Guyana has had a rich Christmas history.  There is no Guyanese Christmas without the pepper pot, black cake, and having a good laugh as Kevin Mc Alister wreak havoc on Harry and Marv in the Home Alone Sequel.   Another key ingredient is of course the music that can be heard blasting from stereos as they accompany the Christmas cleaning or just a simply good time with family and friends. There has been no shortage of Guyanese artistes making contributions by way of the song to getting Guyanese into the Christmas spirit.

As a society grows it changes and the Christmas culture in Guyana is no exception. Every year we are adapting new cultures but there are some traditions that simply can’t be replaced.  There are some pieces of Christmas music that are simply inescapable. Slingshot, Terry Gajraj’s, The Four Lords, Johnny Braff  and Jo Anne are a few artistes that come to mind. These artistes have been lauded by many for creating a national musical identity. Their music speaks to local cultural relics and features authentic Guyanese dialect garnering both a local and international acclaim. Their Christmas songs usually dominate the radios during the season.

In addition to these historic originals, Christmas brings us many treats as artistes sample and cover some of the traditional Christmas songs. Shelly G and Mark Hall – ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’, ‘Old toy train’ by Prince Ally and ‘oh holy night’ by Ricky D and the phenomenal, modern contemporary ‘Under the Mistletoe’ cover by Brandon Harding, are a few that frequent the airwaves at Christmas time.

The sound of Christmas is definitely changing with songs such as Adrian Dutchin’s ‘Merry Christmas’ and Poonam Singh’s 2017 Pop serenade ‘Christmas Wish’ these songs have definitely embraced a more contemporary modern sound. Some other golden hits from this era includes: ‘Christmas Love’ by Tennecia DeFreitas who has recently rebranded and performs under the name “Nekeita”,  javinski’s ‘happy to be home’ and Gavin Mendonca’s alternative pop rock ballad ‘Cause is Christmas’.

2020 brought many trials the world over and Guyana was no exception. The recently concluded elections in conjunction with the global pandemic has left patrons in desperate need for Christmas cheer and it seems that linden has answered the call.  Regarded by many as the talent capital of Guyana the mining town has produced 2020s top Christmas anthems with two songs that is likely to stay with us many Christmases to come. A picture of contrast, as recently featured Diana Chapman lends her stellar vocals to an R&B Christmas love song to her son laced with authentic Guyanese references while Timeka Marshall brought the fire with a raunchy Christmas number bound to land the Guyanese songstress on Santa Clause’s naughty list.

Whether you are looking for some old familiars or you favour the more modern sound there is something for everyone in our ideal Guyanese Christmas Youtube playlist.

 

Let us know which of your favorites we may have missed. Season greetings from the team at Caribbean Entertainment Hub.

 

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