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Ophelia Marie, First Lady of Creole
Written by : Lynette Ametewèe
Location : Dominica
Posted : Jan 27, 2006 : 3:10:00 PM |
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Wife Mother Mentor
Winner of 17 Awards including first non French recipient of the prestigious Maracas d’Or Award from Société Pernod, Dominican Awards – International Woman’s Year 1985; Golden Drum Awards 1984 amd Sisserou Award of Honour (second highest award in country) and Lifetime Award Cable and Wireless (Oct 2005)
First Recording: Aie Dominik
14 albums
Latest Album: Hypnotique
Ophelia’s beautiful rendition of Dominica’s National Anthem (Isle of Beauty, Isle of Splendour) signalled the opening of another spectacular evening at the World Creole Music Festival.
And when I caught up with this busy wife, mother, mentor and internationally acclaimed cadence’lypso (a combination of calypso and cadence or compas music) artist I learnt more about the vibrant culture on this volcanic island than I had read in any history or guide book; she’s also one of two Deputy Directors of Tourism in the National Development Corporation. No surprise, then, that the legendary Ophelia was in between collecting her lifetime award bestowed at the opening of the Cable and Wireless Creole in the Park festival and travelling to Paris to receive a similar award at the Caribbean music awards there.
As a young girl, Ophelia sang with her siblings in a group called the Five O’s (named for her maiden name, Ollivacé), who entertained at church functions. Encouraged by her husband and manager McCarthy Marie, Ophelia’s individual show business career began 27 years ago. She believes that at the time music did not reflect positive views of women, and that all of the songs were full of double entendres bringing down women. As a wife and mother she sang about different things, including her love for her country, the suffering of the common man, the value of love, altruism and relationships between men and women. Ophelia relates to her icon Miriam Makeba’s I Shall Sing, although she points out that she hasn’t struggled in the same way as Makeba; Makeba also sings about love of country.
Ay Dominique, a lament for Dominica as the country underwent political problems in the 1970s, was Ophelia’s first recording; it soon became an anthem for Dominicans everywhere. This was followed by her first album recorded in Paris with Gordon Henderson, the founder of cadence’lypso. Forging the way with this new musical art form, Ophelia was one of the first women to sing in Paris at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Cirque d’Hiver (winter circus) and Théâtre Noir.
It was this and her other pioneering contributions to this male-dominated industry which paved the way for other female solo artists, including former back-up singer Joycelyn Beroud, currently lead vocalist of Virgin Islands based group Cool Session Brass and who opened the festival, to come out and sing positive songs about dignity, family life and Caribbean unity. Despite Ophelia’s progress, it seems that women are still under-represented in show business. Although Ophelia was one of the lucky ones, who successfully stopped her career to have two children and then returned to it, she recalled the harshness of show business, especially for women who want to have families. She highlighted the disproportionate number of women in the festival line-up, counting a total of three women on leads and five women on back-up, which bears evidence to the barriers female artists face.
According to Ophelia, another major problem facing Dominican artists across the board is the lack of show business structures, including marketing and financial management. She pointed out that the marketing for artists in Dominica has not moved on since 27 years ago when she started out. Artists still find themselves doing all the work writing, producing and promoting their own tunes. Furthermore, CD piracy leads to artists not getting paid for their work.
Recalling her career, Ophelia is proud of all her albums, including the last one. Most tracks were collaborations between Ophelia and her husband/manager McCarthy Marie, who wrote most of the songs. While some people have described this as a sexy album, Ophelia believes that sex stays in the bedroom. She makes a point of not gyrating on stage because in her words, “She has a voice”. A voice which may be heard in songs such as Go Easy, about mature love, and my personal favourite, Hypnotique, for which Ophelia went through the Songs of Solomon. In this tune, Ophelia makes reference to those things of which the environment within which she works is composed, such as the sun, the garden, mango and flamboyant trees.
Speaking about the growth in the three month celebrations for Independence, Ophelia said: “There was something for everyone, including sports, literature, Creole poetry, Miss Wòb Dwiyet (traditional dress) competitions, National Day of Prayer, Kwèyol Bòd la Mè (Creole By the Sea) organised by the National Bank of Dominica, and Creole in the North done by the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association in collaboration with Portsmouth City Council. I was pleased that the WCMF is meeting some of its objectives by bringing Dominican music and music like our own to reach the world. It also draws attention to our natural attributes, which are also an integral part of our tourism product.”
Ophelia went on to say that she was impressed by the organisation of the festival, which took three years to conceptualise and has grown over the years. Although the first three festivals did not make money, they raised the profile of the country. Digicel (a Caribbean mobile telecoms operator) was the main sponsor of the festival. She would like to see more people from Africa performing, to take us back to our roots, and hopefully her icon Miriam Makeba, who has never performed in Dominica. Like myself, she is already looking forward to the tenth WCMF in Oct 2006.
So what does the future hold for a woman who has gone to the top? Ophelia says she creates each album like it is her last, which can only demonstrate her ultimate passion for each masterpiece.
L’en mwen gadé
Adan ziéw chéri
Sa mwen ka vwè
Se yon lac lanmou
When I look
In your eyes, sweetie
What I can see
Is a lake of love
(Hynotique by McCarthy Marie/Ophelia Marie from the album Hynotique (2005) http://users.cwdom.dm/chezophelia/index.htm |
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