Published:Thursday | November 17, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Years ago, cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverley gave Humroy Whyte advice about teaching which he has never forgotten. She said, "Find out what they like, Humroy, and teach them from it.""And that's what I do," Whyte told me recently on one of his...
Published:Friday | November 11, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Reggae singer-songwriter Peter Lloyd's appearance at the National Gallery recently marked the middle of his Pure Love tour of Jamaica. A world tour with the same theme is planned for next year.He and his management team - Team Peter Lloyd - have put...
Published:Thursday | November 10, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
"There's money in the laughter business, and that's not a joke," said Andrew Brodber, a specialist in speech and arts development and training with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). He was speaking to participants in a workshop on...
Published:Thursday | November 3, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
How important is a man's reputation in Jamaica? Is it necessary for a woman to be respectable? Will slackness lead to a deterioration and eventual destruction of the society?Questions like those arose during a discussion on slackness, especially in...
Published:Sunday | October 30, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Five short films produced in Jamaica over the summer will have a private, invitation-only screening next week. General public showings of the films, described as "excellent" by JAMPRO Film Commissioner Renee Robinson, will follow in coming months....
Published:Wednesday | October 26, 2016 | 10:41 AMMichael Reckord
This is the second of a two-part article based on an interview with Rupert Lewis, UWI Professor Emeritus in Political Thought. Lewis has produced three books and numerous articles on National Hero Marcus Garvey and is now writing a short biography...
Published:Thursday | October 20, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
(This is the first of a two-part article based on an interview with Rupert Lewis, the University of the West Indies (UWI) professor emeritus in political thought, who has produced three books and numerous articles on National Hero Marcus Garvey and...
Published:Thursday | October 20, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Donald Trump could well become the next president of the United States - and thus the most powerful man in the world. So when I was in his home town, New York City, recently, I thought I should drop in on him.I arrived at the prestigious Trump Tower...
Published:Tuesday | October 18, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The audience at the Methodist Chorale's 50th anniversary concert at Coke Memorial Methodist Church, East Parade, recently, thoroughly enjoyed the event.That was clear from their applause, and few would have been more delighted than the founder-...
Published:Thursday | October 13, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Early last month, a roomful of opera lovers came out to meet composer Dr Shirley Thompson and soprano Abigail Kelly, UK-based classical musicians of the Jamaican diaspora, about whom they would have already heard much.Thompson's 45-minute opera...
Published:Thursday | October 6, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
A highly enjoyable staged reading was held last Thursday to celebrate both the birthday and the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Spain's most famous and one of the world's greatest writers. It was presented by the Embassy of...
Published:Thursday | September 29, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Rayon McLean, founder and artistic director of the six-year-old Quilt Performing Arts Company, and Fr Richard Ho Lung, founder of the 45-year-old Fr Ho Lung & Friends, were misleadingly succinct when they described their companies to audiences...
Published:Thursday | September 22, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
After decades of work at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), the multitalented Calvin Mitchell has retired. Appropriately, considering Mitchell's work in theatrical lighting, last Thursday's sentimental send-off took...
Published:Thursday | September 15, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The Jamaican Folk Singers usually tries to link its annual concert season's songs together to create unity. For the all-too-brief 2016 season at The Little Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, that unity came through the judicious selection and...
Published:Tuesday | September 13, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Praise poured down like Portland rain on three women associated with a still unfinished opera staged at the School of Music, Edna Manley College (EMC), on Friday night.The praise came at least partly, because of the patriotism of the audience,...
Published:Thursday | September 8, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
A criticism that could be reasonably made of the Gungo Walk World Alternative Music and Arts Festival at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) last Saturday was that it offered too much. Scheduled to run from before...
Published:Thursday | September 1, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Explaining her name, Mezan Ayoka told me "it's Ethiopian and it means 'one who is well balanced and who brings joy'."She exhibited those two qualities as we spoke recently about her decade-long career in film-making. She now knows what she wants to...
Published:Wednesday | August 24, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
(This is second of two columns based on an interview with Malachi Smith, policeman, performance poet and philanthropist.)Malachi Smith migrated to the USA in 1987. However, for the past 14 years he has returned to Jamaica annually from his home in...
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2016 | 8:32 AMMichael Reckord
This is the first of a two-part article on Malachi Smith, a policeman, performance poet and philanthropist,Malachi Smith joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to fight crime, but it was crime that forced him to emigrate to the United States in...
Published:Wednesday | August 10, 2016 | 6:07 PMMichael Reckord
Women Who Roar is the latest in the Little Theatre Movement's (LTM) heritage series of productions. An entertaining and informative mix of poetry, skits, movement and music, it follows the general format of previous shows. Those began with the...
Published:Wednesday | July 27, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Mixed in with the audience's enthusiastic applause and laudatory comments on Saturday night's show by the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) was a voice of complaint. She would have to return to The Little Theatre on another occasion, the...
Published:Wednesday | July 13, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
There were indications last month that a poetry explosion - metaphorically speaking - is taking place in the island.Early June, Jamaican author Pam Mordecai arrived from Canada, to launch her sixth book of poetry. On the last Tuesday of June, at the...
L'Antoinette's Dream keeps changing. That is not a charge of inconsistency against Dr L'Antoinette Stines, artistic director and chief choreographer of L'Acadco, the dance company she founded. It is a statement of fact about L'Acadco's current...
Published:Thursday | June 30, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Occasionally the group was unreservedly light-hearted, like when they sang the folk songs, Dis Long Time Gal and Mouta Massa Liza, but its essential seriousness that was manifest in the Beloved excerpt was evident earlier in the ensemble's emotional...
