In his article on radio in British Guiana for the 1951 Chronicle Christmas Annual, Albert E L Isaacs described Mrs Joyce Ferdinand- Laljee (later Joyce Ferdinand-Saunders) as one of the "Big Finds" of local radio (and stage) during 1951.
Isaacs' article stated that Joyce Ferdinand-Laljee's genius was shared with the people of British Guiana through the radio programme Berbice Calling, produced by Olga Lopes-Seale on ZFY.
Joyce Ferdinand was born in New Amsterdam in 1923 and was described as a child protegee. Her mother, Edith Ferdinand, started her with piano lessons at the age of three. Her mother was an important musical personality in New Amsterdam. She was a music teacher and organist at both St Patrick's Anglican Church and Mission Chapel Congregational Church.
Ferdinand's other teacher in British Guiana was Mrs Ruby McGregor. It was under her tutelage that Ferdinand earned the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (Piano Performing) in 1948.
By 1951, Ferdinand was the toast of the nation. She dominated classical music and was celebrated for her performances on the British Council broadcasts.
Joyce Ferdinand-Saunders
As mentioned earlier, Isaacs described her as one of the "Big Finds," and the Guiana Times voted her 'Musician of the Year' in 1951.
Charles Knights remembers her as the first Guyanese to perform a piano concerto with the British Guiana Philharmonic Orchestra. This was before the performance by Winifred Atwell, the celebrated Trinidadian pianist.
In 1946, Ferdinand married the Rev William Laljee. He was very supportive of her and encouraged her to continue her musical career.
Ferdinand's musical career took her to the United Kingdom, the United States, and back to Guyana.
Before leaving for the UK on a British Council scholarship in the early 1960s, Ferdinand relocated to Georgetown, where she established herself as an innovative teacher, performer and composer.
The British Council Scholarship enabled Ferdinand to study at the Trinity College of Music in London. There she completed diploma programmes in piano education and the teaching of music in schools. She was awarded the Fellowship of the Trinity College of Music (FTCL) in 1964.
Between 1964 and 1976, Ferdinand taught music in Birmingham. According to the Snijders and Loncke, editors of One Hundred Years of Classical Music in the Guianas: Selected Pieces for Pianoforte, she returned to Guyana in 1976 to accept an appointment as a lecturer at the Cyril Potter Teachers' Training College. Although her stay in Guyana was relatively short, she did engage herself in a number of activities that have since influenced her music creativity. Among the activities were renewing her contact with Guyanese folk music and her engagement with Broadcast to Schools.
In the late 1980s, Ferdinand made another trip to Guyana. The period following those visits has been marked by compositions celebrating the Guyanese landscape.
In her correspondence with the editors of One Hundred Years of Classical Music in the Guianas: Selected Pieces for Pianoforte, she explained, "The effect on me was profound, and thoughts of Guyana and the difference in life-style produced acute nostalgia. I was compelled to use the only means of expression at my disposal, and it was this feeling that impelled me into composing."
Ferdinand has composed for viola, flute, voice, and pianoforte. Her Carousel for Flute was premiered by the Guyanese flautist Keith Waithe.
Among her compositions for pianoforte are Odyssey of the Demerara River, Three O'Clock in Bourda, The Legend of Kai, Stabroek Blues, Water Lily Canal by Moonlight, and Janie Gal.
Dr Joycelynne Loncke performed Janie Gal on the CD that accompanies the book One Hundred Years of Classical Music in the Guianas...
Janie Gal celebrates the folk song Janey/Janie Gal. It is a folk song about youth, vigour, and responses to raging hormones. It is the pleading of youth: "Come leh we go backdam, Janey gal, come leh we go backdam." Ferdinand-Saunders' composition and Dr Loncke's rendition are dramatic.
The piece begins with an almost plaintive wail of the young man that grows into pleadings and negotiations and concludes with what is confident rejection. It gives the impression of a Janey "who li'l but nimble," and whose "wais'... fine lak a timble."
This composition illustrates the blending of European classical forms with African rhythms. Ferdinand-Saunders' Janie Gal is a celebration of African Guyanese folk creativity and demonstrates its universal musicality.
The work of Joyce Ferdinand-Laljee, now Ferdinand-Saunders, needs to be documented. She is without doubt a Guyanese creative hero.
Sources
Albert E L Isaacs, Olga Lopes 1951's No.1 Producer Entertainer; Joyce Ferdinand-Laljee; Dot Evans Finds of the Year. The Chronicle Christmas Annual (1951), p 32-33.
Herman Snijders and Joycelynne Loncke (ed) One Hundred Years of Classical Music in the Guianas: Selected Pieces for Pianoforte. Guyana : Development Research Unit for Music, University of Guyana, 2002, p xx-xxi.
Vibert C Cambridge Dr Joycelynne Loncke: Keeping the family's flag flying and making Guyana proud. Sunday Stabroek, October 23, 2003.
Telephone interview: Charles Knights and Vibert Cambridge, September 15, 2004.