Obituary for Wordsworth McAndrew

HOME GOING CELEBRATION

Wordsworth

A. McAndrew NOVEMBER 22, 1936

APRIL 25, 2008

A Guyanese National Treasure BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008

OBITUARY

Wordsworth A.

McAndrew

"Those who weave color into our lives, leave us with a tapestry of beautiful memories.

The only source of comfort is our memories.

Only time can heal our pain.”

The McAndrew family

and 1966 (he wrote a daily column under the pen name “Damon”), and as Information Officer at the Guyana Information Service from 1960 to 1967 (under the directorship of poet A.J. Seymour) put him in contact with the broad range of Guyanese who would become his folk teachers. And after training with the BBC in London from January to July 1968, he went on to serve as broadcaster and program director at the Guyana Broadcasting Service from August 1968 to December 1979.

Over those eleven years, he created popular radio programs like “What Else” that allowed him to do what many folklorists never get a chance to do—educate hundreds of thousands in the intricacies and joys of our native “culchuh.” He also educated his fellow Guyanese through other means, as he did in the memorable Language Forum lecture on “Folk Music in Guyana” that he delivered at the University of Guyana in April 1975.

Mac was also an accomplished poet, partly influenced by A.J. Seymour and the Wednesday night poetry gatherings he hosted with poets like Martin Carter, Ian McDonald, Ivan Van Sertima, Alex Best and Henry Josiah. His poems include the legendary “Ole Higue,” and other published but less widely known works, like “Barriat,” and “Legend of the Carrion Crow.” Under the tutelage of Celeste Dolphin, who met him at the GIS, he also went on to win verse-speaking competitions at the Guyana Music Festival on several occasions.

Wordsworth McAndrew moved to the United States in 1980. His newspaper experience helped him find proofreading work that sustained him for more than two decades. But he was never fully at home in the US, and failing health eventually took its toll on him. He was cared for in his final years by a cadre of devoted friends and family. Among the highlights of his stay in America, however, was a 1984 visit to the Commonwealth Center in Kensington, England (arranged by poet John Agard) at which he read his poetry, and the creation of the Wordsworth MacAndrew awards at the New York-based Guyana Music Festival in 2002 to recognize him as a Guyanese “National Treasure” (in the words of Festival organizer Professor Vibert Cambridge).

Wordsworth Albert McAndrew, one of Guyana’s best known and most loved sons, was born November 22, 1936 in Georgetown, then British Guiana. He died April 25, 2008 at East Orange General Hospital, New Jersey, USA. Over the seventy-one years of his life, he distinguished himself as poet, folklorist, newspaper columnist, radio broadcaster and personality, gyaaf-man, people person, family member and friend. In almost anything that involved the artful use of words, Wordsworth excelled, living up to his name.

Wordsworth was the son of the late Winslow (a headmaster, pastor, and like his son, a Scout and raconteur) and Ivy McAndrew (née Phillips, a seamstress and homemaker). He had eight siblings, three of whom predeceased him (sister Winifred Stout, brothers Winston and Ian Rudder), and five of whom survive him: Waveney Allen McAndrew (England), Carmen Daly (Queens, N.Y.), Enid McAndrew (Guyana), and Nigel and Wilton McAndrew (New Jersey).

Mac, or Scouta, as people referred to him, was the father of Arnold Singh (Colorado), Roseanne Zammett (New Jersey) and Shiri McAndrew (England), and grandfather of George, Mario and Ryan Zammett, Natasha Singh, Levi McAndrew, Alexander, Alexandra, Christopher and Nicholas McAndrew. He was also great grandfather of Christian and Makaila Zammett; uncle of Carlton, Leslie and Beverly Allen (England), Terry Stoute (New York), Newell and Norville McAndrew, Neville McAndrew (Belize), Barbara Clarke (Barbados), Idalia Maxwell (Queens), Cassandra McAndrew (Brooklyn), June, Grace and Andrea Rudder McAndrew. He was the brother-inlaw of Yvette and Yvonne McAndrew (New Jersey), Lena McAndrew (Guyana), Doreen Rudder McAndrew (New York), and Ricky Daly (New York). Also left to mourn him are several cousins and legions of friends and admirers, in Guyana and across the globe.

Wordsworth received his preschool and primary education at Marshall’s Prep School and Christ Church Anglican School in Guyana, and his secondary education at Queen’s Mac, the legend, has died, but his memories and works College, beginning in 1948. His higher educatio, included live on. May we honor both by carrying on the a degree in Communications at the University of Guyana. programme he started, of studying and sharing Guyana’s But his greatest teachers were the ordinary men, women folkloristic and cultural riches. and children of every race and creed in his native land, whose folktales, ghost stories, legends, songs, proverbs, jokes, riddles, oral histories, beliefs, ceremonies, games, --John R. Rickford, Stanford, with help from Roy Brummell, foods, superstitions, holiday customs, magic, ways of Claire Goring, Ingram Lewis, & Scouta Mac’s family. healing and hurting, birthing and burying he made it his business to study, in infinite detail, over his lifetime. His position as editor and columnist with both the Guyana Graphic and Daily Chronicle newspapers between 1955

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Wordsworth McAndrew.... his work is not for one generation His Excellency, The Honorable Bharrat Jagdeo

"In my view, the folklore of a people is at the root of their being, and to cast it aside is to set oneself adrift culturally an act which one performs at one's peril."

Wordsworth A. McAndrew

President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana April 28, 2008.

