and sexy waist and hip gyrations… he took the dance trembling to greater heights inviting four audience members to join him on stage for a chance to ‘wine’ for his latest CD. (Terry Gajrag & Adrian Dutchin on stage - Michael Hadaway Image)

Guyana’s Consulate General, the Honorable Brentol Evans joined Guyana's Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud amid the crowd and displays of products and food from Guyana and vendors here in New York. Other politicians in attendance included Councilman Mathieu Eugene of District 40; Councilman Kendall Stewart of District 45 and candidates running in next week’s local primary elections, Professor Sam Taitt and Dr. Dexter McKenzie.

Guyanese offspring, Singer Deborah Cox to star as Josephine Baker

Deborah Cox to play Josephine Baker on Broadway

Deborah Cox, shown performing at the Los Angeles Pride Festival in West Hollywood, is headed for Broadway to play Paris music hall star Josephine Baker. (Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

CBC News

Tuesday, September 8, 2009: Canadian R&B singer and actress Deborah Cox will play the lead role in a new Broadway-bound musical about Paris music hall star Josephine Baker.

Joey McKneely, choreographer of this year's West Side Story Broadway production, will direct the musical about Baker, an exotic American expatriate and entertainer who became a star in France in the late 1930s.

Video producer and actor Steve Dorff will write the score and longtime lyricist John Bettis will write the lyrics.

Ellen Weston and Mark Hampton will also write the show, producers told the New York Times on Tuesday.

All other details about casting and the location where the musical will be staged have yet be announced.

Cox's last Broadway appearance in 2004 was as the Nubian princess Aida, in a musical by the same name, produced by Elton John and Tim Rice, that was loosely based on the Verdi opera.

Baker was a celebrated singer and dancer known to the French as La Baker, and as the Créole Goddess to anglophones. She was a world-renowned entertainer and one of the first African-American women to be featured in films, such as Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934), Princess Tam-Tam (1935) and Moulin Rouge (1941).

She is also remembered for her contributions to the civil rights movement, and for her assistance in the resistance movement during the Nazi occupation in France.

Tours with Foster this fall

Cox was born in Toronto to parents of Afro-Guyanese descent, and sang from a young age in nightclubs. By the early-1990s she had entered the mainstream music industry and was performing as a backup singer for Céline Dion.

In 1994, she moved to Los Angeles with Lascelles Stephens, her producer, songwriter, partner and future husband.

Cox is best known for her hit R&B and dance singles, Nobody's Supposed to Be Here (1998), We Can't Be Friends (1999), Absolutely Not (2001), Easy as Life (2004), Nobody Cares (2005) and Beautiful U R (2008).

Her albums include One Wish (1998), The Morning After (2002), Ultimate Deborah Cox (2004), Destination Moon (2007), and her latest, The Promise, which came out in 2008 on her own newly founded independent label, Deco Recording Group.

On film, Cox played the role of Niko Rosen in Love Come Down (2000), and Sharon in Blood of a Champion (2005).

This summer, Cox toured the U.S. with American R&B singer Kenny Lattimore, and she is preparing to tour this fall with Victoria-born producer and musician David Foster.

Guyanese is NEW Front Man for Byron Lee's Dragonaires

Primo is the new face of Byron Lee’s Dragonaires

By RON FANFAIR

The band has tweaked its name and is going strong nine months after its heart and soul passed away.

Byron Lee's Dragonaires, formerly Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, performs before sold out crowds in the Caribbean and North America as was evident during this month's Caribana celebrations.

Not much has changed except that family members are now learning how to run the outfit that Lee successfully managed for over five decades.

"There was a perception that things might have been different and the profile of the band would not be what it used to be after Byron died," said vocalist Jomo Primo who has assumed the band's lead singer role after Tobagonian Oscar Benjamin (Oscar B.) took a hiatus.

"Bryon put a structure and blueprint in place for us to follow with the help of his son and wife who are now running the business. Of course, he did things his way when dealing with promoters and that might be a bit different with him no longer here. It's however business as usual and we will put on a good show wherever we go. That's what we were taught and we are going to settle for nothing less."

Primo has come a long way since the veteran bandleader spotted him a decade ago while he was performing with the defunct Guyanese band, Jahrusalem, as the opening act for the then Byron Lee & the Dragonaires at a Labour Day event in New Jersey.

"Byron approached me when I finished performing and asked for my telephone number," recalled Primo who is renowned for his dynamic stage presence and loose and supple waist movement. "I was quite flattered and I gave him my mother's home number in Guyana without thinking much of it. Before I returned to Guyana, my mom called to say that Byron Lee wanted me to touch base with him as soon as possible. I did and, as they say, the rest is history."
Primo debuted with the band at the 2000 Trinidad & Tobago Carnival and two months later became the lead singer when Benjamin took a four-month break to spend some quality time with his new bride.

