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18/10/2016

A golden voice and a love for music

It is little wonder that Michele Henderson-- the girl with the golden voice-- loves music the way she does.
The Dominican songstress comes from a family involved in culture and the arts and many played instruments of all sorts.
Her singing talent has taken her to far-flung corners of the globe, generating international acclaim.
Michele took a little timeout from her busy schedule recently to talk about herself and her music.
As she animatedly shared her thoughts from her King George V Street Studio, it was evident that she absolutely enjoys what she does.
“I enjoy doing other things, but…my passion and drive and my career goals will always be in music,” Michele said.
Over the years, she has made great strides, especially by breaking into the French music market where she has established an important niche.
Michele has released six albums so far: Michele Henderson; Michele Henderson Creole Special Live; Soundcheck; Mwen Aime’w; Sa Kai and Home.
Today, Michele has the enviable reputation of being one of the few musicians who can earn a living from the music industry in Dominica.
But she explained that doing so requires monumental effort, commitment and discipline.
“The effort that it takes to put yourself out there and get noticed and start to generate income…it’s quite a bit of effort…it takes quite a bit of discipline to do that,” she asserted.
Before launching her career, Michele researched the music sector and determined who the successful local musicians were.
The name Gordon Henderson (a relative of hers) came up. She found out that the legendary songwriter’s success is based on his insistence on owning his intellectual property.
So, even before Michele started making music, she registered with The Collections Society.
She then went to Guadeloupe and Martinique, and with the help of others, Michele got her music played on radio stations in the French islands.
The people loved her music and her fan base grew rapidly.
As her popularity grew, she got more and more calls for paid live performances. After a while, her record sales soared and Michele also began collecting royalties from the French market.
Michele was thrilled because she was doing what she loved and she was being paid to do it!
But Michele hastens to add that music is a tough industry and there is no easy path to success.
“It doesn’t just happen like that. There is a lot of work to be done,” she said.
“You will be turned down a lot. You will be disappointed a lot before you actually get to that point where you feel something is happening.
“I have had a lot of disappointments, a lot of turn-downs. But we just didn’t stop.”
Success, she said, requires a musician to keep on pushing.
“Let people appreciate you for the good work you do and have less to criticize about you.”
Michele sings mainly in the jazz, zouk, cadence and soul genres, but she has a much wider love for music.
“I like everything…oh my gosh! I am a rock fan as well…” she laughed.
“To me, music is music and all of music is aesthetic. It’s communication on a certain wavelength that…lifts you up out of everything that you are going through . . .
“That, to me, is a powerful force and all genres have that…different people experience that through different genres.”
“Rock, to me, is my rebel music. Jazz . . . inspires me to do better. Soul . . . is music that I can express emotions the best in …and classical music I love as well,” she explained.
Classical music, she remarked, came from a time when there were no recordings and musicians had to play from handwritten notes in order for others to hear it.
“Each piece would have been played differently because it would have been played by a different instrumentalist. I like that about classical music . . . that interpretation of it.”
Michele plays the flute and writes most of her own songs as well as songs for other musicians, including calypsonians.
One of her own songs touches her the most; it is one that has not yet been released.
The song, “Always” is a soulful rendition that exemplifies the exquisitely controlled power of her voice. She wrote it especially for her father.
Michele has been a performer at high-profile festivals and events all over the world.
In 2014, Michele beat 57 semi-finalists to become the winner of the CARICOM song competition with her song “Celebrating CARICOM”. The song is now the official anthem of CARICOM.
The Cultural Division has bestowed Michele with a Special Recognition Award for Contribution to Cultural Development.
Michele is married to Roland Delsol (Jr.) and is the mother of two. Aside from music, she is an accomplished businesswoman.
An active member of Crime Stoppers, she is also one of the founders and principal organisers of the Kai and Vicki Kids Charity. (By Gwen Evelyn/Published in the Sun Newspaper)