I join with all Guyanese in recognizing that Wordsworth MacAndrew was an exemplary Guyanese. Through his exploration and celebration of the expressiveness of Guyanese folk culture, he helped our nation to celebrate our common roots. Through his work in the oral traditions, literature, music, and in radio, he helped us to visualize better futures. His work is not for one generation. He was a member of a noble generation. A generation that contributed to defining what Guyana Sons and Daughters can be! Wordsworth MacAndrew has left a model for the current generation - seek the wisdom of ordinary people in their creative expressions. He will remain an example for all of us, showing the importance of folk culture in the quest for national cohesiveness.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Mac, Walk good, my friend, Waka bunu

John Rickford

Although I certainly knew of him as a media personality before then, I got to know Mac personally from about 1974 when I returned to Guyana to teach at the University of Guyana [UG] and do fieldwork in Better Hope and elsewhere. He accompanied me on several occasions, joining in the interviewing about language, folklore, folk life and culture with great interest and delight, and branching into other areas (like the Kali Mai Puja ceremonies at the house of Dora, an East coast legend). Some of that material found its way into his wonderful radio show, "What Else?" and into his slim but informative "Ooiy!" magazine.

Mac also participated in the "Festival of Guyanese Words" conference we held in 1974, featuring research presentations by UG students and faculty and others, but with valuable feedback from nonacademics whose expertise as farmers, stevedores, or just native Guyanese qualified them to extend and challenge our findings. He contributed a paper on Guyanese folksongs, with a short example from each "chapter" of the folksong book ("Representational," "Congo," "Queh-Queh," "Pork-Knocker," "Ring Play," "Cumfa" and "East Indian Rhyming Song,") and he helped us proof-read and sell the resulting book on Georgetown street corners. Although he was a gyaaf-man and joke-man in personal interaction, he was deadly serious about work, proof-reading by reading every word backwards.

I learned a lot from Mac over the years. He had an absolute love for Guyanese "culchuh" as he put it-and an infinite interest in every variant of every tradition (queh queh, obeah, cumfa), song, story, game, way of cooking, eating, celebrating, and so on that Guyanese of every ethnic group had inherited and transformed. I learned a lot from him about how to do fieldwork well, lavishing time and respect on the people whose linguistic and cultural riches you

were mining.

As folklorist, culturologist, poet, performer, and radio personality, Mac was unparalleled, and his gifts to Guyana considerable. I hope his copious recordings and notes and articles find their way into the University of Guyana or a similar archive for future generations of Guyanese scholars to study and future generations of Guyanese to enjoy. For now, I will merely say to Guyana's greatest folklorist, “Walk good, my friend,” or as our Surinamese neighbours say, “Waka bunu.”

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

he gave us a great sense of our own self-worth Sir Ronald Sanders

KCMG

To have known and worked with Wordsworth McAndrew was at times an exasperating pleasure and an affectionate frustration. I am perfectly aware that these descriptions could easily fall into the category of oxymorons. But, then that was the character of the man. He was a remarkable contradiction: brilliant but refusing to let his light shine; capable of great achievement yet devoid of ambition.

His published work is already acclaimed; his unpublished work – written in self-imposed exile from Guyana - deserves the widest exposure. Beyond any doubt in my mind, he was a pioneer in making Guyanese recognise that their culture, their language, and their folk tales, which were denigrated in the colonial period, were worthy of exaltation and celebration. In doing so, he gave us all a great sense of our own self-worth.

Let us salute a remarkable brother.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Celebrating the Life of a Guyanese National Treasure

Wordsworth A. McAndrew 1936-2008

Order of Service PARTICIPATING SPIRITUAL LEADERS

Host Pastor - Rev. Wesley Daniel Union United Methodist Church Brooklyn, New York

Imam Haji Zakir Spiritual Leader, United Muslim Organization of New York

Reverend George Frederick Calvary-Roseville United Methodist Church East Orange, New Jersey

Pandit Ramlall Spiritual Leader, Arya Spiritual Center, Queens New York Dr. Juliet Emanuel St. John’s Episcopal Brooklyn, New York

Rev. Rodwell Thom & Rev. Prashad Pastors, Trinity Lutheran Church East Orange, New Jersey Rev. Dr. Evelyn R. John Pastor, The New Life Center of Truth, Brooklyn, New York Father Lloyd Andries Brooklyn, New York

Pastor Kwesi Ojinga Pastor, New Life Ministries Silver Spring, Maryland

Arch Bishop Cecil Mercurius Outreach Ministry AOC

HONOR GUARDS GUYANESE ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES Guyana Cultural Association New York/Guyana Folk Festival Guyana Day Celebration Committee Caribbean Media Enterprise Guyana Broadcasters of New York Guyana Tri-State Alliance Nritya Kala Kendra International Academy Rajkumari Cultural Center The Order of Service Musical Prelude - Hilton Hemerding Accompanist – Dr. Keith Proctor Worship Leaders Malcolm Hall, President, Guyana Cultural Association/Guyana Folk Festival Dr. Juliet Emanuel - St. Johns’ Episcopal Church CALL TO WORSHIP PROCESSIONAL SOLO

Clergy & Family “ My Way”

TrentonMack

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE PRESENTATION OF THE NATIONAL COLORS & HONOR GUARD HYMN

“Hymn For Guyana’s Children” Valerie Rodway With humble hearts and heads bowed down In thanks for each new day of toil We kneel before Thine altar, Lord The children of Guyana’s soil.

Great is the task that Thou hast given: Thy will to show, Thy truth to find: To teach ourselves that we are one In thy great Universal mind.

But not in vain we’ll strive to build A new Guyana great and free; A land of glory and of hope, A land of love and unity.

O children of Guyana, rise, Rise up and sing with happy tears: And bless the land that gave you birth, And vow to serve her through the years.

THE INVOCATION WELCOME SELECTION SCRIPTURE READING PRAYER OF COMFORT SONGS OF PRAISE “Scouta Mac, the man, his life his words” MESSAGE READING OF THE OBITUARY TRIBUTES

Rev. George Frederick Rev.Wesley Daniel, Host Pastor Moses Josiah Hugh Hamilton Rev. Rodwell Thom Winston Hoppie Roy Brummell Ambassador Bayney Karran John Rickford Family & Friends Wilton McAndrew, brother Roseanne Zammett, daughter Beverly Allen, niece Ingram Lewis, friend Francis Yvonne Jackson, friend Duke Lambert, friend

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE HYMN

Adaptation of “This is My Song”

tune Finlandia

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

Guyana my home, the country where my heart is; Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating, With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

Guyana's skies are bluer than the ocean, And sunlight beams on green leaves and on vines.

