Monica Chopperfield, aka Lady Guymine (1932-2009) was a Guyanese calypso and cultural phenomenon. Popularly known for her hit calypso “Granny Fit” (which you can watch her singing in the clip below), she was born on July 31, 1932, in Berbice, Guyana and would grow to become “an important 20th century calypsonian.” Her performing career started in a show produced by Zelda Martindale at the roofless Olympic Cinema on Lombard Street and she went on to…
Guyanese Girl
MASHRAMANI, often referred to as “Mash”, is the equivalent of Guyana’s Carnival and is an annual festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a sovereign Republic on 23 February 1970. The first Mashramani festival was celebrated on Feb 23rd, 1970 in the mining town of Linden and has since become a major national annual event . There are spectacular costume competitions, float parades, masquerade bands, and dancing in the streets to the accompaniment of steel band music…
Ms. Valerie Rodway (1919-1970) was a teacher and Guyanese composer. She is best known for her national songs, which include, “O Beautiful Guyana,” “Kanaïma,” “Hymn for Guyana’s Children,” “Arise, Guyana,” and “Guyana the Free. She also put to music the famed Guyanese independence poem by Martin Carter, “Let Freedom Awaken.” Ms. Rodway was a member of one of those families whose contributions to Guyana are still evident. Her father, Newton Berthier Fraser was born in…
Born on November, 26 1930 in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Viola Victorine Burnham was the youngest of eight children of schoolmaster James Nathaniel Harper and his wife Mary (née Chin). Viola attended the All Saints Scots School from which she won a Government County Scholarship to the Berbice High School. After her father’s death the family decided to move to Georgetown where she entered Smith’s Church Congregational School. There she won a Government County Scholarship to …
“A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …. enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own even if she never wants to or needs to… A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …. something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour… A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE … a youth she’s content to leave behind…. A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE …. a past juicy enough that…
Born in Guyana in January 1923, Patricia Gomes has purposefully dedicated more than half of her life to theatre and along the way has been quite accomplished in other areas. She has, as they say, “done it all” – from stage plays to storytelling to dancing her life away, much to the enjoyment of the audiences she thrilled. In 2010, Ms. Gomes was named by “Special Person” by Kaieteur News, and in an interview…
One year after Whitney Houston’s death (2/11/12), Madame Tussauds Museum unveiled Four New Wax Figures in her honor. While all four were made in the London studio, they will be spread throughout the United States. Washington D.C. will display the National Anthem statue; Vegas will own the “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Los Angeles will showcase “The Bodyguard.” Last Thursday, New York City received one of Whitney’s last looks—a gold gown from a 2009…
The daughter of Guyanese immigrants, Justice Juanita Westmoreland-Traore is the first Black Dean appointed to a law school (University of Windsor Faculty of Law) in Canada’s history, and the first Black Judge appointed to the Bench in history of Quebec. Judge Westmoreland-Traoré, was born on March 10, 1942 in Verdun, now part of Montreal, Quebec. She studied at Marianopolis College, and subsequently obtatined a law degree from the Université de Montréal (1966) and a doctorate…
If your friend was cheating on their spouse, do you think you should tell their partner? .