HAILED among some of the greats to ever touch the salt of this earth. Dr Olive Lewin is a distinguished and significant woman of our time. She is known as an Jamaican author, social anthropologist, musical prodigy and an educator.

Born in 1937 to Richard and Sylvia Lewin, Olive was raised in Clarendon, attended the Hayes Elementary School and then went on to the Hampton School.

Later on, because of her brilliance and dedication, she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London where she would complete her studies in music and ethnomusicology.

Upon completing her studies in the United Kingdom, Lewin started a career in teaching instead of being a performer. During her years of teaching, which she cherishes dearly, she acted as an inspiration to her students and other musicians young and old. She also made it her duty to research the history of Jamaican folk music and traditions; travelling the island, interviewing older Jamaicans and collecting their oral histories and songs.

This contributed in her moving on to what she first overlooked for teaching — performing. In 1966, she founded the Jamaica Folk Singers, a group she performed with throughout most of her life, and can still be seen performing occasionally.

Among her many accomplishments, Lewin has researched, arranged and directed traditional folk music to be used by schools. She was also responsible for initiating and implementing the National Memory Bank Project established to collect and preserve Jamaica’s oral history and cultural heritage. She co-ordinated cultural activities for the United Nations and the Organisation of American States and in 1983, founded the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth. In addition, Lewin has lectured extensively around the world and has been a guest for a number of government activities related to the arts. She also held positions as director of arts and culture at the Office of the Prime Minister, as well as that of director of the Jamaica Institute of Folk Culture.

Drawing on her experiences, Dr Olive Lewin is also the author of several books and has made numerous recordings of folk music performed by her very own Jamaican Folk Singers, such as: Alle Alle Alle, Brown Gal in the Ring, Dandy Shandy, Rock It Come Over, among several others.

For her great work in taking to take Jamaican folk music to those near and far, she has been honoured internationally by the government of France, the Organisation of American States, and the United Nations, and locally by the Government of Jamaica with the Jamaica Order of Distinction OD, Order of Jamaica OJ, and Commander of the Order of Distinction CD and the list just continues. She was also recently awarded with the cultural Medal of Honour, at a black tie event staged by the Creative Production Training Centre (CPTC), in the historic ballroom of King’s House for her outstanding work in the arts.