But other lands have sunlight too and green leaves, And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations, A song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to my Guyana May peace abound where strife has raged so long; That each may seek to love and build together, A land united, righting every wrong.

A land united in its love for freedom, Proclaiming peace together in one song.

PRAYER

Rev. Dr. Evelyn John

EULOGY

Pastor Kwesi Ojinga

PRAYERS OF COMMENDATION

SOLO BENEDICTION RECESSIONAL Some glad morning when this life is o'er, I'll fly away.

To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away.

Chorus: I'll fly away, O Glory, I'll fly away.

When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye, I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have flown, I'll fly away.

Like a bird thrown, driven by the storm, I'll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then, I'll fly away.

To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away.

Rev. Dr. Lloyd Andries Imam Haji Zakir, Pandit Ramlall Arch Bishop Cecil Mercurius Trenton Mack Rev. George Frederick I’ll Fly Away

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Wordsworth McAndrew - A National Treasure

Friends and representatives of Guyanese Organizations present flags in honor.

Guyana Cultural Association New York/Guyana Folk Festival Ingram Lewis, Roy Brummell, John Rickford Guyana Day Celebration Committee Caribbean Media Enterprise Guyana Broadcasters of New York Guyana Tri-State Alliance Nritya Kala Kendra International Academy Rajkumari Cultural Center Farewell Scouta Mac

Choruses led by Winston “Jeggae” Hoppie, Hilton Hemerding,Wrickford Dalgetty and ensemble of Drummers

REPAST You are asked to join the family at the repast immediately after the service in the Felowship Hall.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is with profound gratitude that we acknowledge the outpouring of kindness and warmth from the friends and community at large.We are especially thankful for the Guyana Cultural Association and The Folk Festival for uplifting Mac and treasuring his contribution to the Guyanese society.

Mac has lived a unique life and has always treasured his independence, however, we have come to understand the impact he has had on the Guyanese society and the spirit with which his quest to be distinctly Guyanese has set him apart yet identify him as a Folk legend.

We further extend our gratitude to all who, during his final years helped to sustain him and provided comfort to the end.

To Ingram Lewis, we will always be in your debt for your dedication and for the love you extended to Mac. ToReverend George Frederick and Dr. Corte, thank you for your intervention and generosity of spirit and also to the wonderful Guyanese nurses at East Orange general and at the Nursing Home who took such great care of Mac. To those of you who have travel from far places to celebrate his life, we are particularly grateful for your thoughtfulness. To the Broadcast and Journalism community of which he was proud to be part, we extend our gratitude.

Thank you to the Pastor and Board of Trustee of Union United Methodist Church, to the His Excellency, the Honorable Bharat Jagdeo for his words of sympathy,Ambassador Bayney Karran and to all other religious leaders present here today.

We thank also all those who participated in this celebration of Mac’s life.

May his soul rest in peace...

The McAndrew Family

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

I first met Wordsworth Mc Andrew about a week before the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBS) was launched on October 1, 1968 at Lodge and he immediately struck me as different from the other city folks.

He was informal, down to earth, and very helpful maybe because he knew I was a country boy from Berbice ,and he accommodated me at his Kitty home for a few months. I had the opportunity to work alongside him in some of his cultural presentations mainly in poetry, music and because of my association with him I learnt a lot of que que, and being a Indo Guyanese I shocked guests at a wedding in Montserrat two decades ago, and in Tortola about eight years when I belted out some que que songs punctuiated with “batto”( when changing to another ) Although Mac was proud of his African heritage he was not an afro folklorist, but promoted all Guyanese culture.

He said in his writings that the folklore of a people is at the root of their being and to cast it aside is to set oneself adrift culturally.

His poem “Barriat” reaffirmed his special love for “the colorful and symbolic weddings” of the Hindu ancestors.

His famous movie was an Indian “Waqt” struggle between man and destiny, the outcome of which only time can tell.

The movie was where three brothers were separated after a disaster and after several decades of hardship they were eventually united. .

I took him some years ago to a “get together”at relatives in Ozone Park, Queens, New York, who were devoted Hindus and a discussion came up about the various Hindu Religious Books, the Bhagwat Gita, Ramayan, and Mahabharat and they were shocked at Mac’s knowledge of these Religious Books and when he started to sing the Indian songs and hit the table to the beat, they were spellbound.

The next year when I visited my relatives they begged me to invite Mac again.

Mac “douglarized” the afro/Indian music long before the chutney came into being His work was astounding and was rightly described by Dr. Vibert Cambridge as a national treasurer Scouta as he was called by Vic Hall and some of his old friends, was very practical and outspoken and he stuck to his beliefs regardless of the consequences.

Everyone agrees that his contribution to his country was outstanding and I need not go into details in outlining his great works, but I must say I am extremely disturbed that despite numerous justifiable requests by me and others for him to be given a national award, fell on deaf ears.

However, I am heartened to learn that Guyana’s Culture Minster, Frank Anthony, has described Mac “as a :cultural anthropologist and folklorist who has devoted his working life in Guyana to the promotion of practices and traditions which gave the new post independent nation identify”.

although Mac was proud of his heritage he was not an afro folklorist, but promoted all Guyanese culture.

Oscar Ramjeet

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Scouta loved Chanderpaul If I told Scouta the West Indies played a game against any team, one of his first questions was: "How we baai do?

