THE EDITOR, Sir:
THAT JAMAICA needs a cultural renaissance, is a given. Yet, it was for the sheer joy of watching it that I long so much for Ring Ding, the (then JBC) Saturday afternoon programme which was hosted by that truly incomparable, adorable mother of Jamaica, the Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley. Oh how I often bask in the memory of those Saturday afternoons.
With family and friends we would huddle in our small board house in the inner city, our eyes fixed on the "black and white" Robart television. 'Miss Lou' as she is still lovingly called would shout "clap dem" when performers were going on and off stage. And if she was not satisfied with the applause she would ask "wait, is wha kind a fenkeh fenkeh clap dem dat?" At such spirited insistence even we viewers would clap too.
I also remember the Brer Anancy stories. I loved them carelessly. I still so - dissenters, sorry! Then the different dance groups highlighted by Tivoli would put on some splendid performances. My sister in particular would move the furniture out the way to try and copy some of the dancers' moves. But it was the announcement of 'Ring Ding' followed by the joyful, lively singing of 'there's a concert here - everybody there's a concert here...' - by everyone - that set the stage for everything and everyone who was to come.
Even the bless-ed children; who came on stage to sing and recite poems and would evoke my own desperate pleas to my big sister to take me to JBC to perform too.
Then there was the quiet yet loudly efficient pianist Marjorie Whylie whose immutable smile inflamed our hearts with delight. I am not too sure but I think occasionally 'Maas Ran' (the late great Ranny Williams) would make an appearance on the programme. Anyway, indubitably the star performer of the show was 'Miss Lou' herself. I was often inebriated by her energy - how she would dance and sing and lively up the show with jokes and intermittent references to her 'Aunty Roachie'. How she would expose the young to the world and imbue them with a sense of pride in their talents by her love and encouragement and warmth. But soberly I also noted - only as a child could - how she sometimes puffed a trifle from over-exertion. I fretted for her then.
The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley has affected our 2.5 million lives in this country in at least this way: self-appreciation. Arguably she has given us more pride and love of ourselves than any other woman and any other (but for two) man of public repute in this country.
And any effort to educate our people about the life and work of 'Miss Lou' - indeed any effort to re-broadcast programmes like 'Ring Ding' that are endemic to the finer points of our people - would go a far way, I believe, to sustain us despite the social, moral, and cultural depravations of our times.
I am etc.,
DWIGHT E. JOHNSON
Portmore
