Dr. Olive Lewin
Dr. Olive Lewin, famed Jamaican musicologist and folklorist, passed away on Wednesday evening in hospital, after ailing for a while.
Dr. Lewin is perhaps best known publicly as founder of The Jamaican Folk Singers, a group that for many years has kept alive the country's traditional songs.
The public performance of these songs was the end product of the work she did researching, collecting and recordining anthologies for the benefit of future generations.
In the 1980s Dr. Lewin also spearheaded the Jamaica Memory Bank Project, at the direction of Prime Minister Edward Seaga, which focused more broadly on the recollections of Jamaicans from all walks of life, recording and transcribing their stories.
The public performance of these songs was the end product of the work she did researching, collecting and recordining anthologies for the benefit of future generations.
In the 1980s Dr. Lewin also spearheaded the Jamaica Memory Bank Project, at the direction of Prime Minister Edward Seaga, which focused more broadly on the recollections of Jamaicans from all walks of life, recording and transcribing their stories.
Dr. Lewin, a past student of Hampton School in St. Elizabeth, studied music and ethnomusicology in the United Kingdom. She is also the author of several books.
She was honored by the Government of Jamaica, with the Order of Distinction in 2001 and by external agencies and governments, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Government of France and by academia for her contribution to the Arts.
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