Dear Editor,

I would be remiss if I did not respond to your newspaper editorial on Wednesday May 15, 2013, “Ever heard of Dr Don Shirley, another great but forgotten Jamaican?” It concluded, “In the future, let us honour our Jamaican greats before they pass on as did Dr Don Shirley, hailed abroad, but with no accolade from the land of his birth”.

Yes, many of us have not only heard of Dr Don Shirley, but have not waited for his death to celebrate his accomplishments.

As the host of two radio programmes, I have played Shirley’s music quite a bit and on occasions have used the programme to elaborate on his creative and academic achievement. The genius of this Jamaican has been part of the curriculum as long as I have had the opportunity to teach courses about our culture.

You must have missed a release in the May 25, 2012 edition of the Gleaner that headlined: “Music Unites” and which stated: “Jamaica Foundation presents a multicultural chamber music concert in honour of Dr Don Shirley, internationally acclaimed Jamaican composer and pianist”. The concert was held at the UWI Chapel, Mona Campus, on Saturday, June 2 last year at 8:00 pm. In addition to the tribute to the much overlooked Don Shirley by noted musicologist Herbie Miller, this concert was also the launch of the new Cultural Friendship Society ‘Out of Many One Music. Although I was unable to attend, the concert was held and reviewed on Monday June 4, in that same paper.

Following my recommendation, Dr Shirley was awarded a Bronze Musgrave medal by the Institute of Jamaica in October 2012. On that occasion, under the heading “14 to receive Musgrave medals today” your newspaper, the Observer, on October 10, 2012 noted that Dr Donald Shirley would be honoured “for merit in the field of music”.

In recent times the Gleaner has twice published pieces on Dr Shirley that I have written — “Dr Don Shirley, a musician beyond category” was published on July 25, 2012 and Dr Shirley, “A Virtuoso dies too quietly”, was published on Monday May 6, 2013. In addition, Dermot Hussey has played Shirley’s music and praised his accomplishments for as long as he has been presenting elegant music on his various radio programmes over the years.

Perhaps it is your editorial writer who, since his death, has just caught up with Dr Donald Shirley. However, I personally do share the view that “we should consider erecting a statue to those Jamaicans whose heroic accomplishments are largely unknown and unrecognised by the vast majority of Jamaicans”.

To that end, while the Jamaica Music Museum at the Institute of Jamaica is not in the business of erecting statues or broadening our purview beyond music and musicians and their relationship to nation building (other divisions in the Institute of Jamaica cover that), our mandate is to collect, preserve and disseminate artefacts and information about our musicians, including overlooked but internationally acclaimed ones such as Dr Don Shirley. Others like Dr Leslie Thompson, Dizzy Reece, Oswald Russell, Yorke DeSouza, Mercedes Kirkwood, Sonny Gray and Joe Harriott among many others, have also not been overlooked by us.

The achievements of many “heroic but forgotten” Jamaicans, in and outside of music have been recognised with gold, silver and bronze Musgrave medals by the Institute of Jamaica. We hope to continue our public education of these and the honouring of others in keeping with not only our mandate, but also our personal respect and admiration of these and other outstanding Jamaicans.

Herbie Miller

Director/Curator

Jamaica Music Museum

Institute of Jamaica