Keith Waithe is a

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

-born musician, composer and teacher who has been based in the United Kingdom since 1977.Mark McGowan
"Keith Waithe: making the flute talk"
''

Stabroek News The ''Stabroek News'' is a privately owned newspaper published in Guyana. It takes its name from ''Stabroek'' , the former name of Georgetown, Guyana. It was first published in November 1986, first as a weekly but it later changed to a daily pri ...

'', 6 September 2008. He is best known as a flautist and founder of the Macusi Players – a

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

jazz band whose name derives from the indigenous Guyanese

Macushi people The Macushi (''Makuusi'', ) are an Indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela. Identification The Macushi are also known as the Macusi, Macussi, ...

– and has been "acknowledged as the best flute player that Guyana has ever produced". His musical style explores a fusion of jazz, classical, African, Caribbean, Asian and Western influences, and he has also developed a technique he calls "vocal gymnastics", in which he uses the voice to reproduce

percussive A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

sounds. Music critic

Kevin Le Gendre Kevin Le Gendre is a British journalist, broadcaster and author whose work focuses on Black music. He is deputy editor of '' Echoes'' magazine, has written for a wide range of publications, including '' Jazzwise'', '' MusicWeek'', '' Vibrations'' ...

notes that Waithe "has single-mindedly pursued his own artistic agenda, developing a songbook that draws heavily on African-Caribbean and Asian folk traditions as well as jazz ingenuity in a manner not dissimilar to a large number of his forebears, of which

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in the United States. Although Lateef's main i ...

is perhaps the most direct reference."

Biography

Born in Guyana, the eldest of his parents' four children, Waithe grew up in Kitty, Georgetown."International flautist Keith Waithe"
''Guyana Times International'', 22 February 2013. At the age of seven he was taught to play the trumpet by his father (Darnley van Herbert Waithe, who played in big bands at the time). This led to Waithe honing his skills on the instrument by joining the

Salvation Army Band A Salvation Army brass band is a brass band affiliated with a Corps, Division or Territory of the Salvation Army. In society, a Salvation Army band playing in public places during Christian events in the calendar such as Christmas has become a ...

and later the Guyana Police Force Band, and he subsequently took up the flute, for which he "developed a passion"."About Keith Waithe"
, official website. In 1973, he was awarded a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

scholarship, which enabled him to study in England. He attended the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

and the

Royal Military School of Music The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) trains musicians for the British Army's fourteen regular bands, as part of the Royal Corps of Army Music. For more than a century and a half, from 1857 until August 2021, the school was based at Knell ...

Kneller Hall Kneller Hall is a Grade II listed mansion in Whitton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It housed the Royal Military School of Music, training musicians for the British Army, which acquired the building in the mid-19th century. ...

, where he gained an LRSM diploma and PGCE Teaching Certificate. In the 1990s he set up Essequibo Music, of which he is Director, an organisation that oversees a range of contemporary Black British artists, storytellers, poets and musicians – among them

Sandra Agard Sandra Agard Hon. FRSL is a British storyteller, writer, literary consultant and cultural historian. She is a published author of short stories and poetry, and for more than 40 years has performed her work, including plays, within the UK as well ...

(storyteller/writer), Jo-Jo Yates ( kora player/master drummer/percussionist), Darryl Lee Que (Caribbean drummer and percussionist) and Helen McDonald (vocalist) – who work in educational, cultural and performances arenas, running workshops and undertaking collaborations with teachers and community project workers. Its activities have included a residency at the

Eden Project The Eden Project () is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay clay pit, pit.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two h ...

in Cornwall, an education workshop in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

, a series of African-themed workshops for the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

, as well as programmes for schools in deprived communities. He also heads Keith Waithe and the Macusi Players, a group comprising musicians of Caribbean, South American, African and Indian heritage – Waithe is known to "passionately believe in supporting cross-cultural relationships". Using his collection of more than 200 flutes from around the world, he conjures up the sounds of animals and birds reminiscent of the tropical rainforests of his native Guyana. He has said: "...it's fascinating for me at this moment to be living in England and still be very much Guyanese. My band and I, we represent Britain, not only at home but in Europe as well. And that in itself is wonderful; for me to be able to do that ... but to also show the world that the Caribbean and South America is more than just Jamaica or Peru or Colombia; that Guyana, too, has a vibrant culture." He makes frequent appearances at festivals in the UK, such as the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival (), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was d ...

, the Ealing Jazz Festival, Wessex Book Festival,"Words & World Music: Patience Agbabi and Keith Waithe"
, Wessex Book Festival, 24 November 2008. and others. He has performed around the world, including in India, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, Sudan, Ghana, France, Geneva, Peru, Guyana, Columbia and the Cayman Islands and US, and has worked with such notable artists as

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...

Courtney Pine Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964) is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...

and percussionist Bosco de Oliveira."Jazz Plus at Victoria Embankment Gardens"
London Lantern, 7 May 2008. Recent activities include a 2015 national tour and the project "Fusion Journeys" in the V&A India Festival. He has also been featured often on radio programmes such as

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Midweek ''MidWeek'' is a weekly United States tabloid shopper and advertisement periodical published Wednesday in Honolulu, Hawaii and distributed throughout the Islands of Oahu and Kauai. It is owned by Black Press and is a sister publication of th ...

'' and ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

'', ''

Night Waves ''Free Thinking'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 weekly from Friday 5 April 2024. It was previously broadcast on Radio 3 as part of its "After Dark" late night programming. The programme is a rebranded version of ''Night Wave ...

'' on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, ''

Mad About Music ''Mad About Music'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, and Gail Patrick. Based on a story by Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner, the film is about a girl at an exclusive boardi ...

'' on Radio 2 and the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

's '' The Forum''. In November 2008, Waithe went to the

Commonwealth Heads of Government The Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOG) is the collective name for the government leaders of the nations with membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. They are invited to attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings every two years, ...

meeting in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, where he took part in a programme of cultural events that involved bringing together classically trained British musicians with traditional Ugandan music players, as well as working with the African Children's Choir. Waithe has been involved with a number of literary ventures over the years, such as the

International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books The International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books, often referred to as The Black Book Fair, was inaugurated in London, England, in April 1982 and continued until 1995, bringing together a number of Black publishers, intellectu ...

(1982–95, organised by

Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications (BLP) is a radical London-based publishing company founded by Guyanese activists Jessica Huntley (23 February 1927 – 13 October 2013) Margaret Busby"Jessica Huntley obituary", ''The Guardian'', 27 October 2013. ...

New Beacon Books New Beacon Books is a British publishing house, bookshop, and international book service that specializes in Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature. Founded in 1966 by John La Rose and Sarah White, it was the ...

and

Race Today ''Race Today'' was a monthly (later bimonthly) British political magazine. Launched in 1969 by the Institute of Race Relations, it was from 1973 published by the ''Race Today'' Collective, which included figures such as Darcus Howe, Farrukh Dh ...

), and has worked with a wide variety of spoken-word artists and poets, including

John Agard John Agard FRSL (born 21 June 1949) is a Guyanese-born British playwright, poet and children's writer. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

, Sandra Agard,

Kwame Dawes Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962) is a Ghanaian poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and former Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He is now Professor of English at the University of N ...

Patience Agbabi Patience Agbabi FRSL (born 1965) is a British poet and performer who emphasizes the spoken word.. Although her poetry addresses contemporary themes, it often makes use of formal constraints, including traditional poetic forms. She has described ...

Inua Ellams Inua Marc Mohammed Onore de Ellams II (born 23 October 1984) is a Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and performer. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to the arts. E ...

, John Lyons and Jean Binta Breeze. Waithe's most recent CD, ''Gathering Echoes'', was released to critical acclaim, with the reviewer for ''Caribbean Life'' (New York) referring to it as "a significant milestone.... With this CD, Waithe, a phenomenal flautist, has proven that he has gotten better with age, appealing to a new generation of music lovers."

Awards and honours

Honours that Waithe has been accorded include in 2003 the Wordsworth McAndrew Award,"Makooshi Sounds"
''

Guyana Chronicle The ''Guyana Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers ...

'', 14 September 2003. Reprinted at Guyana: Land of Six Peoples. presented by the Guyana Folk Festival (New York) to celebrate Guyanese who have made important contributions to the country's cultural life, and in 2010 a WOM@TT Best of British Award. He was invited by the government of Guyana to perform at the country's golden jubilee celebrations in May 2016. On 9 November 2023, at the 57th Convocation ceremony of the University of Guyana, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of excellence in the arts.

Discography

;CDs * ''The Very Best of Keith Waithe'' (Essequibo Music, 2015) * ''Earth Flight The Direction'' (Essequibo Music, 2014) * ''Gathering Echoes'' (Essequibo Music, 2010) * ''Diverse Canopy'' (2005) * With various artists:''Music Orchids For You — Is We Ting'' (A Compilation Of Guyanese Music; Guyana Cultural Association NY, 2003) * ''Mellifluous: Blossoming Into Truth'' (2003) * ''Magic of Olmec'' (Keda Records) * ''Last of the Medicine Men'' (2000, BBC Music) * ''Live in Concert: Rhythms of Freedom'' (Essequibo Music, 2000) ;DVD * ''Now is the Time'' — Keith Waithe & the Macusi Players ;LP * With various artists: ''Come From That Window Child — An Anthology Of Poetry & Music'' (Friends of Bogle, 1986)"Various – Come From That Window Child (An Anthology Of Poetry & Music)"
at Discogs.

References

External links

official website.
Keith Waithe
an
The Macusi Players
on Facebook. {{DEFAULTSORT:Waithe, Keith Living people 20th-century flautists 20th-century jazz composers 21st-century flautists 21st-century jazz composers Guyanese people of African descent Alumni of the Royal Military School of Music Alumni of the University of Surrey Black British musicians British jazz flautists Guyanese emigrants to England Guyanese musicians Musicians from Georgetown, Guyana Recipients of the Wordsworth McAndrew Award Year of birth missing (living people)