Roy Brummell

I became Scouta Mc's friend since 1974-1975 when he was the editor and presenter of the Guyana Marketing Corporation Short Story Series for radio. He loved my stories and urged me to give him at least one per month. We spoke constantly in person or by telephone before he recorded any of my stories for broadcast, since he was meticulous about reading my Dartmouth (where I grew up) creole correctly. Mc read one of my stories, "De Great Jackass Race" so brilliantly that the story had several rebroadcasts, and I was invited to the radio station for a live interview. The interviewer was a female whom I don't remember, but the reason for the interview was that Scouta had read my story with such gusto that the public wanted to know more about me. Needless to say, the more Scouta read my stories, the more people thought that they were his.

Some people have also thought that Scouta schooled me in folklore. That's very flattering, but we just happened to be two men who loved the oral tradition. Before Scouta migrated from Guyana to the US in 1979 or early 1980, we spoke a lot at his home in Kitty, mine in Festival City or a beer shop about peculiar Dartmouth creole words that he was unfamiliar with. In turn, I learnt lots of proverbs from him. In fact, before he left for the US, he gave me over a thousand. I later used several of those proverbs on my radio show "Ganga Time". Unfortunately, Scouta never heard any of my broadcasts but, when we reconnected in the US, he had me give him the details of what "Ganga Time" was about. Scouta was a stickler for details. When his sight began leaving him, he dictated a few things by telephone for me to write. After the dictations, I had to

read what I had written. He listened to every word and also to note whether I had omitted dashes, commas, colons, semicolons or fullstops.

Aside from folklore, Scouta and I talked sports. He loved talking about all sports, but his favourites were cricket, swimming and boxing in that order. He could talk for hours about the West Indies batsman Chanderpaul whose reliability he loved. (I do as well.) If I told Scouta the West Indies played a game against any team, one of his first questions was: "How we baai do?" If Chanderpaul hadn't performed very well, Scouta would be unhappy.

Scouta did not quite like the US culture, and was often critical of American Standard English. In addition to him not fitting in here, he was often suspicious of even Guyanese people who tried to help him. His last years brought him near blindness, broken hands and much emotional stress.

BUT SCOUTA REMAINED MENTALLY ALERT AND INDEPENDENT TO THE VERY END! MAY THE SCOUTA REST IN PEACE!

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

He taught me to play pan, and I also loved being able to spend time with him and his calypsonian and folksinging friends, learning Guyanese folk songs.

Rosie McAndrew

keep up with him – for example at the very late nights in the liquor restaurants where the last drop of rum had to be consumed before anyone was allowed to set foot outside.

Not being a drinker myself, I used to dread the purchase of yet another whole bottle… And the one time I persuaded him to take me for a walk in the country, he turned it into a route march, in Scouter Mac’ mode. And then I disgraced myself at the only Queque he took me to, as I fell asleep before the crucial part of the ceremony. He didn't wake me up to see it, and never took me to one again!

DWD (done wid dat!) was one of his mottos, and he was not easily swayed!

At the end of my VSO year the plan was for him to come over to England, but problems at work meant that he couldn’t leave the country, so I went back, and we were married on March 14th, 1970.

The rumours of the famous ride to our wedding on a bicycle were absolutely true. I was amused, though, when I read Ken Corsbie’s description of Mac’s ‘towing’ me, without mentioning the bike, as I’d forgotten that bit of Creolese! I used to like riding on the cross bar or the carrier! We actually moved house, once, with me sitting on the carrier, desperately clutching piles of his treasured 78s!

The worst bit was the running to leap on, with both hands full, dreading that I wouldn’t make it, and that the priceless records would be demolished. What a responsibility!

Anyway, Mac had wanted a very quiet wedding, so we arrived at his chosen venue, the Universal Church of Scientific Truth, at 7 in the morning, to fit it in before he went to work. But unfortunately for him, one of his colleagues lived just across the street, saw what was up, and soon spread the word. To my amazement the bicycle story was syndicated on Reuters.

I first met Mac at the BBC, in London, where he was finishing a TV course with some of the guys from GBS, and I was doing a week’s extra training in radio before I went out to Guyana to do VSO at Broadcasts to Schools with Celeste Dolphin. As it happened, my group shared a lounge with the Guyanese crew, so I was introduced to them all. As I had to do on interview project, I rashly asked Mac if I could interview him about Guyanese folklore and culture. How could I have known that that was a subject so close to his heart! He told me all about Queque and Cumfa, we saw a lot of each other for the rest of that week, and I invited him to stay with my family before he went back home. When I arrived in Guyana, some weeks later, I didn't have to be part of the usual VSO croud, as I had an open door into his world.

In Guyana, having always loved accents, I relished submerging myself in Creolese, and who better to pick it up from? He taught me to play the pan, as well, and I also loved spending evenings with him and some calypso singers in Albuoystown, harmonizing to Guyanese folk songs. I learned to cook Guyanese too, and always had ‘swank’ (how do you spell that?) and other local drinks on the go.

However as he predicted quite early on, I couldn’t always

Once we were married, joint outings were few. ‘Eh eh? An I got a wife at home? Why I should tek her out?’ The life of a Guyanese wife, with the men in one room (or out elsewhere) and the women in the kitchen, which I tried hard to fit in with for a time, and the deputy system, which I didn't, didn’t augur well for a sustaining marriage though, so, soon after our daughter, Shiri Ayanna was born, on June 10th, 1972, we separated, and later divorced.

Mac was a unique and special person, and it is a tribute to his extraordinary qualities that he is now being remembered with such affection and respect. I am glad that he was made aware of some of this well-deserved recognition for the contribution he made to Guyanese culture while he was still alive, through the Wordsworth McAndrew awards. I hope he can see the crowds of people who have come to remember him today, or maybe log on to the myriad sites on which he now features on the Internet.

Another more personal symbol was very moving to me.

