- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 11/Jul 08:50

The voice of the nation

PAOLO KERNAHAN I COULDN’T say when last I heard Hans Hanoomansingh’s voice on the radio, but when I heard that he’d passed away, his unmistakable register resonated like a near memory. The elder brother of Gideon Hanoomansingh – himself a notable fixture in an extraordinary cast of characters – Hans and others were, to my mind, both the voice of a generation and the nation. His voice in my head dusted off many names and faces whose words echoed across our still relatively young country. When I was a child, the nation’s airwaves were populated with a distinctive calibre of journalist and radio presenter. The concept of a “media personality” didn’t exist; there were only media professionals. One such professional was David Elcock. His verbal antics soothed frayed nerves on the invariably torturous crawl in traffic to school every morning. Elcock had a clarity of speech and diction that was far more prevalent on the radio at the time. Naturally, Elcock was one among many the country seemed to produce so prodigiously at the time. Maurice Brash, a teacher by profession, was also an actor, singer and broadcaster. Brash was gifted with a voice and manner of elocution that made him one of the most recognisable voices in our cultural landscape. I went on to work with Brash briefly at a radio station where he would breeze in to read the news in the evenings. His affable nature and preternatural professionalism were defining characteristics. Early in my television career, I was lucky enough to have been trained by Barbara Assoon, an actress and broadcaster. Her voice was otherworldly. She taught me pacing in my delivery – the importance of marking places for taking a breath – a technique I use and teach to this very day in all my video work. Assoon was well-read. When she spoke, the absence of filler words was almost jarring considering what I’d been used to in average conversations up to that point – em, um, ahs. She expressed herself in civilian life the way she did on air: clear, erudite and easily understood. This was the manner of speaking among most media professionals and journalists in those days. Regardless of socio-economic backgrounds, there was a standard of articulation in broadcast media. Noted journalist Dale Kolasingh had a quality of voice and delivery that commanded respect and exuded authority. Brian Carter, Brenda De Silva, Anthony Dennison, Allison Hennessy, Emmett Hennessy, Hazel Ward Redman – the list is too expansive to enumerate here. These people were so damn good that anyone who wasn’t up to scratch on air would stick out like a donkey at a derby. As a young, impressionable journalist, I stood at the feet of giants in an industry that was a vastly different environment. There was no money in the media in those halcyon days; certainly far less than there is now. Many of the on-air professionals referenced here weren’t even full-time staffers – they were freelancers who had steady jobs elsewhere that paid the bills. Yet, there was a commitment to excellence in most of those who were allowed to communicate with the public through television and radio, to become part of the tapestry of our cultural and intellectual life. It went far beyond coasting on a mellifluous voice. Our broadcast luminaries needed to be broadly knowledgeable if not nearly omniscient. To be effective on air, you needed to be a rapacious reader and incurably curious. Articulation and understanding of what you were reading was (and still is) dependent on devouring everything there is to know about the world around you. These values are virulently derided today. Most radio sounds like fools arguing at the back of a maxi or worthless opinions rooted in nothing but hubris and proud ignorance. Anyone who speaks with clear articulation is accused of putting on airs or speaking with a “convent accent.” Cricketing legend Brian Lara was interviewed after attending Wimbledon recently. The comments section of that video clip was inundated with, “Where is the Trini accent?” Trinis must decide if they want to join a world unified by social media and communicate effectively with cultures everywhere to germinate opportunities to grow, or keep playing small by clinging to the idea that the onliest way to talk is if you song like which pat you livin’. Speaking to be understood and commanding scarce attention is one of the most important skills in an age driven by social media. The voices mentioned in this column represented our best qualities as a nation: aspirational, authoritative – belonging to the grandest stages anywhere; small in size, unequalled in ambition. The post The voice of the nation appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.