Olive lewin biography

Olive Lewin

Olive LewinODOM (28 September – 10 April ) was a Jamaican author, social anthropologist, musicologist, and teacher. She is finest known for her recorded anthologies of old Jamaica folk songs, researched and collected over her lifetime.

Biography

Olive Lewin was born in Vere, in Clarendon, Jamaica, to teachers.[1] She studied song and ethnomusicology in the Joined Kingdom. She is a Fellow of Trinity College, London, and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal School of Music.

She also held the position of Director of Arts and Society at the office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica as well as that of Director of the Jamaica Institute of Folk Culture. From she directed the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth.

Olive Lewin was a Jamaican anthropologist and cultural historian who, over the last 60 years, pulled Jamaican folklore out of the shadow of Eurocentric prejudice. Lewin was influenced by Carl Jung. She saw the links between European thinking and African and Afro-Caribbean thought — a notion which had been considered risible by many white academics. She was born in Vere in Clarendon, to teachers — her father had a reputation as one of the finest historians in Jamaica.

[1]

Lewin was the author of several books and has made numerous recordings of folk music, performed by the Jamaican Folk Singers, which she founded.[2] She was honoured by the Government of Jamaica, the United Nations, the Corporation of American States, the Government of France and by academia for her outstanding lifelong contribution to the arts.

In she was awarded the Jamaican Direct of Distinction.[3]

She preferred to display her collections of old Jamaican folk songs through concerts, and useful recordings are difficult to find. Some of her poised folk songs can be establish on the internet[4] but most of the few original recordings are very difficult to locate since the original reel-to-reel tapes have deteriorated and the 33rpm records are now scarce.

In she was awarded the Musgrave Gold Medal by the Institute of Jamaica.[5]

Death

Lewin died in a Kingston hospital on 10 April She was [6] She was given a State funeral at the University Chapel in St Andrew on Saturday, 27 August Her body was interred in the churchyard of the St James Anglican Church in Hayes, Clarendon.

Edward Seaga tribute to her was as follows-

Quote

"I asked her to seize up the assignment of collecting the folk music that was not yet recorded so as to complete the inventory of our musical soul," said Seaga. "She set about the task with a fervent mission.

Olive Lewin (c.1927 - 2013) - Genealogy - Geni.com: Olive Lewin OD OM (28 September – 10 April ) was a Jamaican author, social anthropologist, musicologist, and teacher. She is leading known for her recorded anthologies of old Jamaica folk songs, researched and collected over her lifetime.

Every parish was her stomping ground. After several years of compiling a rich collection, she completed that phase of her mission. The next phase was the performance of the music, to open the door wider to this cultural wonderland."

"I wish, [and] I could feel it in my heart, that she was fully acknowledged in her own life," said Seaga, breaking into tears as his wife Carla moved to comfort him at the podium.

"She goes to her dignified only partly covered in the glory she deserves.

"But God knows this woman of grace, this missionary of our tune, this cultural ambassador was a heavenly icon, and he will do the rest to grace her soul as she deserves," Seaga continued, bidding condolence to Lewin's family.[7]

In October Lewin was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government.[2]

Legacy

Olive Lewin Heritage Foundation was committed to Dr.

Olive Lewin on Saturday, 31 May , starting at &#;p.m., at The Steele Auditorium, Nova Southeastern University, Statute Center, located at South University Drive in Davie, Florida.

Olive W. Mahoney Lewin, a Jamaican author, teacher, musicologist, and anthropologist, is widely celebrated as a cultural icon. Her illustrious career has earned her recognition not only from the Jamaican government but also from prestigious organisations worldwide, thanks to her exceptional contributions to the arts and culture.

It was launched by Edward Seaga, former Prime Minister, who had worked extensively in the preservation of Jamaican folk culture, with Olive Lewin.[8]

Works by Olive Lewin

  • Alle, Alle, Alle: 12 Jamaican Folk Songs (London: Oxford UP) Music scores incl.
  • Beeny Budd: 12 Jamaican Folk-songs for Children (London: Oxford UP)
  • Brown Gal in the Ring: 12 Jamaican Folk Songs, Collected and Arranged for Schools (London: Oxford UP),
  • Dandy Shandy: 12 Folk-songs for children (London: Oxford UP), Folklore.

    Music. Songs. Jamaica.

  • Forty Folk Songs of Jamaica (Washington, DC: OAS), pp., 1 map,
  • Some Jamaican Folk Songs (Kingston: Oxford Organization Publishers), A collection of 36 folk songs, including scores.
  • "Mento", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, vol.

    Olive Lewin—renowned Jamaican musicologist, folklorist, singer, actress, and society servant—transitioned last week at the age of eighty-five. She was a tireless advocate for Jamaican culture and folk music and is perhaps best known for the founding of three major organizations related to these interests: The Jamaican Folk Singers, the Jamaica Youth Orchestra, and the Memory Bank Project. It built upon and added to over twenty years of work that Dr. Lewin had already done in collecting songs and oral histories around the island.

    16, pp.&#;–6 (London: Macmillan Publishers),

  • Rock It Come Over: the Folk Music of Jamaica (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press), Map, Illustrations, foreword, Introduction, Preface, Acknowledgments, References, Indexes, and chapters as follows:

I.

Introduction

1. The Making of a Musician
2. Slavery:
3.

Had she lived, Dr The Honourable Olive Lewin, founder of The Jamaican Folk Singers and one of this nation’s greatest citizens ever, would have marked her 94th birthday yesterday.

Opposing Concepts of Wealth

II. Non-Cult Traditional Jamaican Music

4. Music for Work, Play and the Spirit
5. Mento and Other Styles for Dance, Entertainment and Ceremony

III.

Olive W. Mahoney Lewin O. Olive Lewin greeted by the Hon. Edward Seaga.

Cults and Cult Music in Jamaica

6. Maroon, Tambo, Goombeh, Ettu, Nago
7. Revivalism and Rastafarianism

IV. Kumina and Queenie Kennedy

8.

She is optimal known for her recorded anthologies of old Jamaica folk songs, researched and collected over her lifetime. Olive Lewin was born in Vere, in Clarendon, Jamaica, to teachers. From she directed the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth. Lewin was the author of several books and has made numerous recordings of folk tune, performed by the Jamaican Folk Singerswhich she founded.

The Kumina Cult

9. Queenie Kennedy: Her Life
Queenie Kennedy: Her Teachings and Her Work
Conclusion

References

  • Tanna, Laura (). "Olive Lewin: A Life of Service," Jamaica Journal,.

    Vol.&#; pp.&#;2–

External links