By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 12, 2018 — During my research for this week’s OSWALD BROWN WRITES column on the current state of the Bahamian entertainment industry, I quickly realized that it was impossible for me “do justice” to such important topic in the self-imposed limited number of words (around 1,000) that I have established as a guideline for my columns.
Clearly, any attempt to chronicle the rich history of entertainment in The Bahamas would fall far short of being remotely comprehensive without including the historic contributions of past Bahamian entertainment legends like George Symonette, Alphonso (Blind Blake) Higgs and Joseph Spence, to name a few.
Then there’s Freddie Munnings, Sr., who could rightly be described as “Bahamian Music Royalty,” whose offspring are all musically inclined, including his son Raphael (Ray) Munnings, lead singer of “The Beginning of The End,” which made a big splash internationally in the early 1970s with their mega hit “Funky Nassau.”
Ray recently posted the following “short bio” written by his cousin, Ralph Munnings, that I felt compelled to repost. Ralph Munnings, in my view, is arguably one of the greatest saxophonist in Bahamian history, and from this “short bio” readers get some insights into why he is indeed a musical genius:
A SHORT BIO OF MY INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC AND MY DEVELOPMENT AS A MUSICIAN
By RALPH MUNNINGS
My formal introduction to music started at the age of sixteen, when I began taking clarinet lessons from my late uncle Freddie Munnings Sr. After a year or so, I switched to the saxophone and three years later I joined my uncle’s band at the Cat & Fiddle night club, where I sought further tutoring by several of the more experienced musicians such as Tommy Mc Cook, Harold ’Lil’ G Mc Nair and Prof. Charlie Cox of the Florida A&M University.
I also studied Harmony and Theory for one Semester with the great Flutist Hubert Laws. During my tenure with the band, which lasted for about five years, I was privileged to have worked with many international artists of the day, including Brook Benton, Nat “King” Cole, Ben E. King, Harry Belafonte, Billy Eckstine, Sam and Dave and Dinah Washington, to name a few.
My interest and earliest exposure to jazz started in the late 50’s and early 60’s. It was around this time that I began to collect and listen to jazz records, which opened up a whole new world of music for me. My interest in Jazz began to grow even more when I became aware of just how important this music was as a part of my heritage and as a personal challenge.
At this time in my development, there were only a handful of local musicians who were like-minded, and in a few short years we became an “elite” group. We were motivated mainly by listening to records and taking advantage of every opportunity to play.
Today in the Bahamas, there is still a stigma attached to the music and an ongoing struggle for its acceptance. I believe that Bahamians to a large extent are uneducated regarding their roots as it relates to music, art and culture. The biggest setback I see for the acceptance of Jazz in The Bahamas is the fact that we’re being inundated with so much negative influences (musical and otherwise) from other cultures, that we’ve lost what little identity we had as Bahamians.
There must be a collective effort on the part of musicians to continue to develop jazz as an art form, present in a professional manner, hold workshops for students and aficionados and hopefully people will began to “listen” rather than just hear the music. Maybe a few of the local radio stations will, as part of their cultural responsibility, relinquish a few hours a week of Reggae and Hip Hop in favor of a music that would at least put some of us in touch with ourselves.
