Musical Farewell for UNESCO Head

Outgoing Director and Representative for the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean, Dr. Kwame Boafo, was treated to an evening of musical excellence in recognition of his contribution to education, science, culture and communication in Jamaica and the wider region.

The appreciation and farewell function dubbed: ‘An evening of Music’, was held  last week at the Immaculate Conception High School in St. Andrew. The event, organised by the Ministry of Education, featured various musical pieces by the school’s celebrated symphony orchestra.  

The audience was wowed by arrangements of classical pieces such as ‘The Tempest’, and more modern songs such as ‘Blue Moon’, ‘Mambo’, and ‘Corpse Bride’. The Immaculate Glee Club gave a lively performance of local songs – ‘Build a better Jamaica’; ‘Unity’; and ‘Move Up.’

Students from the Half-Way-Tree Primary School delighted and entertained with Louise Bennett Coverley’s ‘Colonization in Reverse’, while the sister duo of Chantelle and Rochel Biersy, thrilled with their traditional East Indian dance.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Culture, Sydney Bartley, in lauding the high quality of the performances, stressed the role of music in bringing persons of diverse backgrounds together.

Music, he said, has the power to “transcend all the things that persons use to divide and discriminate against each other”.

“Music allows us to build a bridge on the foundations of similarity. Within the essence of music, we discover our similar tastes, similar dispensations and our similar abilities to be moved,” Mr. Bartley stated.

Dr. Boafo became head of the UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean in September 2006. The office covers 13 member states and three associate member states in the region.

The Ghanaian national is a member of a number of media and communication associations and has authored publications on subjects such as media systems, communication policy and technology, and development communication.

Dr. Boafo was presented with a plaque of appreciation from the Ministry of Education, by Chief Education Officer , Grace McLean, while a citation was read by Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Teaching Council, Dr. Winsome Gordon.