Our daughter Shiri, who now has a son of her own, Levi, the light of her life, never knew him, and he never knew them. And yet when she heard of his death, she went out and bought a tree, which she planted in his memory. What a tribute to him, and what a tribute to her.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

I emigrated from England at the age of 24 to British Guiana, as it then was, in 1961. I took up the post of art master at Central High School in Smyth Street, Georgetown. Before long I had been introduced, by some of his former Queen’s College schoolfriends, to a diminutive young man called Wordsworth Mac Andrew. At that time I was renting a cottage , with fretwork on the porch, and “jealousies” in the gallery, in Campbellville, where “Mac” was living with his mother and brother Wilton Mac Andrew. Mac called his mother “Phillips”. This small detail is so typical of Mac that I smile to myself as I write this. Who else in this world would call his mother Phillips?

Mac and I got on so well together that we spent much of our time in each other’s company. Especially I treasure the memory of our fishing together in the backdam. In fact this was only the backdam of Section K Campbellville, and mostly we fished in a small trench running parallel to the Lamaha Canal, on the perimeter of the Botanical Gardens.

In this small trench we got the most exciting bites, from Patwah, of course, but also Houri and Lugga-Lugga.. Mac showed me where to get the best worms for bait, right under Phillips’ kitchen window, which was a Demerara window of sorts, with an enamel sink jutting out from the building, and a window stick. All the droppings from vegetable peeling and scrubbing would fall to ground below the sink, so that the ground was perpetually moist, and rich, thick, red worms abounded there. Having put them in a tin with some earth, we would jump on our bicycles for a pleasant afternoon’s fishing.

At this time Mac showed me his poem Ol’ Higue. I was greatly impressed and Mac told me that he wrote it with ease; it was as though something else was pushing the pen.

I could feel that in the writing most definitely. It was somehow perfect. Mac wanted to have it printed, and we launched a joint venture. It was printed on a single sheet of white card, folded once, with Mac’s poem inside and my illustration of Ol’ Higue on the outside.

Many copies were sold, but I regret to say that I have lost mine, and don’t know anyone who has one.

During the school holidays I went to Trinidad on a bauxite ship, and whilst there I heard that a Shango service was going to be held in Laventille Success, a very poor, labyrinthine area. A taxi dropped me nearby and I walked through the darkness towards the sound of drums. What I witnessed during that whole night made a profound impression upon me. I saw a young girl who had been standing on the outside of the crowd suddenly start spinning, and space was made for her to enter the “ganda”, where her convulsive throbbing to the beat of the drum was my first sight of someone entering a trance.

Returning home to Guyana I eagerly described to Mac what I had seen. Soon after, through making enquiries, I discovered that similar events were held in Albouystown.

Mac and I went to these “cumfa” services and soon acquired a whole set of friends, from Boyee, the novice cumfa priest, to Nellie Burke who sold black pudding in the street in Albouystown.

It was then that Mac’s career was born. He bought a tape recorder and made hundreds of recordings. We went in the country together in the second hand Austin car I had by then bought, to West Bank Demerara and East Bank

Mac and I went to “Cumfa” services and soon acquired a whole set of friends, from Boyee, the cumfa priest, to Nellie who sold black pudding in the street in Albouystown.

John Criswick

Berbice. Eventually, because Mac worked for Radio Demerara, he started broadcasting his tapes, and the rest is well known. For him, it was his life; for me I had other pursuits to follow.

I left Guyana for Grenada in 1972, and regrettably lost touch with Mac. I heard that Phillips had died, Mac’s wife Rose had gone back to England with their daughter, and eventually that Mac himself had left his beloved land and gone to New York. It was only in the last few years that I succeeded in finding someone who could tell me where he lived and eventually Mac and I were able to talk on the phone. We never did get to meet again, but I am left with memories of those wonderful early years together, and all that Mac taught me, from the excellence of Houston’s Blue Label rum, to the best places to buy late-night cook-up rice with tripe and ochroes, to stories of moongazers, and always there was Mac’s wonderful sense of humour.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

Thanx, Mac

mac, oh mac bwoy yuh leff an meh still nah geh foh record yuh time afta time yuh tell meh bobby, we goh do it yuh get way an cyarry all dem words wid yuh but yuh time hey was worth it yuh bin a evry nook an crannie inna de lan’ de same lan’ dat birt boat a we yuh was hatch yuh was match an now yuh is dispatch pon yuh chubee yuh cyarry she to church a don tink nobody eva do dat befo yuh liv good wid de porknocka yuh liv good wid de afreekan yuh liv good wid de indian yuh use foh tell meh “read de bhagavad-gita, meh bwoy” your words will always resonate so thanx for the memories now innate you are worth-y of this celebration for what you have left our nation ron bobb-semple

join The Mac Movement for Sustainable Living.

Muriel Glasgow

I had the pleasure of knowing Wordsworth McAndrew from the days of his open embrace of all things natural and cultural in Guyana. He must have had something in his DNA that knew that dislodging ourselves from things Guyanese, things local and natural, and becoming accepting of things foreign, both without question and analysis, were not sustainable objectives.

At the time he was considered odd, a contrarian…after all, who would be wedded to bush tea when Lipton’s was an easier alternative; when the oil stove was seen as progress from the coal pot, as we were moving into cooking indoors.

Who wanted to continue with masquerade and bad cow during the holidays, when folks were coming back home from overseas stints either as students or landed immigrants with other games and stuff from “outside” with which to wow or to share with us at home. And so it went…

Mac, to his credit, however, stood his ground extolling the virtues of what we know, what we grow, what we eat and being a purist in all regards – insisting as well that all should be locally driven. He was not phased by the introduction of technology and the improvements they could engender to make life easier, despite the fact that we were becoming increasingly exposed to other cultures, practices, material things through the advent of the television and travel. Women were working outside the home more than in the home which made them attracted to what would make housework easier.

Then came the internet and technological advancements, a period which I believe, Mac did not even acknowledge, let alone consider as important to our lives and livelihoods.

Because of this again, many thought of him as odd, a crackpot, a crazy guy who is stuck in antiquities and time…and we slowly began to ignore or forget the basic “rights” he stood for - depend on what you grow, what you know, what you eat.

