when one think of prisoners, music and concerts never follows. having been temporary prisoner myself on a number of occasions in this forsaken land of ours i could tell you music was the last thing on my #@^%& mind
i’ve been cordially invited/being taken to the cultural centre to see prisoners, yes prisoners, put on a musical concert tonight at the cultural centre.
my first impression and second even after seeing the billboard was which group of crazy Guyanese are now referring to themselves as prisoners? this was a private thought
to show how out of touch i am with the prisons of oh beautiful Guyana “Prisons in Concert” has been ongoing 20 years now. singers come from near and far. Mazaruni Prison, New Amsterdam Prison, Timehri Prison and the lovely Camp Street Prison to name a few.
prisoners are people too and family and most of them will come home one day
look out for a full review 🙂
who knows i might be tapping along to some familiar faces
familiar to me and you
Date: October 26, 8PM
Time: National Cultural Centre
Tickets: $1000 & $1500
over and across the pond mississippi-gawd-damn land sits the State Penitentiary at Parchman. there’s a whole body of work recorded in the prisons of the south where mostly CAPTURED Black men sang their misery and troubles away working on mr charlie’s chain gang. check out bertha sung at parchman farm. you can just begin to imagine a sliver of the terror they lived through
and if you check the history, a whole lot of our music was created in a bid to escape misery
and we know misery
in case you don’t understand the twang. this song is a man singing home to his Bertha from Parchman prison to marry someone else.
Go ‘head marry don’t you wait on me oh-ah
Go ‘head marry don’t you wait on me well now
BERTA, BERTA
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal wellGo ‘head marry don’t you wait on me oh-ah
Go ‘head marry don’t you wait on me well now
Might not want you when I go free oh-ah
Might not want you when I go free well nowO Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well nowRaise them up higher, let them drop on down oh-ah
Raise them up higher, let them drop on down well now
Don’t know the difference when the sun go down oh-ah
Don’t know the difference when the sun go down well nowBerta in Meridian and she living at ease oh-ah
Berta in Meridian and she living at ease well now
I’m on old Parchman, got to work or leave oh-ah
I’m on old Parchman, got to work or leave well nowO Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well nowWhen you marry, don’t marry no farming man oh-ah
When you marry, don’t marry no farming man well now
Everyday Monday, hoe handle in your hand oh-ah
Everyday Monday, hoe handle in your hand well nowWhen you marry, marry a railroad man oh-ah
When you marry, marry a railroad man well now
Everyday Sunday, dollar in your hand oh-ah
Everyday Sunday, dollar in your hand well nowO Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well
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