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Published August 6, 2003
By Claude Mills
T
HIS YEAR’S Emancipation and Inde-
pendence celebrations have acquired
an almost magical quality - a vivacity
and soul - not experienced in recent years.
Many believe that the return of Dr. Louise
Bennett-Coverley, or Miss Lou as she is af-
fectionately called, is the main reason behind
the ’natural mystic’ in the air.
Miss Lou has always enjoyed virtual ham-
merlock on the hearts and imagination of the
Jamaican public. But from the moment she
made her way down the Air Canada plane’s
steps to place her feet on the soil of her
homeland, she has single-handedly inspired a
new joie de vivre in the life of Jamaicans.
This is her first visit to Jamaica since she
emigrated to Canada in 1987, and the bubble
of euphoria associated with her return has
spread to swallow the entire country.
Miss Lou has become an object of mass
cultural fascination as demonstrated by the
’boonoonoonoos’ welcome she received
at the airport and on the streets of Jamaica
from hundreds of adoring fans. After be-
ing wheeled through a ’gauntlet of culture’
inside the airport where she was treated to
performances from the Rod Dennis Mento
Band, the Cari-folk Singers and Ashe’, she
was escorted to her hotel by police outrid-
ers. Adoring fans lined the streets of Harbour
View to greet her. They screamed her name
as her limo passed, and whenever she paused
to acknowledge their presence, they merely
basked in the corona of her presence.
On Wednesday, she held centrestage
during a rap session with the media at the
Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. She
stated that while it was important to retain
the Jamaican dialect as an integral part of
the local culture, teachers must make it their
responsibility to teach English translations.
upstaged the Prime Minister
On Emancipation Day, during the Michael
Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance,
she upstaged the Prime Minister with an
extemporaneous address to the audience
jam-packed in the Little Theatre. As Miss
Lou made her way down the aisle, she set off
a round of frantic whispering, and a murmur
of excitement ran through the crowd like an
electric current. Members of the audience
began to clap rhythmically, and they rose to
their feet in anticipation of something special.
They were not disappointed.
After singing a few bars of Water Come A
Mi Yi, she once again implored the gather-
ing to ’talk Jamaican’, and defended her
lifelong obsession with and championing
of the Jamaican dialect. When she finished,
she received a standing ovation from the
audience.e audience.dience.s to fill out, in the
minds of many Jamaicans, the portrait of a
woman who redefined the way we looked at
ourselves. Through her performances in the
theatre and the 12 years she held centrestage
on Ring Ding, she became an ideological
touchstone for many Jamaicans, and her place
is firmly riveted in the national psyche.
Miss Lou’s return has set in motion what
some dub as the ’Miss Lou multiplier effect’
because as Power 106 commentator Tony La-
ing puts it, ’Jamaicans are rallying to her, she
has rekindled, revived and restored the spirit
of the country... the festival feeling come
back’.
On the day of her grand return, opportu-
nistic vendors sold ’Miss Lou flags’, one can
now purchase ’bandoolu’ cassettes of Miss
Lou’s performances, and on August 3, 2003,
the Creative Production Training Centre
(CPTC) had a public launch of a Miss Lou
cassette.
She has rekindled interest in all things
Jamaican. Copies of her most popular liter-
ary works have been sold out. The radio talk
shows buzz with talk of her return, and or-
ganisers have noted that the attendance at key
celebratory activities has also increased. The
newspaper is littered with Ms. Lou articles,
and even ads thanking her for her return.
’People are expressing love more,’ noted
actor Charles Hyatt said of the multiplier
effect. ’The love they feel for Ms. Lou is
such that it unites them; it is contagious and I
personally feel it throughout the society. The
love that we have for Ms. Lou has translated
into a love for each other. It is one action.’
Ms. Lou is sometimes referred to as the
First Lady of Comedy, but underneath her
wily, ’tek kin teeth kibber heart bun’ comedic
style, she forced the society to face unpleas-
ant truths about itself through the multi-hued,
multi-racial colours in her verbal palette.
But it is the bold, proud, unapologetic
and unrelenting championing of the use of
the Jamaican language internationally that so
endeared her to many Jamaicans. The ques-
tion cynics are asking is: with all the love and
attention being paid to her now, will there be
a Miss Lou backlash?
On Sunday night, Miss Lou was sched-
uled to be a special guest at a performance of
’Cindy-relisha’ at the Ward Theatre.
Miss Lou will also be special guest at
the Independence civic ceremony and the
civic tribute/concert at the National Stadium
today. On August 11, she will be inducted as
Fellow of the Institute of Jamaica at the Little
Theatre.
Noh lickle twang! Ja’s
cultural icon returns