Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley would have turned 90 today. Miss Lou, as she was affectionately known, was many things to Jamaica: a folklorist, the first lady of comedy and our linguistic mother. Through her expressive poetry, engaging storytelling and natural good humour, Miss Lou conveyed the passion and vivacity of Jamaicans and their language. In the process, she engrained a sense of identity in a fledgling nation. Three years after her death in Canada, Miss Lou still profoundly epitomises the indigenous Jamaican genius, as has been seen in other areas such as music and sports.

Three of Miss Lou's greatest admirers, Barbara Gloudon, Yasus Afari and Joan Andrea Hutchinson are paying ode to her in commemoration of her 90th birthday. Gloudon looks at her contribution to the performing arts, Yasus Afari examines her social impact and Hutchinson reprises a poem she wrote for Miss Lou in 1998.

Yasus Afari

Miss Lou, the consummate performer

What made Louise Bennett a great artist? It is because she knew the value of preparation and the importance of respecting and pleasing her audience without compromising the high standards she set for herself. She brought to every performance the technical skills learned in her studies and honed by practice.

We remember her mainly for her Jamaican folk characters - the market woman, the hard-working household helper, the village teacher, etc. She took them onstage and brought them alive with laughter mixed with respect, for these were the people of her heritage which she celebrated so passionately. She was able also to infuse characters of William Shakespeare and other playwrights outside of her own culture with the same vitality and authenticity.

Deep involvement

The dialect/Patois/Jamaica speech, which she made famous, came from years of deep involvement in the lives of people like herself, so that when she spoke each word, it was flavoured with knowledge and sincerity. In rehearsal, she was quick to grasp what was required not just for herself, but for the total good of the production. That was what made Louise Bennett the consummate creative talent, a remarkable "Jahmekya ooman".

Miss Lou'ssocial impact

"A Miss Lou a di madda fi Patwah

And a she wudda haffi tell oonu a who a di faadah."

- Yasus Afari

A people without a nation is like a body without a soul. Like faith without works, a nation or an individual without a soul is useless. In this connection, a nation, like a body, is pregnant with unlimited potential, once it has a vibrant soul.

Power of language

The language or tongue of a people shapes their thinking, heritage, culture, character and personality. Hence, these cultural attributes of a people determines their worth, aspirations and their destiny. This is so, as we speak and act in the heart-language in which we think and breathe. In the same breath, language shapes and dictates our thinking. In the Jamaican context, Miss Lou, among others, shaped, legitimised and gave birth to the Jamaican language, affectionately called Patwah.

Accordingly, Miss Lou, by virtue of her sociocultural impact on the Jamaican consciousness, has become the personality and face of the psyco-linguistic mother of the Jamaican language and culture. At a critical time in Jamaica's pre-independence history when the language of the people was vilified and stigmatised and 'the people', by extension, was belittled and dehumanised, their identity and personality were trampled upon by the colonial establishment from within and without. At this crucial juncture, Miss Lou was able to champion the people's cause with the people's own language and cultivated a critical mass of people who brought the Jamaican language to the tipping point of national and international celebration and recognition in just a few decades. Programmes such as Ring Ding, the National Pantomime and institutions such as Miss Lou and Maas Ran and Aunty Roachie along with Jamaican personalities like Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Barbara Gloudon, Bob Marley, Mutabaruka and myself, are products and evidence of Miss Lou's national impact.

Finally and on a personal level, I, like many others, have paid tribute to Miss Lou in my works such as Overstanding Rastafari, Eye Pen and the Jamaican spoken word album Kiss Mi Neck. And as further testament to the psyco-linguistic impact of Miss Lou, let it be remembered that the national crime rate of Jamaica dropped significantly during Miss Lou's celebrations and her farewell visit in 2003. Check the records and the statistics and let it be remembered and the lessons applied.

( l - r ) Gloudon, Hutchinson

Tenky Miss Lou, Tenky

By Joan Andrea Hutchinson

Mi a born Jamaican and mi proud

An yuh fi feel proud too

Fi walk roun an big up yuh chest

An say tanks to Miss Lou.

When she did start, she neva know

A how it would a go

An nuff nuff people wen da laugh

An a call her pappy show.

But she galang strang and stick it out

For she know say she did right

Inna her belly battam she did know one day

Dem would a see di light.

Entime trouble teck wi a Miss Lou wen put

Wi good name pon di map

And wen da push Jamaica heritage

An Laad, she wouldn stop.

She say, "Tek kin teet kibba heart bun"

Wen times neva so sweet

"Good luck will come as long as fowl

A scratch up dungle heap".

Nuff a dem went ink she crazy

An nuff meck up dem face

How Miss Lou a chat dis boogooyagga POatwa

All ova di place.

For dem wen tink patwa was bad English

Dem neva know, poor ting

Dem wouldn tell dem pickney Nancy story

An folk song dem wouldn sing.

But a di jackass wid him long tail

Bag a coco comin dung

An did peel head jankro pon tree top

Jus meck dem head spin rung.

An lickle bi lickle dem start fi back her

Start fi fan her flame

An see deh, after fifty year

Miss Lou - a house hold name.

Now wi nuh shame fi chat wi owna language

An wi dah tank yuh fi it Miss Lou

Dem a teach it clear a university

An ongle sake a you.

Dem a mek flim, dem a write book

Dem a sing whole heap a song

An a say "Oh Patwa is a good language"

But yuh wen know dat all along.

So now wi tan up proud fi be Jamaican

An wi want di whole worl fi hear

Miss Lou, nuff tanks, for Howdy and Tenky

Neva bruck no square.