Prime Minister of Jamaica, PJ Patterson, presents Majorie Whylie with her Prime Minister's Award for Excellence at the recently held Independence Gala
-Winston Sill photo
Tanya Batson, Freelance Writer
IT IS a cool weekday afternoon, the sun having taken a small respite behind a bank of clouds. Birds fill the air with their song, almost evoking a feeling of paradise. Alas, despite the peaceful feeling, it is not Eden, just another day in St. Andrew. The birds are flocking around the front yard of musician, musicologist and lecturer Marjorie Whylie.
Musician comes first in defining her, because it is appropriate. Her work has left marks on ears across the world. On Independence Day, Whylie was one of six recipients of the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence at the Independence Gala. Reverend Easton Lee, Leonie Forbes, Peter Asbourne, Oliver Samuels and Third World were the other recipients.
Whylie, her lively gray eyes sparkling as she speaks, notes that she was pleased to receive the award because it put her in good company, not only those who shared the podium with her, but those in the past.
Whylie explains that the awards have done more than commend her for her talents. "I am perceived as a jazz musician," she says. "I am put in that cubbyhole and left there, but I'm a musician." While Whylie expresses no resentment for the "cubbyhole" in which she was thrust, she expresses joy at showing a rounder vision of her talents, which the awards allowed.
Her time in the jazz cubbyhole is in large part created by her presence with the Jamaica Big Band. Her own band, Whylie Rhythms, is also strong on jazz. However, those who know their Whylie understand that she has done extensive work in the traditional folk forms as well. As musical director of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), Whylie has to have extensive vision and she has created ballets, folk suites and more. Among them she sees the Black Widow, Litany, Night Woman of Destiny and I Not I as the high water marks of her career.
MUSIC BOOMED
Whylie explains that 1968 to 1972 was a period when her music bloomed. During this period her work with the National Pantomime had developed her confidence. By then she had become aware of instrumentation and arranging for a full orchestra. As such, the sky was the limit and she went on to create pieces which she described as "not comfortably possible". However, buoyed by her talent and youth she felt up to the challenge. "The thing is I heard it in my head and I was young enough and arrogant enough to believe that they (the musicians) should play whatever I had heard in my head."
Whylie admits that people find it strange that she composes while sitting at a desk. This seems to fly in the face of the artist, either on a beach or some other relaxed setting communing with her muse. Though she is comfortable sitting at the desk, the music does not necessarily wait for her to get there. She notes that it can be trying when a phrase comes in the middle of the night, when she is already abed. "It (the music) nags and nags at you until you get up and write it down," she says.
There are also times when the music rushes out. "There are times it (music) comes faster than you can write. Those times are the most difficult, because I think you lose the best of your work and then there are those other times you have to sit and slug at it."
Currently, in tandem with her NDTC duties, Whylie is the staff tutor in music at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, University of the West Indies, Mona. As a result, she laughingly says that her life is controlled by Professor Rex Nettleford, who is her ultimate boss through both the university and the NDTC.
With all her work however, which she notes can get to a
critical level, especially in the summer, Whylie admits to no complaints. "There is never a dull moment," she says. "I don't know what it is to be bored."
Because of her responsibilities at the UWI she travels less than she used to. However, her career has taken her to performances in the United States, Trinidad, Germany, France, St. Lucia
and Antigua.
WORKING WITH CHILDREN
With all the various groups that she has worked with and though her daytime job currently has her at the tertiary level, Whylie expresses a particular fondness for working with children and the aged. She gets a chance to do this through the outreach work requirements of the university. In connection with this, Whylie
continues to work extensively with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) as a chief adjudicator and through training workshops.
The university also requires that Whylie get some of her work published, in order to retain her post. This should come as good news for the numerous persons who have found her extensive knowledge of the traditional folk forms so useful. Her career as a musician and musicologist has brought her full circle to her childhood dreams. Whylie notes that she has always been passionate about music. However, when she was younger, she simply was not "scholarship material" because she had not been focused. As a result, the desire to teach gradually grew to eclipse music; now she manages to do both.
Whylie notes that by bringing her back to public attention, the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence has given her a chance to do more than "tread water" with her performances, meaning she can perform more and more varied material.
"You know, some people drink milk in the morning and some people drink coffee; I was just there," she explains.
Another important aspect of the award is that by being given in a year which focuses on theatre, it commends her work that field, largely through the National Pantomime, the NDTC, and even her time as co-host of the children's programme Ring Ding.
So, for a woman who believes in opportunities, this is a good one. She explains that because of that, she does not wallow in regret. "When a door slams in your face, it bounces back. So there is always a space to get in, or if it's firmly shut, there are other opportunities," she says.
As the evening winds down and the birds (many of whom have been fed from her bird feeder) continue their busy, noisy journey toward home, Whylie seems to be rather content with her lot in life. "I have had the best of so many worlds," she said.
And neither her eyes nor her reputation belie her.
