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Guitar maker Gibson brings sweet sounds to schools/youth groups
Basil Walters, Observer staff reporter
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
"All things shall vanish from under the sun. Music alone shall live, music alone shall live, music alone shall live, never shall die. Father, we thank you for music, the joy which it brings to our lives. The inspiration which it brings to our country, that in our deepest problem, through music we can experience new hope, new light and a new teacher. We thank you for the Gibson Company and the donation to our country. We thank you for the Bob Marley Foundation through whose inspiration the work of music and the inspiration of our people continues not just simple in our country, but throughout the world......," the Rev Webster Edwards prayed.
Rev Edwards gave the invocation yesterday (Thursday) at the Bob Marley Museum Legend Cafe where two organisations, Gibson Guitar Corporation and INMED Partnership for Children, in collaboration with the Bob Marley Foundation have offered a number of schools and youth organisations 25 guitars to develop a programme of music training for young people in impoverished communities.
"The purpose of this gathering... is to accept a very generous gift that will be made by the Gibson Foundation, which is affiliated with the guitar company that for the first time made a gift internationally, because generally it's in the United States," said INMED Caribbean Advisor, Robert Wright in his opening remarks during the presentation ceremony.
He added that the donation will be an annual gift, the size of which will be increased annually. Explaining why Jamaica was chosen, Wright said, "The Gibson Foundation realised that Bob Marley's favourite guitar was a Gibson guitar. And we at the INMED Partnership for Children (decided) to make Jamaica the largest beneficiary. Jamaica is famous for its music and its creative arts, and so Gibson was happy to be associated with Brand Jamaica."
Two schools from Trench Town were selected by the Bob Marley Foundation - Trench Town Comprehensive and Charlie Smith Comprehensive High Schools- as well as Alpha Boys Home, Dallas Community Development Council, Ananda Marga Basic School, and Goodwin Park Hostel. The Bob Marley Foundation will showcase the most successful students in the annual Bob Marley Week celebration in 2008.
"I want to welcome everyone here today on this very special occasion... because I really and truly want to give thanks to the Gibson Foundation and also the INMED Partnership for Children for helping us with this. We really appreciate these gifts, I must say. Where there is a meeting of great minds, there is a forum for great change....I think that we've come to the conclusion that it is us that has to do the change ourselves. And with an effort like this for donating guitars to the schools in the inner city, Charlie Smith Comprehensive High School and Trench Town Comprehensive High School.
I think things will change because maybe we'll have another Bob Marley. He too started out as an inner city youth with a little guitar and taught himself how to play. And this is where leadership starts. We've to find it for ourselves. So, on behalf of the Bob Marley family, the Bob Marley Foundation I just want to welcome you and thank you for your efforts. And we want to work on this relationship and see what other fruits it can bear," said Donisha Pendergast, granddaughter of Bob Marley.
Dr Linda Pfeiffer, CEO of INMED Partnership for Children, told the gathering that her 20-year-old organisation remains dedicated to strengthening the ability of communities to raise healthy, educated children with increase opportunities for the future. And for the past 20 years helped to build public/private partnerships, engaged communities and implement programmes for children for many different countries around the world.
And in her address, the Minister of Education, Maxine Henry-Wilson said that music is one of the ways in which we are able to engage especially our young men. "...And in the past we've said to students, y'know, music is really nothing. Music is a recreational activity. The icon Bob Marley has shown that it can be that, but it can be more. It is a form of expression, it's a form of communication, it's a form of recording and teaching your history. It has so many dimensions. We've put it back in the curriculum for the CXC and the CXC is actually examining music now. And we're therefore happy that we're able to gain access to equipment," Henry-Wilson said.
However, the education minister asked that children not be burdened with music as an exam subject. But use it as a way of chanelling their creativity, their sense of their environment as a development tool.
"We also need to convince our young people that music provides them with career opportunities. The culture industry is the fastest growing industry in the world," she told the gathering.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle...UTH_GROUPS_.asp
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