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 Roots & Culture 'Memba' when old
time folks used to ketch t'ief with a Bible and a key? This glimpse back into our past is a keepsake and we hope you'll hang on to your copy. Keeping our culture alive Our storytellers, musicians, authors, dancers, artists and cultural activists keep the culture alive. Starting on this page and continuing on pages 3, 4, and 6 we've highlighted a few of them. 'Music is everything to me' - Olive Lewin
A SONG emanates from her being as she hums the tune of a well-known folk song. The phone rings, and as she answers the humming becomes softer until it disappears. She smiles at me and answers, "hello". Music has marked the life of Dr. Olive Lewin who has dedicated her self to the research, promotion and preservation of the rich, traditional folk music of Jamaica. She pioneered the beginnings of the Jamaican folk singers, the Jamaica Orchestra for youth and has served as director of Arts and culture in the office of the Prime Minister. In the process she has won adoration, accolades and awards. However, we found out that there is so much more to this gem of culture than folk music. Her pet project is...Vere Violins. This is a group of students being taught to play the violin by Dr. Lewin. She does it voluntarily and thoroughly enjoys it, she says. It's part of her effort to ensure that the legacy and love of music will live on long after she's gone. Music lessons to male prisoners...is another passion. Her eyes light up and she becomes more animated talking about the project. "They have so much energy and talent and nowhere to put it," she says. "They are people and only wish to be treated like humans, even while in prison."
Her commitment to service...is Christ-based. She reckons, however, that God is not necessarily in a church and so does not believe that she has to be in church on Sundays. "Jesus' life was characterized by service, and I believe that is what I should be doing."
Asked to create a song about Jamaica...with only two lines, she smiled and said: "God created a paradise when He created Jamaica. It is beautiful and natural, it is a paradise."
Jamaicans certainly do not...appreciate folk music as much as they should. "We want to disassociate ourselves from our slave past, but what is more embarrassing, being a slave or being a slave owner?" She loves the music of ... Dean Fraser. If I were to choose to be a song, it would be any song done by Dean."
I tell people to notice a tree...and ask them what anchors the tree, she says in explaining her love and view of children. Of course they say the roots. I will then pull out a root and ask them what they see. They'll say a main root and smaller roots. I will tell them to look closer and then they will see the root hairs. The root hairs, I'll say, are the smallest organs of the tree, yet if they don't feed the tree, that great tree will fall. It is not the size of the children, but their ability. It is sad that we're losing...much of who we really are, she says. She begins to tell me stories of Maroons and their brilliant ambush methods. Most of this I was never taught in high school history. Like the Maroons...music is everything to me. Rhythm means everything. - Karen Beale
See Also A Tribute To Miss Lou |
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