“The late Guyanese renaissance man Denis Williams constantly reminded us that people with creative imaginations -artists-had an important role to play in expressing the possibilities of our nation. His phrase was “artists presage their societies”. Like him, I use the term artist in the most inclusive sense, and I too subscribe to the proposition that our artists have an important role to play in defining the futures we prefer for Guyana. Denis Williams’s knowledge of Guyana was much more encompassing than the narrow post-independence vista that currently dominates discourse among Guyanese art home and abroad. Denis’s knowledge permitted him to take the long view. His vision was informed by the archaeology of our Amerindian heritage and the consequences of the interactions of Europe, Africa and Asia in the “land of many waters” over more than three centuries.

Dennis knew from personal experience, that the artist did make a difference in Guyanese society. He also knew how fickle our society was: how quickly we forgot the artist. He was aware that too many of Guyana’s creative minds were forgotten - unsung and unwept - the Billy Moore and Art Broomes syndrome.

I am part of a group of Guyanese who are now dedicating our energies to correcting this situation. We are members of the Guyana Folk Festival group. Part of our mission has been to identify and celebrate Guyanese creative talent. We do this through the Wordsworth McAndrew Awards. Last year, the group recognized 36 Guyanese with these awards, one for each year of independence. Last year’s included: S.R.R. Alsopp, Ron Bobb-Semple, Johnny Braff, Maurice Braithwaite, Negla Brandis, E.R. Burrowes, Pat Cameron, Martin Carter, Bertie Chancel-lor, Megan Chan, Nesbit Chhan-gur, Lynette Dolphin, Francis Quamina Farrier, Robert Fernandes, Terry Gajraj, Roy Geddes, Gary Girdhari, Eddie Grant, Stanley Greaves, Ber-nard Heydorn, Peter Kempadoo, Vivian Lee, Ivor Lynch, Words-worth McAndrew, Dave Martivs, Sister Noel Menezes, Valerie Rodway, Bill “Bhagee” Rogers, Olga Lopes Seales, A.J. Seymour, Raj Kumarie Singh, Shurland “King Fighter” Wilson. In addition, the following organisations also received the Wordsworth Mc Andrew Award: The Atlanta Guyana Association, The Link Show, The Rajkumari Cultural Center amd Dem Two. Thirty-seven persons will be recognised during Guyana Folk Festival 2003 scheduled for August 30 and 31 in Brooklyn, New York.

Starting with this article, I along with Godfrey Chin, Ken Corsbie, Tangerine Clarke and others will be writing a fortnightly column in this newspaper. Our aim is to showcase a Guyanese creative personality whose work has contributed to our sense of identity and has helped to promote Guyana on the international scene. Collectively, these articles will take the long view as pioneered by Denis Williams. We hope the articles will make the point that Guyana’s best years are still to come. Such is the optimism of the Guyanese creative mind”.

Nesbit Chhangur
By Vibert C. Cambridge

Nesbit Chhangur’s song “Guyana Lament” is an important record of the dark times Guyana experienced during the early 1960s. It is also a testament to the healing properties of music. “Guyana Lament” contributed to racial healing.

Nesbit Chhangur, born in the early 1930s, began his musical career at home in Fyrish, Berbice. The Chhangur’s home was a center for Indian culture in the village. His father Russell Chhangur played the sitar and other siblings played harmonium, piano accordion and the fiddle. Nesbit played the dantal. He got his first guitar lesson from Buddy Hector. According to Nesbit, Buddy Hector was an African Guyanese carpenter who played the guitar and was one of the many musicians living in multi-racial Fyrish in the early 1940s.

Nesbit Chhangur has been called “Guyana first singing cowboy” and the “pioneer of country and western music in Guyana.”. His love for country and western music developed as a result of a 78 rpm Bluebird record his father bought from an itinerant English salesman who serviced the expatriate communities that lived on the sugar estates owned and operated by Bookers during the 1940s. The songs on the record were “T is for Texas and T is for Tennessee” and “Blue Yodel.” The performer was Jimmy Rogers. Nesbit Chhangur sharpened his singing skills as a regular performer on the important radio shows produced in New Amsterdam by the legendary Olga Lopes Seales— “Berbice Calling”( a talent show) and “Olga Lopes Sings.”

Besides performing music, Nesbit Chhangur has had a full career as a teacher and as an administrator. He was a history teacher and choir master at the Berbice Educational Institute. In 2002, he received an award from the alumni of the Berbice Educational Institute at a reunion held in Toronto, Canada. He was the first Guyanese to serve as executive director/general secretary of the YMCA in Guyana.

It was at the YMCA complex in Thomas Lands, where British troops were garrisoned, that he composed “Guyana Lament.” The recording of the song and its popularization (it was played up to 24 times per day) were encouraged by Radio Demerara’s Rafiq Khan.

Nesbit Channgur, singer and composer, lives in Ottawa, Canada with his wife Greta. In 2002, Nesbit and Greta celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They have four sons and two daughters. His sons Rohan, Anthony, Brain and Sean are also musicians and accompanied Nesbit on the influential CD You’ll Always Be There. Nesbit Chhangur, a Guyanese cultural hero, received a Wordsworth McAndrew Award at Folk Festival 2002 in Brooklyn, New York.