It is All Well And Good;

11 May, 2006 - Published 15:40 GMT

West Indian anthem

A new West Indian anthem was played for the first time on Wednesday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain at the start of the pre-World Cup friendly between the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors and Peru.

Composer Ernie Ross, a Trinidad-based, Guyana-born advertising executive Ernie Ross , says it comes out of a need to establish a West Indian identity beyond cricket.

Mr Ross is also Trinidad and Tobago's Honorary Consul to Guyana.

"The West Indian identity has always largely been defined by cricket, but cricket has only been one - or perhaps the best known - expression of this identity", he told BBC Caribbean radio.

"In fact, it's quite ironic that at next year's Cricket World Cup to be hosted by the West Indies, all the other nations would have been playing their individual national anthems and hoisting their national flags, except for the West Indies.

It's against this background that the idea for a West Indian anthem came about."

The lyrics

We are united through struggles and triumphs of history.
We are the children of proud generations that yearned to be free
Rainbows of a people resilient and strong
We have created a home where we belong
The greatness of small treasures unearthed
A paradise land where cultures converge
to make West Indian nations colourful and proud
Our West Indian nations always shining
As one under God

(Music composed by Anil Hardithsingh, lyrics by Ernie Ross and Anil Hardithsingh)

A regional refrain

Ernie Ross says copies of the composition will be sent around the region and each country and territory will be allowed to give it their own interpretation according to their heritage,"without altering the fundamentals of the work", he stresses.

"One of the requirements is that the music be played on the steel-pan, regarded as the common instrument of the Caribbean"

Ernie Ross explains that he had approached Guyana's president Bharrat Jagdeo with the composition, who then presented it to regional leaders at a Caricom summit this past February in Port of Spain, where it got the nod.

No contest

On why the West Indian anthem was not open to more public involvement Mr Ross says, "it would always be difficult to get a unanimous decision on a composition of a piece of music or a flag that would define the West Indies - the very nature of our development would suggest that."

He also feels that putting it out to competition "would have probably resulted in a hybrid of reggae, pan, zouk and soca.

At the end of the day an anthem is a classical composition which can be rendered in any number of ways."

The bigger issue, he declares, was to address the need for a formal expression of the West Indian identity.

According to the anthem's co-composer, "if the answer is yes, then hopefully, what we have created here is a vehicle through which people can participate in that expression of West Indian identity and feel proud about it."

Already one sports organisation, the Caribbean Football Union, has adopted it as their anthem.

So what do you think about the new West Indian anthem? Let us know.
Email your comments to caribbean@bbc.co.uk.
Or simply click on the 'contact us' button.
The full version of the West Indian Anthem can now be heard in BBC Caribbean Magazine on this site.

C.U.F Book Club       Report

Email: CUFBookClub@hotmail.com

  Book Drive: Books, Books, Books and more Books

Activity:  June 26, 2005, 2:00 p.m.

Kuwassi Hutchinson, President, and Owusu Young, Secretary went to the Storage Space at 555 Tretheway Drive, Toronto, Ontario M6M 4B8, Tel: 416-247-4294 Fax: 416-247-0739.

After collecting an empty barrel we took the barrel at the storage and filled it with books.  Books to be shipped to needy children in the Caribbean countries school libraries, Haiti is special, due to its history and most recent damage done by hurricanes, and now the over through of the elected government, that plunged the country into civil unrest.

C.U.F. Book Club continues its appeal for more books to be donated so that we can send more and more books to other children in need of knowledge and other communication skills in the Caribbean. French language books are important to CUF.Inc book drive.

We also need members to contribute empty barrels to ship more books to other Caribbean States, before year-end.

Shortly after we packed the barrel at the storage space, we received another offer of over one hundred books to be packed up June 28/2005 and kept in storage prior to being shipped.

Let’s make our donation of books to Caribbean CARICOM countries a priority.

O. Younge

Secretary, C.U.F. Inc. 

Caribbean Unity Foundation Inc.

Pleased, consider those that are not fortunate to own books. Your contribution in every way is possible to meet the needs of children.

Maroons vow to protect lands

Jamaica's maroon community's not buying the argument that they would benefit significantly from bauxite mining in their jungle territory.

The maroons say they'll fight any plans for bauxite mining in the rugged region where they live.

The descendants of African slaves freed by the Spanish when they were ousted by the British in the 17th century, the maroons have vowed to preserve their Cockpit country area in the face of moves to prospect for bauxite there.

Peddie's stand

Maroon leader Sydney Peddie told BBC Caribbean they refuse to be sold on the argument that mining there will benefit them and the country.

"That is a widely held view that we would be benefiting, but we regard the Cockpit country as our home and that's where we live at the moment so we are not interested in getting development from that source".

Sydney Peddie points to other parts of Jamaica he says were destroyed by bauxite exploration, and argues that the rugged and mountainous part of north western Jamaica where the maroons have lived for centuries have historical, cultural and environmental significance that can't be ignored.

"We will be joining forces with all the influential people to thwart this issue. It will not happen or else there will be war", he said, sending what he considered a clear message to the authorities.

War talk

Mr Preddie said opening up the territory to mining interests would breach a 1739 treaty that the maroons signed with the British, under which the freed slaves got about 10,000 hectares.

But he admitted that his talk of war was more figurative than literal.

"It may not lead to guns, but still we have to call it a war. We intend to fight that issue right until the government in Jamaica leave off that issue because we won't be joining up with them or discussing with them the issue of this mining", the maroon leader said.

He did not rule out taking the matter to court, and said the maroons were prepared to go as far as the United Nations to make their case, "because we cannot afford to let them destroy us like that".

A maroon's haven

Cockpit Country is a special place for Maroons, and they regard it almost as sovereign territory.

It's where the first freed slaves made their home, and they successfully fought off invasions by British forces before making peace with them.

The Jamaica government has already backed away from offering licenses for bauxite mining in the area after protests from environmentalists.

Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke said the government would review scientific data presented by both sides and decide this month whether to grant a mining license.

Jamaica is the world's fifth largest producer of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium.