Heritage Singers' 40th Anniversary Celebration Evokes Memories

By Neil Armstrong

The Heritage Singers in "Reflections...A Walk Down Memory Lane" at the Toronto Centre for the Arts in Toronto. Photo credit: Eddie Grant

When Grace Carter-Henry Lyons, founder and musical director of Heritage Singers Canada promised that their 40^th anniversary celebration would be exciting and uplifting she wasn’t joking.

The Heritage Singers dug deep into its repertoire to take patrons who attended the sold-out matinee, and later evening show at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on a journey of “Reflections…A Walk Down Memory Lane” – the theme of the production.

Known for their Caribbean folk songs and songs from Ghana and South Africa, the singers began the show with where the idea for a group started – inside a home.

“Heritage Singers began in 1977 when a group of friends who kept meeting periodically to sing, after our first Christmas Eve get-together in 1976, was asked to perform at the Harbourfront Centre. Before that we were meeting just to have fun and sing songs to get rid of the winter blues,” says Lyons in her welcome in the printed program.

“Reflections…A Walk Down Memory Lane” opened with that Christmas Eve scene with friends and then segues into a Jamaican folk song and then a conversation between Aunty (Sandra Whiting), a veteran storyteller, and young actor, Jimmy (Kaden Stephen), who wants to know more about his Jamaican roots.

Later in their conversation, Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) is mentioned and Jimmy is so mesmerized by the story that Aunty tells him about her that he considers the celebrated folklorist, cultural historian, storyteller, poet and author, “Queen of Jamaica.”

The Heritage Singers included a tribute to the Jamaican cultural icon and also had the world premiere of a teaser of the upcoming full-length documentary, “Miss Lou Say So!,” created by Fabian Coverley and a creative team of partners. The film will be featured at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.

Bennett-Coverley lived in Toronto for almost twenty years and was a collaborator and supporter of the work of the singers.

Joan Andrea Hutchinson            Photo credit: Eddie Grant

As narrator, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, a well-known Jamaican writer, storyteller and poet, infused the show with anecdotes and epigrams in her introductions to the segments. She was also a character in it – a “Maddah” (a ‘spiritualist’) whose counsel is sought by a grandmother whose grand-daughter is heading to Canada.

Hutchinson plays a very convincing role as “Maddah” dressed in red and white with  a wooden staff to boot.

“The consultation leads to Maddah extending an invitation to a Pukumina/Revival Meeting where the migrating relative can receive a blessing,” notes a synopsis of the scene.

The Heritage Singers performing a medley of folk songs recreating their first performance at the Harbourfront Centre in 1977. The group celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on Oct. 21, 2017. Photo credit: Eddie Grant

The show involved a medley of Jamaica’s award winning festival songs, and the nostalgic mento music played on the authentic rhumba box -- a favorite among visitors to the island.

Lloyd Chung, a member of the Heritage Singers, sang “Song Bie” or (Bidding Goodbye) reflecting on his Hakka Chinese ancestry and the journey of his forebears to the Caribbean and Guyana in the mid-1800s. He also played the role of Maas Salah, the shopkeeper in one of the scenes.

Chung met his family in China for the first time on a visit there in 2008, which he describes as “a very intensely emotional event on both sides, which I will never forget.”

The group also performed the Taiwanese song, “Mei Hua,” – from their favourite tour to Taiwan -- accompanied by members of the Toronto Taiwanese Choir.

Showing their dexterity the Heritage Singers also sang to choreographed movements as they showcased some of their past pantomimes – Hallelujah Pepperpot, Zuzuwah, and Olde Tyme Country Wedding -- drama and various dance forms.

They included Kumina, a dance-ritual originated by the people of the Congo; and Quadrille, a European dance seen almost exclusively at festivals. It originated in France at the end of the 18th century, spreading across Europe and eventually to the colonies in the Caribbean.

The group’s 30 members are from various Caribbean countries and other countries such as Ghana and Pakistan. Founding member, Valerie Laylor, says she is still enjoying the group after 40 years.

Their repertoire includes secular, religious, and traditional folk songs in thoroughly engaging performances.

The singers are also accompanied by musicians playing instruments such as the keyboard, banjo, rhumba box, steel pan, guitars, and drums.

As ambassadors of culture, the Heritage Singers celebrated their fortieth in fine style showcasing a potpourri of songs, traditions, dances and colourful costumes as they preserve their folk culture.

Apart from Whiting, Stephens and Hutchinson, the other guest performers were: Clive Forrester, who played the minister at country wedding; Tony Pierre, musician;  Robert Owen, tenor; Tanisa Lisbeth Hernandez, who performed Miss Lou’s ‘Colonisation in Reverse’, and Hudson Forde, drummer.

Production team included Amah Harris, director; Douglas Prout, director; Fabian Coverley, technical consultant; Joan Pierre, stage manager; and Nadine Miller, props manager.

Heritage Singers Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit, volunteer organization, dedicated to the development, promotion, and appreciation of Caribbean and African folk songs.

Members come from diverse cultural backgrounds, and the songs are sung in various languages—Jamaican dialect (usually called patois), English, Ghanaian, French, and Spanish.

Since 1977, the choir has introduced this aspect of cultural heritage to international folk festival audiences in Holland, Germany, Taiwan, Mexico, Venezuela, the United States, and Canada.