February 2013


Issue Home >>

The proceeds go towards the Psychiatry Unit of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, an example of creative paths to sustainability, but while at one level it was surprising that the Unit would choose such an enterprise as a fund-raiser, it was not altogether odd. Head of the Unit, Professor Gerard Hutchinson is well ensconced in the world of the arts. Literature, music and art are comfortable neighbours and he slips in and out of their galleries and drawing rooms frequently. Considering the enormous range and robustness of his responsibilities as psychiatrist, administrator and teacher, among other things, it suggests an affinity with this world that makes him either a closet artist, or an incorrigible groupie.

But seriously, if one considers the significance of music therapy in treatment for many types of mental disorders, the connection becomes more readily apparent.

Neurologist and popular author, Oliver Sacks tells of the “quickening” of the mind through music; how music has helped in cases of depression and Alzheimer’s Disease. Patients whose brains appeared to have shut down, leaving them unable to communicate or to even remember their lives, were able to relive parts of their past that had been embedded in their minds through a musical soundtrack. It seems the musical memory is stored in a different place in the mind.

Fascinating, but complex.

Yet it could explain why the concert conceptualised by the psychiatrist, “The University of Calypso comes to The University of the West Indies,” seemed to be such an endorphin booster.

It might have been a first for a concert of that nature to be held at the Learning Resource Centre, and the sound was so clear and clean it surprised me that this was not a regular thing. Deputy Principal of the St Augustine Campus, Professor Rhoda Reddock, was so delighted, that she promptly declared that this would be the forerunner of many concerts at the LRC. It was an idea she had long been nursing, she said, because she feels these events should be a normal part of campus life.

But of course, a show’s success is not solely determined by the venue’s conviviality; the acts have to be attractive. They were stellar. Andy Narell, Relator, Theron Shaw, Raf Robertson, Lord Superior and David Rudder, with band members KJ Marcelle, Clint De Couteau and Tatsuya Nakamaru.

While it was billed as a night of the classics, it was not simply for older folk to embrace nostalgia, it was an excellent learning experience for the youth as well. Campus life at its finest, and the next step might be to consider taking it outdoors too, to the LRC Greens.

By Vaneisa Baksh