11/10/2016

A chat with the Grande Dame of Creole music

There is a good reason why Ophelia Marie is known as the Grande Dame of Creole Music.
Her singing voice makes listeners pause, then feel a rush of emotion.
Soothing, melodious, hypnotic-- Ophelia’s voice is a unique musical fingerprint-- a signature sound in Creole music and a true national treasure.
That’s why it was a treat to chat with Ophelia as she relaxed at her home and main place of business, Chez Opelia Cottage Apartments in Roseau River Valley.
There, she’s likely to burst into song from time to time as she reflects on her life, her music and the music she loves.
If you’re lucky, she might sing a bit of the famous “Click Song” by Miriam Makeba; and she has the rare talent to replicate the unique click-sounds of the language of South Africa’s Xhosa people.
Undoubtedly, the Grande Dame of ‘cadence-lypso’ has played a key role in taking Dominica’s music to the world stage.
She has a ready laugh and speaks openly about her life and music with ease.
Ophelia said she was born in Curacao to Dominican parents and came here at the age of nine to live in Pointe Michel.
Brought up in a protective, close-knit household, Ophelia and her siblings have a strong musical background because her dad was in a band and played the organ.
He often played music for his family’s entertainment, she said, and it was ingrained in the family’s way of life.
Ophelia clearly remembers when she first got the idea of singing on stage. While looking at Barbara Bully singing with the Swinging Stars, she said to herself: “I could do that!”
“I knew at that point that I could hold a microphone… have all those musicians playing around me and be able to carry a tune. I knew that from then,” Ophelia recalled.
Back then, she said, singing was not looked upon as a profession. “Singing was seen as something you played at.
“Daddy was a singer, but it was entertainment for other people . . . he probably came home with a paycheck [from singing], but he had another job,” she pointed out.
“It wasn’t anything that could have become a profession or something you did for a living,” she said.
In those days, it was tough for a woman to make meaningful headway in the male-dominated Caribbean music industry.
Her biography relates that some record distributors in the French West Indies initially refused to take Ophelia's records, saying that the public would not buy records produced by a female.
Yet, Ophelia’s first album-- produced with the support of her husband, McCarthy ‘Mac’ Marie-- broke through gender barriers and was a hit in the French West Indies.
Cadence-lypso pioneer, Dominican artiste Gordon Henderson had just started producing music in France and offered to produce the album ‘Ophelia’. The album sold 100, 000 copies.
The clincher on that album was the hauntingly beautiful “Aie Dominique, which is now an ageless classic in Dominica’s musical tapestry.
Ophelia recalled that the song was not originally intended to be a cadence-lypso piece, but Gordon encouraged her to give it a try.
“I asked him: “Well, okay; how does that go?” They started playing it and I just sang and it just went and it just stayed…” she remembers.
Ophelia explained that she wrote the song herself, inspired by the troubling socio-political events of that time in Dominica.
“All I could do was cry; so I picked up paper and I wrote what I felt,” she says. And it’s easy to cry to “Aie Dominique, she remarked.
“I remember the first time I tried to do a video they brought me onto a set and asked me to sing over my music. I couldn’t sing, I was just crying and crying…
“I had to recompose and try again. When I sing it hurts my heart, it hurts my stomach…”
Like ‘Aie Dominique’, many of her songs are inspired by her own experiences or those of others.
Ophelia continues to produce albums almost every two years, the last one being ‘Selebwasyon’ .
Pleased with the National Cooperative Credit Union cadence-lypso initiative, Ophelia said, “We are forgetting that it’s on account of cadence that we have so many musicians; that gives us a certain confidence that makes it possible for us to host the WCMF.
“It wasn’t because we were playing reggae or blues or rock or whatever…it was because we had a Creole musical expression that was essentially ours, so we must not now throw it away,” she declared.
Ophelia has been bestowed with the Maracas D'or in Paris, Dominica’s Sisserou medal of honour as well as the Caribbean Cultural Icon award from the CARIFESTA committee.
Her most cherished accolade is her Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by Sacem in Martinique.
A trained social worker by profession, Ophelia is a mother of two.

(Photo by Martei Korley/Article written by Gwen Evelyn, published in the Sun newspaper)

