Wholesale Jerseys 2018 t311i1fe

sei8tron3

“What we found is [that] as African people, we have this thing within us and once you fool around (with instruments) this ‘thing’ comes out.” By Leon SuseranIvelaw ‘Brooks’ James is an accomplished Berbician who duly rose to prominence because he could skillfully and artistically beat a captivating musical instrument,Cheap Jerseys Online, a drum. After enlisting ten other persons, one of the most popular cultural groups in Guyana was born and literally created headlines; a group whose performance grew in high demand all over Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica and even Brazil.It was an ideal case of true home-grown talent, started several hundreds of miles up the Berbice River, by one man.His story is a very interesting one—one man on a quest to awaken his cultural identity after itIvelaw Jameswas suppressed during colonial times; one man who yearned to set his people free “from mental slavery” and release them from the cultural taboos which existed during that time.Today, he feels satisfied that he was given the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many, especially for those whom he played and serenaded by the drums of Congo Nya. He spearheaded the initiatives that took the name of Guyana to newer heights and further afield.He was born to Ivelaw James, Transport & Harbours Department(T&HD) Labourer and Veera Trellis, black pudding vendor in Stanleytown, New Amsterdam. He recalled assisting his mother selling at the corner of Theatre Alley in the town. Selling, he recounted, was an everyday activity. He said that his father abandoned the home shortly before he was born, leaving his mother to shoulder the responsibilities of both parents.  She re-married sometime later. He did meet his father several years later, “and he invited me to his home at Linden.”James seems not to have liked the colonial days as he believed it was “a period of brainwashing” and suppressing African and Indian cultures.“It was difficult for you as an ordinary simple person—my family was very poor—and being black, it was very difficult.”James attended All Saints’ Anglican School and Vryman’s Erven Government School afterwards. He was quite a sports enthusiast and led several teams.“I was the captain of the cricket,NFL Jerseys China, football, athletic and volleyball teams and I had a great following- -a lot of students used to lean on me. I participated in numerous competitions. I was selected to play with the first Berbice cricket team to play in Demerara with legends like Milton Pydanna and Alvin Kallicharran.” He was also in the Berbice football team and played at senior levels. He has also represented Berbice as a sprinter (in the 100 and 200 metres) “at Linden and other locations, and I always did well.”Also, to help his mother make ends meet in the home, he started to sell the Evening Post.“Most of my education came from the streets, selling newspapers and meeting people.”Being stopped by a potential buyer on the street while selling newspapers, young Ivelaw was called upon to read the headline on the paper, something which he realized he could not have done. He knew he had a reading problem and he set out on a mission to correct it. His friend, Abiose Houston, who attended University of Guyana, encouraged him to learn to read, “and he taught me to read at age 17.” He started to read bit by bit and recalled reading thoroughly his first book ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ by Frantz Fanon.“That book changed my whole life. From then on, I was always reading…from that day my home became a library. I started reading Black history, because I never got the opportunity to be Black—it was always striving to be colonial White—even the teachings I had in school was colonial.”During this period, Ivelaw wanted to become a true leader, “when I looked at the situation African people were in—I thought that I would be the person to lead my brothers and sisters out of mental slavery…So as I read and got the knowledge, I started to read about Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Bobby Seales.”“The issues of race and colour that was happening at the time in the United States also motivated me to create awareness about my culture and consciousness that would instill changes.”He remembered, too, participating in the Ghana Independence celebrations on March 6 each year, whereby he would portray the African Prince in full regalia and dress, “so that gave me more ambition to be African, so all my life I was striving to be African.”James then talked about embracing the Rastafarian culture and emphasized that “Rastafarianism is not something that one can simply join,Chile Jersey, it is an inborn concept. I chose to become a Rastafarian when I was old enough. I loved that way of life. It is a concept and belief”.He gave a brief history of the way of life and talked a bit aboutTwo VSOs who worked with James and the rest of the Conga Nya group.Haile Selassie, the man who was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. “It [Rastafarianism] taught people to be independent…and it captured the minds of young Black people around the world and I was one of them—it was a new concept of Africanness that Black people were waiting for all this time.”Having supported former President Forbes Burnham’s policy to feed, clothe and house the nation, James and his wife, Eileen McLean and son, Ras Lij James, and several others  migrated several miles up the Berbice River in 1979 to a farming settlement called Ida Sabina, where a new community was born and bred.“I gathered a set of brothers…and we spent five years, planting and [we] built our own houses—I even learnt the Amerindian way of life, farming and so on, and started to live among them.” This resulted in the formation of a commune, as people who were invited to visit decided to stay and join in the activities.“We built a community of all peoples. We opened the community to anybody and for five years we lived there. We never had a police force. We maintained law and order by ourselves—Rastafarianism is living peacefully for the Almighty—we grew our own food and we lived a life dedicated to the Creator.”And it was just after their arrival there, in 1980, where he and ten others, including one female, formed the Conga Nya Movement in 1984. The group’s primary focus was music and the ensemble comprised mostly different kinds of drums, backed up by percussion instruments, with one or two flutes and/or the clarinet.