Looking back now, I wish I had talked more about this with Wordsworth. It would have been interesting to hear his views as well as give him some appreciation for his steadfastness in maintaining cultural sensitivity, depending on local manufacturing and production of food (organic bora, corila, calalou…etc) as well as stressing eating our local fruits (what we now call antioxidants and cancerfighting) such as - awara or owara, cherries, soursop, sapodilla… being touted as well as essential nutrients coconut water, “rolled”/stick chocolate tea, bush tea; carbolic soap for bathing…and I can go on…

Mac, I would like to thank you for the torch you carried, which relentlessly shone on culture and sustainable living, and for this Mac-Effect, I would like others to consider joining a movement in this regard on your behalf - The Mac Movement for Sustainable Living.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

I well remember too, how rum tasted and felt better served by Mac in a dented enamel cup instead of a glass..

Ken Corsbie The scene.. Late night and DEM TWO performing at Pancho Carew's nightclub (Talk of the Town?) in Water st.

Marc performing Johnny Agard's 'COCONUT VENDOR' which ends with very strong (necessary) language on a highly religious theme - everything was on the air before tion. Mac's passing is a spiritual celibration.

Carlton James back in the GBS studio could throw the switch. Two days later a letter from Lionel Luckhoo in the every time I memba Chronicle newspaper that it was "blasphemy" and he could sue us, and would monitor the DEM TWO for any Wordsy water come-a me similar future utterances.. MacAndrew instantly volunteered to be our court defender if it came to that - he would eye! site the laguage as legitimae and the only possible folk lanPeter Kempadoo guage for that character in that circumstance.

Remember that it was MacAndrew who had on one of his I got to know Wordsy very well indeed after my return to brilliant programs that peeing on a fence was also valid BG after years of residence in the UK. And apart from his folk culture.needlees to say, several weeks later at perform- unique talent, what a lovely soul he was! ances in the Theatre Guild and at the New Amsterdam cinema, we spoofed Luckhoo's threat to the delight of both (You probably know that without any planning beforehand, I got into recording genuine grass-root folk-stories audiences.

I well remember too, how rum tasted and felt better served from all around Guyana - so automatically found myself in the field that Wordsy, more than anyone else, had explored

by Mac in a dented enamel cup instead of a glass..

My wife, Elizabeth, had once suggested to him that he over radio in the ole country. And we became close friends could/should enter a MA degree program in a University indeed, both professionally and socially.) that may be interested in working with documenting his formidable and priceless archives; Unfortunately, at that I am so very sorry that I cant make it over to be with you all for those two sad upcoming events this week. But every time, Mac was not ready for such an exercise.

Of course, the story, true or false, of Mac towing his wife, time I memba Wordsy water come-a me eye!

Rose, to the church for their wedding lives on as legend.

He stirred feelings of Mac’s passing is a spiritual nationhood in us, by showing us the value of traditions celebration we took for granted.

Maurice Braithwaite When we think and talk of FOLKLOURE the name Wordsworth is a folklore story with others such as Oldhige, Jumbie Baccoo, Obeia, Etc, Etc. We relate and laugh at the many stories told about Mac, as we would tell of other folk stories.

Mac took his title Folklorist very seriously. Occasionally I found myself in Mac Company traveling around the Essiquibo region looking for old retired Porknockers documented their folk and life story. Or hanging with him at some of the most serious Spiritual Services, where everyone but us is taken away on their spiritual journey as little Jones Combo adds to the wildness of a spiritual celibra-

Dave Martins

I am one of those Guyanese who grew up in a time when our culture was denigrated, but through his perception of life, extending into his work, Mac, without actually preaching the point, made us realise that there is substantial value in the ethos we call Guyana. He stirred feelings of nationhood in us, by showing us the value of traditions we took for granted. For an emerging society, it was a pivotal awakening, and one that was developed by others, but Mac must be hailed as one of its earliest and most committed architects.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

The altruistic McAndrew McAndrew retrofitted me with creativity and the sense of belonging to the soil of Guyana, all without asking anything in return..

Derrick “John” Jeffrey Prior to 1966 knew Wordsworth only through his radio programs and his creative writings. I had given up my job at the Demerara Bauxite Company and have done a number of unfulfilling jobs in French Guiana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. So, there I was back in Guyana, armed with a series of poems about the trials and tribulations of Louie, an albino cockroach, which I composed over a three-year period.

In my effort to find a platform for my poems I was told to give them to McAndrew who at that time had locked horns with director of GBS over dress code. After a lengthy search I found Wordsworth sitting in a corner in the Press Section of the Government Information Service (GIS). I stood wordless, face-to-face with Wordswoth, icon of folklore, inventor of words and author of poems as he pound away on a manual typewriter..

Unassumingly and with a half-smile he looked up and said, “Can I help you?” I handed him my poems and asked him to tell me if they were worth publishing and if he could help in so doing. He studied my writings for a few minutes. At that moment The Minister of Information, Martin Carter walked in on his way to his upstairs office.

Wordswoth handed the few pages to Martin and did a three-seconds introduction, and asked Martin to take a look at my poems. Martin studied the poems for about 45seconds and immediately informed Maurice Dundas to hire me as a Press Officer. So, with Wordsworth help I was transformed from a want-to-be poet to Press Officer all in about twenty minutes–––no application, no interview and no typing test, as my poems were written in calligraphy style but in ink.

Then again when the Frank Pilgrim requested Wordsworth to head the Traveling Entertaining Group of performing artist to travel around Guyana as a prelude to the first republic celebration, Wordsworth turned down the offer but instead put forward my name. I did my best and Pilgrim transmitted such information to Wordsworth thanking him for the decision to send me. And with encouragement from Wordsworth I went on to win the last Dr. Cheddi Jagan Gold Medal for literature with the story, STAND PIPE. A few months later, the History and Arts Council requested Wordsworth to help to reorganize the various

steel band into a viable national organization, as Wordsworth was an old pan player. Again Wordsworth informed the Arts Council that he was unavailable but strongly suggest Jeffrey. Catapulted for the third time based on Wordsworth’s suggestions I sought his advice and he suggested that I should try to get steelbands into schools in Guyana, Which I did.