06/10/2016

21/09/2016

29/08/2016

Petite Savanne — one year later

It’s a warm, sunny morning in Petite Savanne.
A gurgling stream of water meanders cheerfully through what is largely an unwelcoming bed of rocks, playfully coursing over stones and trickling through narrow gaps.
Harmless enough, it appears.
The sound is soothing; but why are there so many rocks? This question takes us back to a fateful date-- August 27, 2015.
That was when this seemingly playful little brook became a massive, churning mass of water, overflowed its banks and joined with another apparently tranquil waterway to wreak havoc.
Together, they contributed to what is now known as ‘the Petite Savanne disaster’ when the area was riddled with landslides that buried property and claimed lives.
The village will never be the same again. Government evacuated the area and has since declared it unlivable.
As we visit, one year later, villagers are in the early stages of preparation for a memorial service at the Catholic Church, which was closed after the tragedy.
A dislocated resident is cheerfully washing the steps of the stone church.
Foliage now covers much of the evidence of what happened on that day. But there are still ugly scars on the mountainside, as though the soil has been crudely gouged out with a huge spade.
Huge boulders here and there are permanent reminders of what happened that day-- like a boulder that now squats heavily where a church once stood. There is absolutely no sign of the church.
The guide on this trip to Petite Savanne leads us through a trail of pumpkin vine and bushes. There is no sign of the road that used to be there.
After a short walk, we come upon a spot beneath a mountain that still bears the sign of a landslide.
An abandoned house, still a bright shade of green, stands on one side, partially covered with vegetation. Perhaps no one will ever live there again, considering where it is and what happened.
A landslide took eight lives and covered four houses on this spot. Now, all that remains is a giant boulder.
The only telltale sign that there were other houses there is a piece of a galvanized roofing sheet poking out of the earth.
As we drive through the village, the guide points to various empty spots where buildings were once located.
He also points to a number of family homes, which he said are now abandoned.
Ironically, despite the tragedy that happened here, the village remains a beautiful spot. Some still live there; others visit constantly using a daily bus service.
Colourful foliage still lines the road to a large extent. And apart from the bushes on the road sides in some areas and occasional derelict vehicle, the environment is mostly clean.
For the most part, the main road is bare, except for a few abandoned dogs and cats, some of which appear painfully thin.
However, we see people from time to time, sitting on their porches or emerging from inside the houses as our guide calls out to them.
The few people happily greet our guide and one offers a beverage.
Residents and some dislocated visiting dwellers explain that they return to plant, reap and to tend to their houses.
Some are also rearing small numbers of livestock, such as chickens and goats.
One man has reopened a small shop in the village. He gets ice from Roseau and sells drinks and other small items. A bench outside the shop soon attracts a few people.
We are told that some of the villagers who have remained sometimes gather at the home of one man to look at television and hang out during the evenings because he has a small generator.
A bus operator is plying the Petite Savanne route daily as people continue to visit the community that they still call home.
A little girl sitting on a porch explains that she was visiting with her mother.
She wouldn’t mind returning to Petite Savanne and particularly misses walking to the colourful, now abandoned school with her friends.
Clearly, some villagers are puzzled in relation to what their next step should be.
They are due to be relocated, but it would be difficult to for them to get accustomed to new environs. Yet, they would like to get settled once and for all.
Despite the tragedy that has occurred there, most of those still visiting Petite Savanne say they want to return permanently to their village.
And they remain reluctant to let go of the beautiful village they once called home.