"The last 10 years has been quite an experience," said Primo, who teamed up with fellow Guyanese-born soca artist, Adrian Dutchin, to form the duet, X2 (times two). "I started off with Leon Coldero and Benjamin, who along with the other band members all played a part in helping me fit into the band.

"But Byron was the one who taught me about the way I should conduct myself in this business and how to make the stage work for the performer. I am a shy person when I am not performing, but when I get on that stage, I break loose in my comfort zone. He also always told me to be honest with myself and always remember that the fans are the most important people at a show. He was also a very shrewd businessman who always maintained that the business came first and music second."

The eldest of 11 children, Primo said he was turned on to music by his grandparents - Albert Primo and Gertrude Giddings - who were accomplished pianists and music teachers.

"I always wanted to be a performer and I used to dream of performing in front of thousands of people," said Primo. "As a young boy, I was fascinated by "oldies" music and as I grew older, I used to get away and peep dance shows. I liked singing and dancing, but interestingly, the first musical instrument I played was the conga drums."

Primo, who started singing and freelancing as a disc jockey at age 14, credits former Mischievous Guys soloist, Delma Lynch, who now resides in New York, with his emergence as a versatile performer. "She told me I had a voice to sing soul and I would have to sing that kind of music if I wanted to be part of the band," said the father of six-year-old Jada Primo who lives with her mother in St. Kitts. "I did that and then she challenged me to sing soca and I did that."

In addition to Mischievous Guys and Jahrusalem, the 33-year-old performer also sang with Sherriff Deputies, Mingles and EC Connections, which he accompanied to Toronto in the summer of 1994.

"That was my first trip outside the Caribbean and I thoroughly enjoyed the four months I spent in this city," he said. "Toronto is one of my favourite places because I usually perform here to people from many ethnic backgrounds. New York is very fast and most of the shows draw people mainly from one Caribbean group while in Miami, you get a wide cross section of Caribbean people. In Toronto, it's different because it's people from the Caribbean and other parts of the world that come out to my shows and I enjoy that."

Being a member of Byron Lee's Dragonaires has provided Primo with extensive travel opportunities, including a memorable tour to China two years ago.

"When we got there, we were told that we would be performing for about 1,500 people in a theatre and that they would normally sit with clasped hands and take in the show as they would normally do," he said. "Before the show, I learned how to say 'good evening', 'stand up' and 'hands in the air'. When the show started, I said these phrases in their own language and you could tell they appreciated it because many of them were soon out of their seats, waving their hands in the air and having a good time.

"We were later told that it was the first time that something like that had happened at the theatre and it just goes to show the power of music. It was an experience that I will never forget."

Nothing could compare, however, with the time in 2001 when a buxom six-foot, 300-pound female fan grabbed Primo from the stage while he was doing a show in the Bahamas, vowing that she was going to take him home, or a few months later when he was showered with women's underwear during the band's first ever Bay Area performance at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco.

At age 18, Primo ceased driving his father's mini bus to become a full-time musician. At the time, Morris Primo told his son he could make more money working his bus than pursuing a singing career.

As it turned out dad was wrong and his boy has gone on to become one of the Caribbean's leading entertainers.

Sourc: http://www.sharenews.com/features/2009/08/19/primo-new-face-byron-lee%E2%80%99s-dragonaires

Eastern Pkwy 2009 Photos from BrooklynBorn

Fyah St. Louis danced as she and others made their way along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn yesterday during the 42d Annual West Indian American Day Parade. (Tina Fineberg/ Associated Press)

http://umbrooklynborn.blogspot.com/2009/09/missed-it-west-indian-day.html
A slide show of photos from yesterday's West Indian American Parade/Carnival 2009.

Check out Roger Gary's KWE-KWE Videos

Drummers Akoyaw & Jeggae move this dancer at Kwe-Kwe night

Come to My KWE-KWE

Brooklyn, NY: Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 - Guyana Cultural Association Presents it's Annual Folk Festival, see last nights' KWE-KWE happening held at the St. Peter Claver School Gym in Brooklyn, NY.

KWE-KWE is the traditional night before a wedding celebration which teaches the bride to be what to expect from her wedding night and the marriage ahead. It brings together the mature women of the families and the villages to teach her what she must and mustn't do... how she should respond and how to make a happy marrige for her and her husband. The groom must also find his bride in the crowd of celebrants, this enforces if he's a good choice, becasue if you can't find the bride how can you marry her???...

KWE-KWE Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB7pcLM_TpY

KWE-KWE Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXFrhJps1LE

Order your official GCA Video, call 718 209 5207 for A TASTE OF KWE KWE 2009 - See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5T9NcH-olw