 singular guyanese part 1 of 2  singular guyanese part 1 of 2 webmaster mon 4152019 1852 in the arena of creating music for popular consumption it is sometimes the case that a song about which one is very excited and generating high expectations will land like a thud seemingly totally dismissed by the population an example is my song hit the road which i wrote for a tradewinds studio session in toronto extolling that bandontheroad aspect of trinidad carnival i felt it would do well in portofspain but it was simply ignored in contrast i did a column here recently titled knowing our stalwarts and the response frankly surprised me simply put that column soared where hit the road crashed and burned a market vendor in kitty made it his business to stop me passing and urge me to elaborate on the singular guyanese i was referring to and since i pay a lot of attention to what comes from a man of the soil i m taking space here today to give my own suggestions for persons we must recognise apart from the annual awards in a way that it reaches the population to in effect make us all aware of their contributions this is obviously a voluminous matter and there are space limits involved in a weekly column so what i present here is not a complete list but i start off with the more recognisable names and retired major general joe singh is one folks more knowledgeable about him than i can provide a range of reasons for his value to guyana but in my limited interaction with him going back several years now i was struck instantly how this experienced and esteemed guyanese figure was always ready to hear the opinion or even act on the advice of the range of people he interacted with in a time when there are a number of dictators about in our public persons major general s openness to suggestion is a sterling measure of the value of the man often expected to pronounce or decide major joe is more often listening and absorbing it s a quality some of our more highprofile leaders should emulate university of guyana vice chancellor ivelaw griffith can get very stern about the various projects he and his staff are wrestling with but those who know the man will tell you about the booming laugh that is almost always in play with him even when it is not present in his voice it is there in the smile on his face or the waving of his hand over the years in different societies it is often true that the man or woman laughing poses no serious dangers they have long since absorbed the message of life s daily comedies they have achieved balance dr griffith is a stickler for raising standards while seeing the realities in play i would be remiss and i would hear from my wife about it if i did not mention merlene ellis early in my list she is a gifted artist whose work i was first drawn to seeing a painting of hers in the late freddie abdool s house in courida park freddie s wife carmen hooked me up with merlene on a visit here i was living in grand cayman at the time and i travelled back with two of her paintings in tow which by the way are back here with me in guyana merlene s work is powerful distinctive and vivid from a distance an aspect that is lacking in many paintings as a visit to her gallery in east ruimveldt will show and she does masterful work in framing paintings or photographs to a professional standard while some artists can be crusty or even rude merlene is a cordial host visit her studio call 6262754 and see for yourself she s a singular artist singular also applies to dr steve surujbally who came into my orbit from taking annette s german shepherd to him for vaccinations as it is with some people my music was a factor in drawing us together but there is a kindred spirit thing between us which i don t really understand but simply accept as those who attend his animal clinic can attest steve has his crusty side listen being the gecom boss would make st joseph crusty but his intentions are always good and most important for me you are always aware you are getting the picture clear i call him suruj no one else to my knowledge does that it softens the crust more than halfway through i realise i m going to be short of space to cover the names i have in mind so this will be a twopart series with the second half coming next sunday but for this first bash i must include brudda it s telling that i don t know his last name who has been our house painter for over 10 years whatever problems he has with the work brudda solves it silently he comes you show him the work and he produces the finished product without asking you another word critically his work is flawless a year after he did it it still looks great if you need someone for an upcoming paint job call me on 2222678 for brudda s number before i finish this first instalment since i m big on paintings and photographs apart from merlene two persons in my arsenal are michael lam part of denis dias production team enlarging photos for me and for his own singular camera work in that category as well is leon moore who i have come to know only in recent times for striking nature photography i have an enlarged rupununi photo of his framed by merlene hanging in the house it is a striking vista one i wish i could share with you here singular also applies to these two singular guyanese part 1 of 2  