29/08/2016

Heartbroken survivor remembers Erika

It seemed like just a rainy morning when Angela Laurent got out of bed on August 27, 2015.
Angela realized that the rain was particularly heavy because it was beating into her room, even though the window was closed.
She tried to open the window to look outside but it refused to budge; so she wrapped herself in a sheet and returned to bed.
No sooner had she gone back to bed, Angela heard her son yelling out to her that water from a nearby river was “passing through the house”.
That certainly was not normal and Angela, an elderly woman, was startled.
Her son picked her up and they hurried outside to seek shelter at their neighbor, Richard Baron’s house.
As her son fetched her there, she was stunned to see that the usually placid river had transformed into a raging monster.
Thinking she was safe, her son left her there with Baron’s family and went to see if other villagers needed help.
But within minutes, a huge landslide slammed into Baron’s house, trapping Angela against a wall.
Suddenly, she was thigh-deep in slurry, immobilized by mud. Huge stones lay around her. Miraculously, Angela was still alive.
By pressing against a stone, Angela gradually loosened the mud around her legs and slowly raised herself out of the slurry.
Luckily, three young men were able to force the door of the house open and rescue Angela and the others.
Baron was outside at the time of this slide, caught up in challenges of his own.
Angela vividly recalls the scene when she got outside.
“Coming out, is more rain; more river coming down. I tell them I not going through that river. So I rested my head on a pear tree and I prayed.
“I say ‘Lord, if it is your will, let us cross.’ I just see a piece of earth (from a landslide) come down and it fall in the river and the water stop. I told them the river stop, let us cross.”
As soon as they had crossed on the wedge of earth, the river swept it away.
The boys then took Angela to shelter at the Guiste’s home.
But her son, Simon Laurent, was not so lucky.
She learnt that he was about to check on her when a boiler exploded, killing him, her 17-year-old nephew Darven Baron and several others. Young Darven had been enjoying his summer break before starting his final year at school.
It is a deeply painful memory.
“I don’t know if it is hot water, if is stone or what kill them…it was not him alone,” she lamented.
Fabian Fontaine was with Simon, Darven and some other men when the boiler exploded.
Fontaine recalled that they were watching the river swell when there was a sudden explosion.
“Suddenly, I heard a big noise…like a bomb…” A landslide had engulfed the Dominica Essential Oils and Spices distillery and the boiler had exploded.
Within seconds, everyone was covered with debris. “I thought it was the last day of my life…” Fabian said during an interview last year.
The Sun was told that eight persons died when the boiler exploded.
Four bodies, including those of Simon Laurent and Darven Baron, were recovered from a house just above the distillery. It appears that they were flung there by the force of the explosion.
Angela said Simon was 49 years old and made a living as a builder. He was married and had three daughters.
“A day wouldn’t pass if he doh come by me. I made his breakfast for him every morning,” she recalled tearfully.
Angela said she suffered a fractured leg, which was also impaled by wood. Her wounds have healed, but nothing can fix the emotional damage from the loss of her son and the trauma of that fateful day.
Her quiet life in a close-knit community where she operated a grocery store is over. Erika has changed Angela forever.
“It shocked me, it destroyed me,” she said.

07/08/2016

A new SMA principal with a solid action plan

At the start of the new school year, St Mary’s Academy (SMA) students will meet their new principal, Thomas Holmes-- an experienced educator and guidance counselor with a solid action plan to help his charges achieve and succeed.
When it comes to school management and effective education, Holmes has clear-cut philosophies and strategies, honed by his lifelong passion for his Christian ministry and his teaching career.
Holmes decided very early in life that he wanted to be a teacher and a priest. “When I went to SMA [as a student] I realised that the Brothers also teach,” he recalled.
“I see them as almost like priests . . . I decided that was the best thing for me.“ So he joined the Congregation of Christian Brothers as soon as he had completed high school.
As a Brother, Holmes began teaching in 1977 at a Catholic school in Antigua. He later went on to teach at Catholic schools in Saba and Dominica.
He expanded his role to become a school administrator and served as Vice Principal at the SMP as well as Vice Principal and Acting Principal of St Martin Secondary.
Since 1999, he has also served as a guidance counselor in the government service.
Holmes explained that his approach to education is to foster beneficial interpersonal relationships among teachers, parents and students as well as mutual respect among teachers and students.
He strongly believes in effective teamwork and he intends to implement a system of ‘Inclusive Principal-ship/Leadership.
As an educator, his greatest satisfaction is helping struggling students to improve their performance.
Students’ needs are his top priority. “When people chose SMA, they chose it for a reason,” he asserted. “They believe in SMA! . . . I do not want teachers. . . myself, and even parents to disappoint our students.”
“We want the students to know. . . when you come to SMA, you come to learn; first and foremost,” he declared, adding that effective learning requires wholesome interaction between students and teachers.
This only comes from mutual respect, he maintained. “Do not be disrespectful to teachers,” he instructs students; and teachers are likewise urged: “Do not disrespect our students.”
Holmes said one of an educator’s greatest challenges is dealing with children who are indifferent about their education.
“As a teacher you can be doing your best, but if the student does not respond and do their work and really show that they are interested in their work, that can be a challenge.”
“Teachers have to meet them half way; find out, talk to the students…they may not want to tell you as a teacher, but they may want to tell somebody else in private. That’s why counseling is very important,” Holmes said.
He pointed out that a good teacher must be a nurturer who, at various times, has to assume multiple roles in the interest of helping students.
“Mother, father, policeman, doctor, lawyer… these are the roles. . . If you see a child in class apparently withdrawn, you may go and say, “What is wrong?’”
All teachers do not have counseling skills, but they can refer troubled students for counseling, he said.
According to Holmes, it is a teacher’s duty to ensure that students learn and education is a team effort.
That’s why he expects teachers to bring out the best in students; yet he also demands that students do their best also.
Students must attend school with the clear intention of learning and give due respect to the school and its rules, he said.
Holmes called on parents to instill discipline and respect in their children during their formative years, before they are five years old.
In particular, parents need to be sufficiently involved in their children’s education.
He referred to parents who fail to push their children to do schoolwork for most of their school days until its time for their Grade Six or CXC examinations.
“You put your children in the care of teachers. You should be there all along the way to help the teachers. . . it is a great challenge . . .
“Some parents, you just do not see them in schools. Even when the students are misbehaving and you call them as a counselor, you don’t even see them…” he complained.
Holmes intends to build strong communication between parents and teachers at SMA to ensure that students are more disciplined and perform better.
He pledged to ensure that SMA’s policies and programmes are implemented effectively, in full communication with the Ministry of Education, and with total financial accountability.

