An organ-I-say-shun not

Big up Rotary Club Sin Vin-sin South and Glynis Hay, its new incoming President for de year 2023-2024. After about 65 years in existence, Rotary Club was launched hey back in 1971.

Dis was no ordinary Pyar Pyar Club wid ah positive motto still standing: “ Service Above Self, and One Profits Most Who Serves Best,.” And it’s Vision: “Lifelong Friendship extending to Humanitarian Service.” Everybody whose ambition was to be ah somebody wanted to be ah member. Initially it looked very much like ah Man Club oops, ah Male Fraternity wid “nooo Woman pon Board.” Further to dat, one had to be first ah professional like ah Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Minister of Religion and so on. My boss Inky Williams, den Chief Surveyor was like ah foundation member, and he invited me to join, but something just did not click den, maybe ah was too much of ah Granny’s Boy, or Bro Bob Marley’s song “ No Woman No Cry” was big too big! So back den Rotary was an “Organ-I-say-shun.”

Alas in 1987, women were admitted to Rotary, and today, women are the fastest growing segment of Rotary’s membership. Hay oops, here in SVG, Rotary has grown and blown. And new President Hay, described by ah senior member as ah Bubbly Motivator, is ah Senior Lecturer, Head ah Dept at de College, and very important to me, my Granny’s Jah-mek-her family. So she invited me to conduct ah Sur-prize Chinese Auction at last Tuesday’s Meeting.

When ah asked her in Jah-mek-her creole:” Ah way yuh ah go Act-shun?” she said: “Something natural wid high nutritional content, dat one could give ah visitor, dat dey can take back to make dainty stuff and serve dey friends and so on.”
We were ready foh each other at 6:00 p.m and while ah was being introduced, ah did ah head count, four men and nine women, One-dah-full!. Ah say “times have changed” and dis is now an Organ-I-say-shun not! In about twenty minutes de Auction was over, de longest standing bidder was charming Dr Erica Jordan. De Sale realized ah total of $ 150. 00 and Jordan River overflowed its banks when de good doctor opened her Sur-prize Package containing: “One Dry Coconut!”

SVG GONE! WE GONE! WE GONE!

De first half of last Friday night’s Semi Finals left patrons stunned, searching foh answers to why most ah de highly rated Calypsonians were NOT singing in tune wid de music. Some blaming de band, some de Sound Engineer, some say CDC sabotaging de Artistes. But Lie-Za was at de Show in Victoria Park, she phoned me early and said” Mas at Victoria! Amusia in full blast nobody hearing properly!” So ah went straight to Google to look foh Amusia.

Amazingly or amusingly, Amusia is in reference to “Tone Deaf,” a term used in Music when ah person sings “Out-ah Key” when s/he can’t match the pitch ah his/her voice to de pitch ah de piece ah music that’s being played, de band going one way and de singer “way-off” going another way.

So Tone-Deaf continues to plague lots ah singers, Google explains dat Tone-Deaf is not limited to ah Calypsonian who is Off- Key on stage. It states dat “Many politicians are Tone-Deaf to de anxieties of de serious concerns of de average voter. Also, “People on the streets here are angry about de Tone-Deaf response to the critic-is-him levelled at our Pull-it-tek-ill Whirl-Boss, foh his feeble explain-nay-shun to causes of and solutions to de wide-spread violent crimes including homicides in Vincy.”
But Lie-Za swear dat we are “Stone Deaf, completely unable to hear anything:” Imagine we are in de middle of our Nah-shun-all Premier Festival, way it’s “Fun in de Vincy Sun” foh young and ole, locals, visitors of all Nah-shun-all-at tea, including Volunteer Workers from our dearest friends near and far, only to be greeted with Stone Deaf news about shooting deaths, and to compound it all, de cents-less knife attack on ah Cuban Doctor whose mission here is to save lives. Kaisonian Ninja’s song is like Gospel: “SVG Gone!We Gone! We Gone!”

And wid dat is Gone ah Gone again.

One Love Bassy

•  Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.