Nuff respect due to Dr Anthony Gabby Carter, one of the iconic men of Caribbean music, a man who write and sing some of de most memorable songs in we culture, who write and produce songs fuh many of today’s talented and up and coming entertainers, a man who could move from kaiso to soca or folk or ballad and who could hold a note longer than de Vendor could hold he breath under water.
I remember one night at Elombe Mottley place, Yoruba House down Fontabelle, Gabby was singing Emmerton and when he start ’pun dat note that de does hold fuh a long time, I had to mek a bathroom run – I went to de bathroom, do my business, come back and buy a drink by de bar, drink it, had a conversation with Al Gilkes, and “Gabberts” was still holding de same note!
That ability to hold yuh breath fuh so long and sing is an amazing talent, I did know a girl who could do dat too and there are times when it came in real handy fuh she!
Dr Gabby Carter is a Caribbean Icon and it is good dat the University of the West Indies honour him wid a doctorate. De truth is dat fuh he achievements he deserve multiple doctorates, ’cause just like Dr Slinger Francisco, De Mighty Sparrow, he set a standard in writing and in voice dat is world-class.
It is good too dat de honour come while he still fit and young enough to enjoy it. I only hope nobody gine to he office wid de flu asking he fuh medication now he is a doctor!
We should name something after Gabberts too. Instead of Brandons Beach, why we don’t name de beach Gabby Beach? We could inscribe de words of he famous song Jack pun de plaque or simply de words “dah beach is mine!”
We does name roundabouts after all kinds of people dat de population hardly know, usually politicians who gone to de great beyond or friends of politicians, so why not name something after a real giant like Gabberts? De only thing ’bout naming de beach after Gabberts is, I not sure he could swim and he might look li’l stupidy iffing he can’t swim ’pun he own beach!
We could also consider when we get a state-of-de-art performing arts centre to name it after Gabby or honour de man wid a roundabout, de next one we build in De City, ’cause I know we bound to be building more roundabouts in Bubbadus, dat is de solution to every traffic jam we got. Traffic building and causing delays? Solution: we call in COW and build a roundabout!
And while we at it, we also need to start thinking bout how to honour RPB, another icon of Caribbean entertainment.
These two men write so many beautiful songs fuh we to enjoy, we must show them that we regard them as giants among men.
Tek away de music dat Gabby and Bag write and we would be a very poor nation. Take dem out of de kaiso finals show or take their music away from de road or de radio, and we would be living in poverty.
So to Sir Hilary, dat visionary of Cave Hill, thank you, sir, for giving honour where it is due.
I Market Vendor gone fuh now – you have a blessed and a wonderful day, yuh hear?
