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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCENTENARIAN FETED FOR QUELBE CONTRIBUTIONS

CENTENARIAN FETED FOR QUELBE CONTRIBUTIONS

March 31, 2004 – Wilford Pedro celebrated his 100th birthday last May 5 at the Whim Gardens Home for the Elderly, where he has resided for more than 20 years. On Wednesday, he was honored by the St. Croix Landmarks Society, Friends of Denmark and Our Town Frederiksted for his contributions as a cultural bearer of quelbe music.
Pedro's first instrument was a flute he carved from a bamboo tree in his childhood village of Estate Plessen, now the site of the Plaza Extra adjacent to Grove Place. A self-taught musician, he formed a quelbe band with friends from the Kingshill village, and they played for parties and during Christmas festivities.
In January, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed into law a bill making quelbe the official traditional music of the Virgin Islands. The Cultural Heritage Act states that the people of the Virgin Islands have a unique culture defined by their customs, values, traditions, arts, skills, speech and mannerisms.
Lauren Larsen, Education deputy commissioner for curriculum and instruction, said on Wednesday that the new law describes quelbe as a convergence and fusion of sounds of rhythms, "an art form that has kept alive the cultural representation of the Virgin Islands and therefore is worthy of preservation."
Nothing the introduction of the music form into the educational curriculum, Larsen said: "Quelbe was locked away in the closet. Many did not want to remember about a period of time that was painful. We are now in a better position to give quelbe academic recognition."
Larsen, who also is a musician, said he feels quelbe in its heyday was as popular as hip hop and reggae are today.
Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards said quelbe is a cultural means of expression in the Virgin Islands. The new law "invites quelbe out of the closet and offers it a seat at the dinner table," she said. "No longer is it the music of slaves or the lower echelon."
Larsen and Richards spoke at the Carl and Marie Lawaetz Museum in Little La Grange, Frederiksted, where Transfer Day is celebrated annually on St. Croix. During the ceremony, Richards was thanked for utilizing quelbe music in the territory's tourism marketing efforts.
The Lawaetz family is of Danish ancestry and has been a part of the St. Croix community for four generations. Frits Lawaetz and his sons Bent and Hans were among those at Wednesday's ceremony who crowded under a sprawling Saman tree, also known as the Raintree, Giant Tibet or Mimosa, that provided shade as the subtle winds blew.
"This is my family home. We were here before the U.S. flag," Bent Lawaetz said with deep sentiment for the land, acquired by the family in the 1890s, on which the museum sits.
As St. Croix poet and author Richard Schrader shared reminiscences about Pedro, the honoree beamed with joy seated in his shiny red wheelchair, dressed in regal purple, embroidered African attire. Schrader knew his subject well, having written extensively about Pedro in his book "A Musical Journey and Other Stories."
"On Sunday mornings on our way to church, we passed him walking from Kingshill to Friedensfeld Moravian church," Schrader recalled of Pedro, noting that the journey was of about 3 1/2 miles. "He had no car. He was blind, but that was no handicap."
Perhaps following the fragrance of the flowers and fruits, or knowing the texture of the trees planted along the way to offer shade for the many residents walking from one village to another, "he would walk in his suit and Panama hat with a cane," Schrader said.
Pedro lost his sight when he was hit in the back of the head and knocked to the ground while offloading sacks at harvest time at the Estate Bethlehem Sugar Factory, where he was employed. "There was no Workmen's Compensation" back then, Schrader noted.
In the early 1930s, although visually impaired, Pedro was a mailman for the Kingshill community, journeying daily to the Bethlehem post office, located on a dirt road. He also was a master craftsman. Schrader recalled the mats and baskets he made from a plant Crucians called "cereta," a tuberous plant with slender green or green-and-white variegated leaves. The leaves were beaten until they turned white, dried in the sun, and woven into household products.
"Pedro used to climb coconut trees along Centerline Road," Schrader also recalled. It was a team effort with a fellow Kingshill resident, the late Paul Gibbs, he said. Gibbs "could see, but walked feebly and could not climb," Schrader said. "Gibbs would tell Pedro which nuts to pick."
Schrader also said it was a joy to have been a part of Pedro's birthday celebration, where the honoree played the squash, an instrument made from a dried gourd, and a bamboo flute given to him as a gift.

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