There was a time in Saint Lucia when to stage an official event without a live performance by the Hewanorra Voices amounted to an insult to the audience, if not to a national disgrace. On Thursday morning Saint Lucians of a certain age, at home and abroad, awoke to the news that the lead singer in the aforementioned group had passed away.
Joyce Auguste was 76. Despite her fame as the leader of a group that had made indigenous folk songs as popular locally as the Billboard hits of the 60s, Joyce lived alone for most of her adult life. And so she died. Police investigators discovered her body at home following the expressed concerns of her Arundell Hill neighbors.
In her memoirs entitled ‘Moments of History,’ Joyce recorded a particular adventure at an especially dangerous time in recent history, shortly before the 1979 general elections: “At the time I had a part-time job at Radio St. Lucia, as the host of a popular Sunday evening program called ‘Afterglow.’ It ran from 9-10. Fast forward to the eve of elections. The Right Honorable John Compton had just come over the air with his earlier taped address to the nation. Yours truly was next in line with ‘Afterglow.’ Suddenly the studio was pushed open and in rushed George Odlum, saying he was there to address the nation. He ignored my efforts at thwarting his intentions. He kept saying, ‘Never mind, it’ll be alright in the morning.’
“I was in shock as I tried to take it all in, while he and his gang continued to insist they were there for Mr. Odlum to address the nation and I should step aside. People have often asked me to describe my feelings at the time. I think they can best be described as controlled shock. I say controlled because, as it turned out, I was about to do something so intelligent that would save the day.
“In the middle of all the commotion and confusion I had the presence of mind to open the console’s speech port so that the noisy, quarrelsome scene was picked up and broadcast over the airwaves to many citizens who had tuned in to hear the prime minister and stayed on to take in the popular ‘Afterglow.’ I knew then, as I know now, that the Holy Spirit used me that Sunday evening. It was the Holy Spirit who guided my hand, in spite of my stunned state, to flick open the lever on that speech port so that the nation might hear the abnormal goings-on and inform the police . . .”
Both the Allen Chastanet government and the House opposition have issued their condolences at the passing of Joyce Auguste, unquestionably a local icon closely associated with our culture, our education and our music.