07/08/2016

A new SMA principal with a solid action plan

At the start of the new school year, St Mary’s Academy (SMA) students will meet their new principal, Thomas Holmes-- an experienced educator and guidance counselor with a solid action plan to help his charges achieve and succeed.
When it comes to school management and effective education, Holmes has clear-cut philosophies and strategies, honed by his lifelong passion for his Christian ministry and his teaching career.
Holmes decided very early in life that he wanted to be a teacher and a priest. “When I went to SMA [as a student] I realised that the Brothers also teach,” he recalled.
“I see them as almost like priests . . . I decided that was the best thing for me.“ So he joined the Congregation of Christian Brothers as soon as he had completed high school.
As a Brother, Holmes began teaching in 1977 at a Catholic school in Antigua. He later went on to teach at Catholic schools in Saba and Dominica.
He expanded his role to become a school administrator and served as Vice Principal at the SMP as well as Vice Principal and Acting Principal of St Martin Secondary.
Since 1999, he has also served as a guidance counselor in the government service.
Holmes explained that his approach to education is to foster beneficial interpersonal relationships among teachers, parents and students as well as mutual respect among teachers and students.
He strongly believes in effective teamwork and he intends to implement a system of ‘Inclusive Principal-ship/Leadership.
As an educator, his greatest satisfaction is helping struggling students to improve their performance.
Students’ needs are his top priority. “When people chose SMA, they chose it for a reason,” he asserted. “They believe in SMA! . . . I do not want teachers. . . myself, and even parents to disappoint our students.”
“We want the students to know. . . when you come to SMA, you come to learn; first and foremost,” he declared, adding that effective learning requires wholesome interaction between students and teachers.
This only comes from mutual respect, he maintained. “Do not be disrespectful to teachers,” he instructs students; and teachers are likewise urged: “Do not disrespect our students.”
Holmes said one of an educator’s greatest challenges is dealing with children who are indifferent about their education.
“As a teacher you can be doing your best, but if the student does not respond and do their work and really show that they are interested in their work, that can be a challenge.”
“Teachers have to meet them half way; find out, talk to the students…they may not want to tell you as a teacher, but they may want to tell somebody else in private. That’s why counseling is very important,” Holmes said.
He pointed out that a good teacher must be a nurturer who, at various times, has to assume multiple roles in the interest of helping students.
“Mother, father, policeman, doctor, lawyer… these are the roles. . . If you see a child in class apparently withdrawn, you may go and say, “What is wrong?’”
All teachers do not have counseling skills, but they can refer troubled students for counseling, he said.
According to Holmes, it is a teacher’s duty to ensure that students learn and education is a team effort.
That’s why he expects teachers to bring out the best in students; yet he also demands that students do their best also.
Students must attend school with the clear intention of learning and give due respect to the school and its rules, he said.
Holmes called on parents to instill discipline and respect in their children during their formative years, before they are five years old.
In particular, parents need to be sufficiently involved in their children’s education.
He referred to parents who fail to push their children to do schoolwork for most of their school days until its time for their Grade Six or CXC examinations.
“You put your children in the care of teachers. You should be there all along the way to help the teachers. . . it is a great challenge . . .
“Some parents, you just do not see them in schools. Even when the students are misbehaving and you call them as a counselor, you don’t even see them…” he complained.
Holmes intends to build strong communication between parents and teachers at SMA to ensure that students are more disciplined and perform better.
He pledged to ensure that SMA’s policies and programmes are implemented effectively, in full communication with the Ministry of Education, and with total financial accountability.

02/08/2016