“What we found is [that] as African people, we have this thing within us and once you fool around (with instruments) this ‘thing’ comes out.”Also being born out of the drumming group was the Congo Nya  Cultural Foundation with founding members: Ivelaw James on drums and vocals; Sherwin Morris; Ras Lij TaFari James; Mcrosie Roberts; Shawn Agard; Anurai Leitch; Ras Leon Saul, and Wesley George on percussion and vocals; and David Grant,wholesale jerseys, Elroy Lancaster, and the lone female, Julianne Hughes.The Foundation grew by over 130 members and they held over 200 concerts across the country after formation.The other members of the group were: Gary, Sampson, Carryl George, Montgomery Griffith, Sancho and Edward Saul.Having returned to New Amsterdam shortly after 1984, the CongoJames (stooping, second right) and others at the Suriname Department of Culture during a visit to that country.Nya Foundation and drumming group created a storm across the country—a cultural storm that is. They started to perform in Georgetown as well.The idea, James stated, was to promote the National Motto of the country, ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny, “and the need for all Guyanese to become involved in national development.”He recalled that a Guyana Chronicle Editorial ‘Congo Nya Message’, was dedicated to the renowned group and called for government support of its activities “to take their shows around the country to schools, community and church events.” The group also consisted of persons with many talents such as tailors, and women who participated in pottery, etc.James reflected that he gained the confidence of his members who nominated him to be the head and advisor.The group made its debut at the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation-sponsored Folk Festival in 1984. They also performed at the National Park and several other city spots. James said that Berbice was the ‘base’ for the group, and they started to pay more attention to the music which they believed would have taken them to “the ends of the world”. Their concerts, he stated, focused on promoting racial harmony.They started to hold drumming concerts across Berbice and other parts of Guyana to raise funds to travel to Suriname. James said he enjoyed performing there.While in Suriname, they performed at cultural outreach programmes with schools through a venture sponsored by the Ministry of Education there. They also thrilled the Surinamese public with their dynamic drumming and voices at numerous nightclubs. James said he appeared on a different radio station and TV programme every single day and night.He said that Congo Nya was asked to be the opening act in Cayenne, French Guiana for South African Reggae artiste, Lucky Dube in 1998.The group also performed at the Guyana Embassy in both Suriname and French Guiana. They were given a warm reception and the authorities in the latter territory offered to teach them French.“They even took me to the university and asked me to lecture on Guyanese culture. Imagine where I came from—a man who couldn’t read or write and I found myself as an ambassador for Guyana…and they started to pay me a set of money to do these things.”“It was all Conga Nya—every radio and every TV station—this group from Guyana—the people said that it was the best thing that they saw that came from Guyana…So it was the best thing that Guyana ever produced at the time,” he boasted. “The French Government then approached us to take part in the French Carnival ‘Tou-tou-lou’, and Guyana led the Carnival—and they put me in front, and we had a big write- up in the papers.”“We returned to Guyana shortly after and it was then when the Guyana government started to take us seriously. We performed at the opening of the Caricom Secretariat at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara and received support, too, from the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport. We were like the band of Guyana,” James recalled.He stated, too, that as their popularity grew, the group was invited by the then last remaining member of the world renowned ‘Bob Marley and the Wailers’, Reggae star Bunny Wailer who was planning a big annual concert in Jamaica in July of that year, but they lacked the funds to travel. Wailer met them in Suriname. Even though James and the others started to raise funds for the trip,China Adidas Hockey Jerseys, they did not make a sufficient amount. As a result,NFL Jerseys China, it was decided that Congo Nya would travel instead to Brazil to perform.James said that the group also performed at the Cricket World Cup celebrations in Guyana in 2007 as well as many other signature events, of which he is proud. Sadly, shortly after, he suffered a stroke which resulted in him playing a less significant role in the drumming group. James attends therapy several times a week at the New Amsterdam Hospital to deal with his condition.He mentioned that his son took over his position and the group is still functioning today, even though several original band- members have left, but were replaced.The Congo Nya Heritage Foundation is today registered under the Laws of Guyana as a Non- Profit Organization and has started a Drumming School, the brainchild of James, in New Amsterdam. In 2007, the group also opened a library in Angoy’s Avenue, to promote African culture.When asked if he still enjoys the drumming today, he stated that he can still drum using one of his hands. “Drumming was my life, brother.”His daily needs these days are being catered for by his son as well as the Public Relations Officer/Manager of the Congo Nya Foundation, Mr. Oswald McBean-Harris. But even though James is more confined to the home today, he is not idle at all. He has written two poetry books over the past two years: Talking Blues and Poems for Cuffy’s Children.Both books promote his culture, the latter of which is intended for a grand launch on August 1, 2013,Cheap Arizona Cardinals Hoodies, as part of observances of the 250th Anniversary of the Berbice Slave Rebellion.“I feel good that I can still do something…and can still be active in a way.”In conclusion, James summarized his life and undertakings; his crowning achievement.“A man’s culture is his strength…and when you’re living with your culture, you are very strong—because you are going with the strengths of all your ancestors.” He stated that his life was like that of Moses—”about the liberation of a people…I’ve been and seen Black living standards all over South America…and it needs liberating.”“The music of Congo Nya is all about doing good, and when you do good, different beats will come. It’s all about doing good.”