Cyril Shaw, died Thursday just short of his 90th birthday. Cyril Shaw was born in Adventure, Essequibo and was studying for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic church when he for family reasons, his mother took him out of the seminary. He later left for Georgetown to seek employment. Adventure and sacrifice have been the hallmarks of his career and his legacy.
His is the Guyanese version of the Horatio Alger story. Cyril Shaw left Adventure, Essequibo, with one small suitcase and at the time of his death he had left an indelible contribution to Guyanese cultural life and more importantly, the development of the calypso as a performing art. His body of work enriched the arts of publicity and political publications. He established a reputation across Guyana and the Caribbean as an entrepreneur who promoted the world’s best performers and an active supporter of Guyanese sports.
Shaw’s first job when he got to Georgetown was at the Astor cinema designing its advertisements and publishing them in the national dailies–The Daily Argosy, The Guyana Graphic and the Evening Post. He also produced radio advertisements. He is remembered as a passionate and dedicated independent producer who would often sit for hours waiting for recording time at Radio Demerara to record his advertisements and programmes.
By the early 1940s Shaw had opened the Arcade Printery on Wellington Street, opposite to the Metropole Cinema. In the 1940s and the 1950s, the Arcade Printery had a special place in the influential Robb/Wellington/Regent/King Street block. This block was one of the most creative spaces in British Guiana’s musical and political life. In this block and those contiguous to it there were cinemas, dance halls, steelbands, GEMS Recording Studios, and Freedom House. This block was popular with local and
international musicians. Shaw found the teenage, Francisco Slinger – the Sparrow who became a regular in this community staying upstairs at Shaw’s printery. Shaw and Sparrow established a life-long relationship, with Shaw taking him around Guyana to face, as Sparrow said “Shaw took me to every part of Guyana from its tip to its tail. This allowed me to face the most critical audience before I went to Trinidad and take the crown of the Calypso King then to all the other contests in the islands.” When there wasn’t a calypso contest in an island, Shaw organized one, as he did with the Calypso Queen of the World contest and the big top tent in Suriname during the annual Comfriari celebrations where visual and performing arts and crafts of the Guianas and the West Indies were showcased. When making musical recordings in Guyana became more difficult, he found studios in Suriname.
Cyril Shaw promoted world class talents in Guyana. Guyanese and Caribbean talent across all the regions of Guyana and around the world. Among the Guyanese he promoted are the legendary Madam O’Lindy, Lord Canary, King Fighter, Lady Guymine, Lady Nima, and Intruder.
The Mighty Sparrow heads the list of over 95 stars whom he has promoted, including Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Junior, Ernie Smith, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Dave Martin’s Trade Winds, Jimmy Cliff, Percy Sledge, Sam Cooke, Lord Kitchener, Calypso Rose, Denyse Plummer, Boris Gardner, Blues Busters, Johnny Nash, Mariam Makeba, Mahilia Jackson, Baba Olatunji, the Drifters, Small Island Pride and Pluto Shervington. The Mighty Sparrow described this contribution as incomparable in the international music world. “Cyril Shaw is the man!”
In addition, to the impressive list of musicians, he was also responsible for organizing international beauty contests and bringing world-class ballet companies, circuses, world champion
boxers, wrestlers and international beauty queens to Guyana. Cyril managed artistes from the Caribbean, North America, Russia, Africa, India and South America.
Cyril Shaw was also a quiet activist in Guyana’s anti-colonial struggle and his contribution was through the Arcade Printery. For two decades, from the 1940s to the 1960s, the Arcade printed and published The Thunder for the People Progressive Party. In those days, before the split, Burnham and the Jagans were working assiduously to get their messages across to the masses.
Later he spent over 50 years of his professional life touring the world with his many artistes. The globe was his stage, his name a Caribbean legend. Even as he staged the many shows including the Moscow Music Hall, the American Ballet Theatre, the Japanese Spectacular, African Odyssey with Baba Olatunji, the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships and world title boxing fights, he was first and foremost the Mighty Sparrow’s promoter-manager. He toured with the Mighty Sparrow from 1954, when Sparrow composed Jean and Dinah, until about 15 years ago when poor health forced Shaw into retirement. His Excellency, the Honorable Dr. Slinger Francisco was loud in his acclaim of Shaw’s contribution to the arts.
Many Guyanese boxers such as Lennox Beckles participated in international boxing matches in Guyana and the Caribbean that were promoted by Cyril Shaw. He was even the architect for the Sparrow’s Hideaway in Trinidad where he hosted major boxing and wrestling matches and Trinidad Carnival music events. The name Cyril Shaw is known and loved throughout the Caribbean islands.
Cyril Shaw has been honored for his contribution to the development of the arts and more specifically the development and
promotion of Calypso in the Caribbean and beyond, by several islands in the Caribbean, including St. Martin, Aruba, and a few other islands. He also received the awards for his contribution to the music world, among his many rewards was one from the Guyana Cultural Association of New York.
Cyril Shaw died on January 12, 2012. He will always be remembered as being adventurous and for being a pioneer. He has left a proud legacy which his wife and daughters honor each year with the annual Nrityageet shows.