Mashramani is carnival like in nature. This year’s theme is “Showcasing our Culture, Sustaining Our Heritage.” Customarily, this is a colourful festival and is a combination of costume competitions, float parades, masquerade bands and much dancing and merriment in the streets to the sweet sounds of steel pan along with calypso and soca music. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport continues annually to create and manage the Mashramani celebrations as the largest national event.
Silent Hearer by Marcia Shury | ISBN # 978-1-68118-826-3 | Tate Publishing “Silent Hearer” chronicles the story of Marcia S. Shury as her happy childhood was turned upside down due to the onset of a sudden partial hearing loss. The book details how she rose above the many obstacles and frustrations that she encountered in school, in her career and relationships as she resolved to live a normal life.
You can be happy if you choose to be thankful. Even if your life is not perfect, there are lots of reasons to feel good about something.
My memoir is laced with nostalgia and at the same time it is my sincere intention to portray the true essence of the Guyanese culture without offence. Keep in mind that this is not based on the experience of every Guyanese. This was the way I saw and experienced things back then. The use of colloquialism is of utmost importance; it is the vernacular we understand. It may sound like another language so unless you…
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…
A few weeks ago, people across America celebrated Veterans Day in honors military personnel who served in the United States Armed Forces, but sometimes life after service isn’t easy. That’s where Sharmin Prince comes in. As the program director for veterans services at Volunteers of America-Greater New York, Sharmin is running the Battle Buddy Bridge, a peer-to-peer program that trains veterans to help other veterans deal with a mental health diagnosis. “In basic training, you are…
In a departure from her dramatic roots, Kylie Bunbury stars alongside Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams in upcoming comedy Game Night. Kylie is the daughter of legendary Guyanese-Canadian soccer player, Alex Bunbury. In this exclusive interview with EBONY, Bunbury breaks down her relationship with on-screen hubby, Lamorne Morris, her introduction to the comedy game and why it’s important to show Black women in all of their greatness. Tell me a bit about Game Night’s Michelle &…
Born on January 16, 1982, Thara Natalie Prashad, musically known as Thara, is an American R&B singer/ songwriter/actress of Guyanese Heritage. Her father is Indo-Guyanese and her mother is part Irish and part African-American. While pursuing degrees in biology and acting at Fordham University, the sassy singer gave up her scholarship to pursue a music career. Thara impressed DJ Clue of Desert Storm Label with her audition and was offered a music contract in 2004….
Elizabeth Jaikaran is a New York-based author and lawyer who has published work across a spectrum of print and digital media. She began writing at a very young age and published her first article to Stardust Magazine when she was only eight years old. Elizabeth has since published fiction, nonfiction, comedy, poetry and legal commentary. She is a proud child of Guyanese immigrants, born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Queens. Elizabeth is most…
Award winning London-born saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia makes the cover of Jazzwise Magazine. The September issue features an interview with Nubya, one of the leading forces behind the resurgence of jazz-influenced sounds in the UK. Nubya was born in 1991 in the Camden district of northwest London to a Guyanese mother, Loraine Jansen (Bishops High School alumni); and former civil servant, and a British Trinidadian film maker father. Garcia followed her older siblings to the local…
via www.illinoistimes.com June Wood Agamah moved to Springfield in 1995 with her husband, Dr. Edem Agamah, and their three young daughters. It’s a long way from her Guyana homeland – where she was called Caryl. Edem was born in Ghana. Frequently Americans assume they are from the same country. They were born nearly 4,000 miles and an ocean apart. Guyana is on the northern coast of South America and Ghana on the western coast of…
Proud Guyanese-American and Brooklyn native, Dawnn Lewis, best known for her strong and compassionate character Jaleesa Vinson in the hugely-popular 90s sitcom, A Different World, and for her current co-starring role in the HULU reboot of the Veronica Mars series has returned to Broadway as Zelma Bullock, Tina Turner’s mother in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Dawnn grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn and is excited about returning to Broadway, spending…
Before there was American Idol, there was Pat Cameron, who as host of the influential radio show, `On Show Young Guyana,` helped give recognition to the musical abilities of many young Guyanese. Pat was born on October 3, 1924 to Lilian Gertrude Christiani and Henry Perot Christiani. A Bishop’s High School graduate, she worked in the Guyana Civil Service and was trained as a Social Welfare Officer in Jamaica. She entered the world of broadcasting…
Below, the first female army officers, from left, Brenda Aaron, Clarissa Hukumchand, Hyacinth King and Captain Joan Granger, in their uniforms of green khaki shirts and blouse, green berets, shiny black shoes and shoulder bags at Camp Ayanganna. Reprinted from Guyana Graphic, Tuesday, January 31, 1967 (Winston Oudkerk photo) The four young women are donned military uniforms of green khaki on January 30, 1967 and marched smartly off to begin a course of training as…
On Sept. 9 in a lavish ceremony in Temple Hills, Maryland, Guyanese Ariana Austin married Prince Joel Makonnen who is the great-grandson of Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia. Mr. Makonnen, known as Prince Yoel, is the 35-year-old great-grandson of Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia. Ms. Austin, 33, is of African-American and Guyanese descent; her maternal grandfather was a lord mayor of Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. · Their marriage had been…
You cannot always count on everyone to support your dreams, but having people in your circle who are constantly exuding negative energy can be quite exhausting and discouraging. We all need friends in our corner, even a few cheerleaders, but it should not be at the expense of you following your ambitions. You should walk away from the ones who don’t motivate, inspire or uplift you.