The groom and his mother danced to Boyz to Men’s “Mama” while I chose to serenade my daughter, the bride, with the Mighty Sparrow’s tribute to his daughter, “Precious.” The mixed racial crowd of highly professional people cheered wildly not just to my daughter’s beautiful Caribbean dancing style but also to the lyrics of Precious. Some of them were anxious to know who the singer was and how could they obtain a copy of the calypso. How many bought I don’t know, but I do know of at least one sale as the groom’s parents went out of their way to buy their own copy of “Precious.” Now mind you the groom, his family and most of his friends were Americans, but it was a Trinidadian friend of ours who, at the end of the celebrations, chided my wife and me for choosing to “elevate” Sparrow to the level of having his calypso played as the featured song at the wedding. Note the word he used.
Gouyaveman, this incident occurred about three years ago, but I refer to it because it is one more aspect of that larger “context” you spoke about. When I wrote about “How do we determine smartness,” it was indeed focusing on one part of the re-examination of our beliefs and values that we Blacks and particularly Caribbean people hold on to so dearly. And my more recent post on "They do too: All ah we is one" similarly fits into my ongoing re-examination of commonly held assumptions and point of views. Your post on Bush Tea and medicine likewise falls within the same context as you’ve noted, that is re-appraising accepted norms and premises.
My Trinidadian friend is a qualified accountant. Both his son and daughter have attended two of America’s most highly regarded universities to become lawyers. Hearing him converse, you would be convinced that he is truly living up to his claim of being not just a Trinidadian but indeed a “Caribbean man.” Yet he was the one person who took issue with me for choosing Sparrow’s calypso. He felt that I should have chosen a song like “You are a big girl now” by the Stylistics rather than Sparrow’s “Precious” for the occasion since he felt it was more appropriate for the quality of the evening. In short, Sparrow’s calypso did not belong in that setting. Tired of being in too many prior verbal differences with him, I was glad when Dr. Kenny Lewis stepped in to take him on.
Why are we still so reluctant and in some cases unwilling to accept and appreciate what we have produced is beyond me. There are some of us who are still refusing to have steel-band music or calypso or reggae playing at our homes. I recall my Jamaican friend in Canada who would have no other music played in his home and on his piano except the so called classics of Beethoven and Strauss. Entrenched ways and beliefs are so very hard to give up even by those whom you would expect to be more enlightened.
Incidences like those are constant reminders of how far we still have to travel, but there is no doubt that we have come a long, long way. A few weeks ago I attended a church service in recognition of Grenada’s independence, and I was shocked to hear steel-band playing religious music and even the Jamaican pastor joining the congregation as they sang and danced. Maybe I am way behind the times because admittedly I rarely attend church anyway to realize the tremendous changes that have taken place. But I couldn’t help smiling as my mind went back to the once popular calypso “if de priest could play, who is me.”
My good man, if I was there I would have gladly helped Mammie clasp your nose while she shoved the bush medicine down your throat (lol). Our folks couldn’t tell you why bush medicine worked, all they knew was that it worked, pure and simple! I am aliving exhibit that it does. The irony is that many of us so-called worldly Caribbean folks are now pooh-poohing those same natural herbs, but are gladly paying ridiculous prices for them when Walgreen sells them over the counter in the form of chemical pills.
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