I had no idea it’s 21 years since Timothy Callender was no longer with Barbados sharing his creativity; this number is a milestone among most folk across the planet as a means of maturity, many great folk in history hit their stride in their 20’s – William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister of Great Britain at the age of 25, Alexander the Great was 25 when Europe was under his rule and at the age of 29 Ayesha Gibson-Gill is directing a quadrilogy of Timothy’s works in respect for what Timothy did for Bajan culture.
I remember Barbados’ first photo comic was The Watchman with singing sensations the Draytons’ Two as both hero and villain in the graphic novel which was a hit in the mid-80’s. When I used to be at Rediffusion, now Starcom, and General Manager Gary Duesbury died, they were giving away his books and among them I found an autographed copy of Timothy Callender’s “How Music Came to The Ainchan People” and they were ready to pelt this in the rubbish bin!
Flash forward to present-day… When I arrived at the Manager’s Office at Frank Collymore Hall to interview both Ayesha and Alison Sealy-Smith on the four act tribute, it suddenly occurred to me as I was about to record the audio – here’s a bit of Starcom history… I was one of the first voices for Yess Ten-Four (now Love FM) 104.1 FM, Alison was one of the first voices for VOB 790 when the radio station used AM and here’s Ayesha now one of the younger Morning Drive Time folk of Starcom – all of us radio leaders at one point or another.
Alison is Executive Producer and Ayesha directs the cast which includes Matthew Murrell, Amanda Cumberbatch, Dy Browne, Jamelia Cobham and Nala among the cast of 14. The show begins Sept 29 and Ayesha looked at some of the stories used for this production which is also a launchpad for the Diasporic Arts Productions that’s spearheading the whole initiative, Ayesha chose four of the stories for adaptation {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-
It’s not all intellectual, there are also romances which explore typical schisms in Bajan society {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-
While accustomed to straddling Barbados and Canada, theatre fund-raising in Barbados neverthelesswas a rude awakening for Alison Sealy-Smith {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-
The Executive Producer eventually discovered not all of Barbados is so culturally dearth in their outlook {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-
Join the Diasporic Arts Productions for their Debut Performance based on TIMOTHY CALLENDER‘s work, “It So Happens.” September 29th to October 3rd. SIX SHOWS. Frank Collymore Hall!
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