New York-based Trini launches ‘Nazima’ Sunday, December 19 2010
TRINIDAD NEWSDAY - By SEETA PERSAD - New York-based Trinidadian poet and singer, Sharon Ghanny has completed a compilation of poetry entitled, Nazima. She launched the book in New York and is preparing to launch here in TT in the new year.
“Sometimes one never knows the talent they possess until they decide to listen to their inner soul,” Ghanny told Sunday Newsday, adding that she never knew she was a singer until she was given the opportunity to sing before an audience and heard the melody of her voice taking a song to another level.
“It is the same way I never realised I was a poet until I began writing,” she says. She said she was sitting on the subway in New York City feeling quite lonely when suddenly she began murmuring poetic lines. The words began to overflow like water and she quickly took a pen and paper and started writing.
“All I remember was uncontrollably writing on a paper; my mind was racing, the words flowing and my fingers scribbling a mile a minute. It was as though a faucet was turned on and nothing could stop it,” she explained.
She wrote about life’s journeys, people’s lives, unanswered questions on the mystery of life and others. She wrote about the triumphs of success and the defeats that can change one’s life.
Sharon who has been a cultural activist for many years in New York spoke about her new found love of poetry: “Every poem has a message that reflects images and emotions of society and the world that we live in.”
Her poems range from the ship the Guyanese historians call Jahan, to moments in Trinidad, to farewells and to births. Some poems are of the struggles women endure; another of a father’s love for a daughter while another is about the humour of a grandmother and her old ways.
“Every moment, every situation you witness, if you would step back and observe you will notice it becomes a poem. Every pain you endure and moments of happiness you encounter is a poem. So my poems are basically what I witnessed when no one noticed I was watching,” she said.The name of the book, Nazima is an Arabic word that means “poet”. Nazima was a name given to her at birth. “Which makes you wonder does your name choose you at birth because today the proof for me is in the writing,” she says contemplatively. The book contains sixty poems all varying in length and theme.
Originally from Chaguanas, Sharon has been promoting TT’s culture in the US for many years. This writer and vocalist was schooled in Trinidad, at Orange Field Hindu school. At the age of nine her family migrated to New York. “Since then I have visited the land of my birth religiously every year. It is part of my life to come home and do charity work with underprivileged kids. I also look forward to visits with relatives and friends here,” she said
In 2007 Sharon won two awards at the First Annual West Indian music awards in New York. She won for “Best Newcomer, Female” and “Best Stage Personality” in chutney and film music. On August 31 2006, 12 persons were honoured for their cultural contributions to the City of New York and the Community Council. Sharon was among the 12 honourees.
The event marked the 44th Anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. “Two hundred council members as well as friends and family united in the council chambers room in City Hall on that special night,” she related. The theme of the event was “The Trinidadian Flag”. Sharon says that it is heart-warming to know that a small island in the West Indies can boast of such a magnificent cultural background.
Today, Sharon is a news broadcaster on the DNA television show on the Arabic channel. She writes articles for several Caribbean and New York publications. She says, “The West Indian community has woven a beautiful culture of its own that is now penetrating this country and many others in the world.”
Sharon remembered her father Inzan Ghanny who always reminded her and her brother Javed, “You kids are here to seek better opportunities in education and careers, but in doing so always remember who you are and where you are going in life.”
Sharon holds an Associate Degree in Human Psychology, a Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources. Her goal is to introduce her own magazine in New York called Spotlight-Indo Caribbean Magazine.“The famous people are already famous, therefore take the ordinary who have done extraordinarily and let them become our famous people,” Sharon said.
Here are two poems taken from the book Nazima.
Sweet Dreamer
I sit here alone gazing into space
Thinking of you and that cute smile on your face
And for a moment my heart begins to race and I
Think of you and me in a far off place
My dreams are pure and white as a dove, which I believe is called true love……
Island of beauty
Sky so blue with cascaded dust of gray,
To paint a picture may cause my mind to stray.
A vision of nature at its best,
I feel as though GOD has created this wonderful place, to rest.
I have abandoned my home, my place of birth,
the place where my navel string lies under the dirt.
