Winston Ewart Smith (Sir Wins): A promoter of Guyanese music
Celebrating our creative personalities
By Dr. Vibert C. Cambridge
Stabroek News
October 31, 2004
Charlie Knights reminds us that composers, performers and critics are important to developing a society's music traditions. To this list should be added promoters - those who invest in bands and organize events to showcase talent.
Promoters have been important in the development of Guyanese musical talent. Names like Hamid, Latchmansingh, and Insanally will be forever associated with the flowering of popular music bands during the 1960s and '70s. Winston Ewart Smith is yet another promoter.
Smith has been associated with the development and promotion of Guyanese musicfor more than 50 years. In 1981, he helped to create Guyana Musicians, Enter-tainers and Artistes of America, Inc. This New York-based organization has a regular programme for honouring Guyanese musicians, and in 1991, Smith was responsible for establishing the Guyanese Musicians Hall of Fame in New York.
Winston Ewart Smith was born to Josephine Elizabeth Smith (nee Martin) and George Joshua Hunt Smith in Georgetown, and was named after Winston Churchill. He received his primary education at Wortmanwille RC School and Broad Street Government School. He later attended Mr Blackman's Commercial School, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College, Kingsborough Community College, and Long Island University.
Smith showed an aptitude for music at a very early age. Among his earliest instruments were flutes made from the stems of papaya leaves, and combs covered with the silver paper retrieved from Lighthouse and Clipper cigarette packets.
The Salvation Army's band was an important influence in Smith's childhood. "[I] disrupted the Salvation Army's programme whenever [I] attended their services, if [I] did not get to play one of the instruments, even though [I] could not play any of them," said Smith.
Smith became known for his skill as a whistler. He used it to the fullest extent as an arranger for the Texacan Steel Orchestra. Smith, who was a non-playing founder member of the band, would whistle "out the songs to the lead pan until the songs were known." After this phase, the other pans would learn the melodies and then they would work out the harmony.
Other members of the Texacan Steel Orchestra included Charwin Burnham, Idris Burnham, Grimmick Critchlow, Wilbert Moses, Cecil Skeete, Nimrod Smith, and Reggie Simpson. Simpson became the official arranger of the Texacans, and went on to establish a reputation as one of Guyana's most innovative arrangers of steel band music.
Smith also participated as an individual woodwind musician in the BG Music Festivals during the 1950s.
Smith received encouragement from Clem Nichols, Reggie Simpson, Harry Whittaker, Sydney Prince, Barney Small, and Tom Charles. Clem Nichols was one his first music teachers, and Tom Charles recruited him into the Syncopaters Orchestra.
Clem Nichols recommended him to the BG Police Force Band, which he joined as a clarinettist at a crucial moment in the band's history. It was a time when the core of the band was retiring or migrating. He resigned from the band in July 1966 to emigrate to the United States.
Before leaving Guyana, Smith had also established a reputation as an organizer. He was respected as a man who
got things done and one who gave generously to promote Guyanese musicians. For example, in 1956, he arranged the Texacan Steel Orchestra tour to Trinidad and Tobago. There the band participated in the steel band competitions of Trinidad and Tobago's Music Festival.
Smith continued to support and to promote Guyanese musicians after his migration to the United States. In 1967, he formed a dance orchestra and a steel band in New York.
One of his most important contributions to Guyanese music was his role in launching the programme that regularly honours Guyanese musicians and the creation of the Guyanese Musicians Hall of Fame. When I interviewed Smith in February 2004, he indicated that more than 100 Guyanese had been honoured. Among the Guyanese musicians recognized by the Guyana Musicians, Enter-tainers, and Artistes of America and the Guyana Hall of Fame are Beryl Aaron, Harold Arthur, Christine Blackmoore Williams, Steve Bobb-Semple, Elton Briggs, Charwin Burnham, Tom Charles, Monica Chopperfield (Lady Guymine), Eustace Davis, Melvin Dennison, Ina Dixon (nee Vyhfius), Lynette Dolphin, Robert Duff, Enid Durant-Medas, Ferdinand Eversley, Shirley Wilson- Fish, Shirley Harper, Ivor Hendricks, Oscar James, Dr Evelyn John, Roy Winston Johnson, Clyde Jones, Milton Jones, Moses Josiah, David Winston Kendall, Charles Knights, Vernon Lewis Legall, Dr Joycelynne Loncke, Vesta Lowe, Dr Ray Luck, Trenton Mack, Edith Pieters, Billy Pilgrim, Dr Keith Proctor, Eucil Peter Primo, Ignatius Quail, Ossie Rodgers, Norma Romalho-Bacchus, Eddie Rogers, Hugh Sam, Al Seals, Phillip Goldburn (Barney) Small, James Smartt, Theresa Smith, Winston Smith, Dr Moses Telford, Tedsy Waddell, Jimmy Weekes, Bernard Patrick Whittaker, and Harry Whittaker.
Smith has also served as an executive for several Guyanese organizations in the United States. He is the President of Guyana Musicians, Entertainers and Artists of America and the President of Allied Organizations of Guyana, USA. He has served as treasurer of the Guyana Legion of America, Inc. Smith is also a member of the Guyana Ex-Police Association, which plays an important role in promoting Guyanese folk music in New York.
Smith still has an active life as a music promoter - he is the manager of three bands in New York, The Aristocrats, The Venum Band, and The Band Intrigue.
Smith, who still lives in New York, is married to Theresa Ward Smith and is the proud father of Sean, Stephanie and Elaine.
Sources
Telephone interview Vibert Cambridge (Athens, OH)/Winston Ewart Smith (New York), February 22, 2004.
Biographic materials provided by Winston Ewart Smith, March 15, 2004.