I remember once when I was in Bartica when a rich merchant and hotel owner asked me if I know Wordsworth McAndrew as he the merchant was an ardent listener to CREOLE MECHA-MECHA. I replied in the affirmative––well boy, let me tell you, I never had so much free food and Banks beer since the opening of Pegasus Hotel.

Along with the free food in Bartica, Wordsworth McAndrew retrofitted me with creativity and the sense of belonging to the soil of Guyana, all without asking anything in return..

Farewell my friend, we will meet again.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

roots linguistic practitioner.

Apart from his folklore, he may be best remembered for the way he kept the country informed on the formation and reformation of words and in use and misuse..

In offering sympathy to his relatives and his close friends I venture to guess that he will never be silent in the gallery of the Spoken Word

he was a kind and gentle person with children, pun tap ah dat.

Errol Brewster

For me, as a young primary school boy, he was a big excitement, a marvel, and a certainty that i was not being told the whole truth. He seemed to be a larger part of the truth and a kind and gentle person with children pun tap ah dat.

I know de man, you know de man, aal a we know de man INGRAM LEWIS(Wenty)

Menes de Griot

Mr Wordsworth Mc Andrew, is indeed a National treasure.

May his exploits as a Griot continue to be told, to the young, and the old.

As Mac used to say in one of his proverbs” “If ya can’t run wid de big dogs, just stay on the landin’ and bark.”

Wordsy was a chihuahua in size, but ran with the big dosgs. He led the pack with his work and his research.

Wrickford Dalgetty

Mac... devoid of haughty social pretensions, executed his folkloric and cultural art with a simplicity that could not shake complex considerations of how he achieved such mastery. Diminutive in physical proportions, yet he will tall among the pantheon of gods who so tenaciously Let me wrap it up with another proverb of his “We can’t stand fought for our social liberation. afford to lose CUTLASS and GUANA.” We have lost the chihuahua in death, but cannot afford to lose his legacy The ancestors await his and what “Wordsy” stood for.

There is a lot to say about “Wordsy” and each of us has our own interpretation of him, but I know de man, you know de man, aal a we know de man.

triumphant entrance.

he kept the country informed on the formation and reformation of words and in use and misuse..

Eusi Kwayana

Wordsworth Mc Andrew is no longer with us in the body.

His artistic creations and the works of his vigorous and active mind, however, ought to be available to the extent that they are discovered.

For years in his own country, he bore the triple prize of dramatist, poet and folk florist, but he was also a grass

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

you with his masterful interpretation of the complex and bewildering world of folklore and at the same time elicit somber resolve from its uncanny twists.

He was at his best in his signature piece, "Ole Higue."

I found him a fascinating study. He liked to size you up and challenge you. When he was finished, and depending on how you came through the tests, your future in his world would be decided.

I am of the opinion that Wordsworth was a great interrogator. He had a way of setting you up with a question and bearing down until you either battle him to a stand still or relent. Every answer elicited a more challenging quesIf you were faking it or lying, you were in big trouble.

Wordsworth McAndrew (Mac, as he was lovingly known) tion.

But if acquitted yourself well in battle, you became his was a person of almost immeasurable knowledge. He was friend you and would be welcome in his world. That's when our resource, individually and as a company, for topics you came to appreciate what a unique and special human such as folklore, broadcasting, grammar & syntax, being he was.

The most effective weapon of cross examiidiomatic references, and just about any other topic. Mac nation in his armory was his eyes. They seemed to have the was argumentative but allowed dissenting opinions, power to unmask you. strong headed but fair, and a wonderful friend. We, at CME, as all Guyanese, and indeed the world, have lost an irreplaceable treasure. You surpassed your raison d’etre, Mac. Rest in Peace.

I was in wonder of this man

Mac was argumentative but allowed dissenting opinions, strong headed but fair, and a wonderful friend.

The Executive of Caribbean Media Enterprise (C-ME)

who seemed to fear nothing or no one and expressed he gave his talent freely truthfully and forthrightly Edwin Ali Without doubt Mac was an icon among journalists, broad- whatever his perspective was. casters and poets. A simple individual, Mac and I shared some time at Radio Demerara and I remember distinctly he had an interview with me on Ramadaan. I h ad prepared a list of subjects which I gave him so as to provide the kind of information that he would need to ask the questions But he put them aside and started, What is Roza, or Roja, how did it start, how is it continuing, etc. The interview was an eye opener for me, and throughout the half an hour or so, there emerged an indiviudlal, well talented, well educated and well versed on the different religions.

He gave his talent freely, responding with alacrity to questions and issues raised that were of general concern to The Guyanese people.

Margaret Lawrence

I grew up in Cummings St., Alberttown when Wordsworth lived around the block in Second St. next to Williams Bakery and he was a great source of fun, frolic and folk every Christmas. Masquerade Bands of all form and fashion descended on his house and there they ministered onto each other, pastored by Wordsworth. Most times his collaborator, British-born John Crissick (spelling??) Central High School’s Art Teacher, was there, soaking in this exciting folk culture. The neighbourhood looked forward to this treat and would be hanging out their windows to see the bands pass (high as a kite) down Cummings St. into Middle St , by Graham’s Bakery and Ramcharran and Twins Drug Stores.

he liked to size you up and I was in wonder of this man who seemed to fear nothing or no one and expressed truthfully and forthrightly whatever challenge you. his perspective was. Unorthodox was Wordsworth…who else who tow his bride from church on a bicycle! With the Brent Chapman price of fuel now, why not?

The late B. L. Crombie, a sportscaster who left an indelible imprint on Guyanese listeners during his sojourn here on earth used to famously say, "Good things come wrapped in small packages." No better example of that line than Wordsworth McAndrew.

