Aunty Roachy Festival rescheduled to culminate Miss Lou 100 celebrations

The highly anticipated Aunty Roachy Festival and Ring Ding Concert, ­originally scheduled for today, Miss Lou’s birthday, has been rescheduled to later in the year.

The festival is one of the signal ­celebratory events being staged in honour of the centenary of the birth of beloved Jamaican cultural icon Dr Louise Bennett-Coverley, OM, OJ, MBE (Miss Lou).

Miss Lou’s actual birthday will get going with a gathering at her resting place at National Heroes Park, beginning at 10 a.m. The public is being invited to join the minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, Olivia Grange, and other specially invited guests as they sing happy birthday to Miss Lou.

“We started Miss Lou’s centenary celebrations on Sunday, September 1, with a moving and uplifting cultural church service at the Coke Memorial Methodist Church, downtown Kingston, which also marked the beginning of the 100 days of celebration for this revered cultural icon,” said Grange.

“Over the next three months, we look forward to ­myriad memorable events that all Jamaicans can enjoy, whether at home or abroad, in keeping with the true spirit of Miss Lou. And just as we opened the centenary celebrations with a bang, we will also close with an even bigger bang now that we have rescheduled the Aunty Roachy Festival towards the end of the celebrations,” Grange continued.

The minister also noted that the celebrations would continue this weekend with the renaming of Gordon Town Square in St Andrew to Miss Lou Square tomorrow, beginning at 5 p.m.

“Persons who were looking forward to celebrating Miss Lou this weekend at the Aunty Roachy Festival are being asked to join us at Saturday’s birthday gathering and Sunday’s renaming event, both of which promise a memorable cultural showcase for patrons to enjoy,” Grange said.

The gathering will see members of the Jamaican theatre fraternity and the public gathering to pay respect to the cultural icon. The event will be led by notable Jamaican storyteller and cultural authority Amina Blackwood Meeks and will see cultural items by the Manchioneal Culture Group and the CariFolk Singers.

Sunday’s Gordon Town Square ­renaming will feature Prime Minister Andrew Holness as the keynote speaker, while cultural items will be performed by the Hertford Cultural Group, the St Peter & Paul Choir, the Energy Plus Mento Band, and the Ascot Primary Choir, among others.

Miss Lou centenary celebrations will also take place outside of Kingston through Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) parish events and activities, including tribute concerts, displays, exhibitions, and cultural competitions. There will also be the cutting of the Miss Lou 100th anniversary birthday cake in Gordon Town Square today at 3 p.m., an effort that will be led by the JCDC’s Kingston and St Andrew Parish Office. The full listing of parish events can be found on the JCDC’s website at www.jcdc.gov.jm.

In addition to the events being ­organised by the JCDC, the Miss Lou centenary celebrations will include events hosted by local organisations, such as the National Library of Jamaica’s Unlocking the Miss Lou Archive on Thursday, September 12, which will feature a special presentation entitled ‘Miss Lou’s Views – A Model for Development Communication?’ by media practitioner and cultural authority Dahlia Harris.

PIONEER OF PATOIS

Born on September 7, 1919, Bennett-Coverley was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, linguist, comedienne, and educator. Miss Lou is one of Jamaica’s most well-known cultural icons and pioneers of Jamaican Patois. She was a major proponent of the use of the Jamaican language and lectured and performed in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, giving the Jamaican dialect international recognition. Miss Lou authored several books of poetry, and short stories, including Jamaica Labrish, Anancy and Miss Lou, and Aunty Roachy Seh. On Jamaica’s Independence Day, 2001, the Government appointed Miss Lou a member of the Order of Merit for her distinguished contribution to the development of the arts and culture. Miss Lou died in 2006 at age 87.