McAndrew, like many a great man, was diminutive in stature but enormously gifted in his field of endeavour. He was a folklorist and poet whose talent was mesmerisingly effective because of his splendid elocution. He could dazzle

…And wasn’t he one of the GBS announcers (ask Vic or Sir. Ron) who played an April Fool prank on Guyanese by announcing that some porknockers had “caught” a massacuraman in the bush and had it on display at The Museum? Believe me that commentary was very real and frightening! Anybody remember it?

No one will ever forget Wordsworth MacAndrew!

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE

As a people, we must make sure a memorial is created and fashioned in his memory so that the children will remember and honor him.

Pat Langford Guyana Tri-State Alliance

Folklorist. poet, scholar, with a nimble mind that was the master of the creation of Guyanese descriptive vocabulary ,with a heart that always belonged to his country of birth, -Guyana. Wordsworth Mc Andrew is truly a legend and History will record him as one of Guyana.s truest sons, who has contributed to the preservation of the culture of every ethnic group that is the portrait of Guyana - Obeah, queh queh, folk lore .and the many rituals of the peoples of Guyana. He did all of this with delight and a genuine interest to understand the many Myths of our country as he saw it through his eyes of discernment of a glorious nation with a colorful diverse canvas that Mac delighted in examining, interpreting, and celebrating in his own inimitable way i.e. Old Higue. He sang with gusto from " Banda Hoosein to""Me na Dead Yet" many times changing the lyrics depending on how much jamoon wine and cook-up-rice he consumed at Ma Moore or Mother Bobb 's house. No Wordsworth , your name will never be dead to those who can remember and tell your story to the next generation and generations to come.

As a people we should not send him "Home:" and then close the door, but instead make sure that his voice will be heard through the ages, his works and writings preserved and a memorial created and fashioned in his memory so that the children will remember and honor him. We must make sure of this.

In spite of his passionate commitment to the Afro-centric heritage, he was also a universalist, who was fascinated by IndoGuyanese traditions, such as, Phagwah, Diwali, Kali Mai Puja and Mattee Koree.

Colin Moore The Guyana Day Organization

I knew Wordsworth as a prefect at Queens College. He was a strict disciplinarian and unfortunately, I became the

recipient of several detention slips from the stern and unyielding Wordsworth. Upon graduation from Queens College, Wordsworth experienced an ontological transformation. This conservative Afro-Saxon became a passionate advocate of the Afrocentric tradition. Wordsworth was, above all, a passionate advocate of the Guyanese folklore tradition and he celebrated the African roots of that folklore tradition. He extolled such Afrocentric traditions as Old Higue, Moongazer, Massacoora, Baccoo, QwehQweh, Dutch Jumbee. In spite of his passionate commitment to the Afro-centric heritage, he was also a universalist, who was fascinated by Indo-Guyanese traditions, such as, Phagwah, Diwali, Kali Mai Puja and Mattee Koree.

Wordsworth McAndrew not only “talked the talk” of Guyanese Folklore, he “walked the walk.” Like Louise Bennett, the Jamaican folklorist, he was an expert elocutionist of the Guyanese dialect. His reading of the Old Higue poem was simply inimitable. Wordsworth was also an expert connoisseur of the Guyanese cuisine. His preparation of metagee, cookup, black pudding and sousse was legendary. In the African tradition, I would like to give Wordsworth the tribal walking stick with the admonition “walk good my friend.”

He always touched the heart-beat of ordinary people.

Ian McDonald

As the African proverb truly says it, when such a man dies a whole library burns down -- except in his case it is intangibly much more than that -- as I felt when Martin died, when Denis Williams died. So long I have not been in touch with him but he is vivid in my mind and I was one of the lucky ones who heard and saw him perform his poems and felt at first hand his vibrant and totally commited personality giving out abundantly and unforgettably his deepdown love of what he was doing He always touched the heart-beat of ordinary people.

Guyana lost one of its finest sons.

Sandra Harte Wordsworth was a good and exceptionally talented man who gave much of himself to the Guyanese society.

My sympathy to his family.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A GUYANESE NATIONAL TREASURE We, at The Guyana Cultural Association New York., are deeply saddened by the loss of Mac. Few people in our global societies get to have as a profound an impact on the oral traditions of any nation as Wordsworth McAndrew has had on the oral traditions of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. Indeed, his impact on Guyanese language, literature and linguistic formulations is indelible. Further, he has significantly influenced many of us at GCA. Most of what we have done as an organization, and will continue to do, is rooted in the work Mac started. So, we can very much imagine Mac, in coming to America, in the vein of Oscar Wilde in 1882, when asked,“Do you have anything to declare,” saying,

“No, I have nothing to declare- except my genius” We are also very fortunate to have had the opportunity to embrace Mac for the last few years of his life though not entirely sparing him from that unique loneliness that many of our seniors who have migrated to these shores have unfortunately accepted as life in America.

We are also very grateful that we had many occasions to say "Thank You, Mac" through the staging of 7 Folk Festivals and with a special tribute to Macin what has become Mo’s basement project.We will f orever cherish those memories and work even harder to mitigate the hardships of life for those who have given so much to us through their art and other gifts and have thus enabled us to proudly say ,“We are indeed Guyanese.”

Mac walk in de corner, nuh.

Our tribute to MAC... excerpted from the Apocrypha, the Book of Sirach...

Let us now sing the praises of famous men , our ancestors in their generations.

The lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning.

They were those who ruled in their kingdoms, And made a name for themselves by their valor; Those who gave counsel because they were intelligent; Those who spoke in prophetic oracles; Those who led the people by their counsels; And by the knowledge of the people's lore; They were wise in their word of instruction; Those who composed musical tunes, Or put verse in writing; Rich men endowed with resources, living peacefully in their homesAll these were honored in their generations, And were the pride of their times.

Some of them have left behind a name, So that others declare their praise.

Their bodies are buried in peace, But their names live on generation after generation.

The assembly declares their wisdom, And the congregation proclaims their praise.