The Tribune

FIFTY-SEVEN years ago, Christ Church Cathedral was filled with Bahamians from all walks of life —among them the leading citizens of the town — to pay tribute to a humble tailor considered by many to be the wisest man in town.

On Saturday, the same cathedral was again filled with family, friends, students and admirers of his grandson, who was honoured by a grateful country with a State funeral in recognition of the cultural contributions he has made to his homeland. Cleophas Adderley, OBE, was only five years old when his much respected grandfather died.

Robert Melvin (RM) Bailey would have considered his life well lived to have been blessed with such an illustrious grandson, who brought music and discipline together to introduce magical harmony and beauty of rhythm from The Bahamas to many of the world’s concert halls.

It is interesting to compare the times in which these two talented men lived. Grandson Cleophas and his generation, could aspire to achieve the almost impossible. Not so Cleophas’ grandfather. Born so soon after slavery, RM Bailey’s own father felt that the family could not be seen to be reaching too far beyond their station if they wanted to survive. The problem was that young RM had dreams loftier than his family’s station. His father was a carpenter, and his mother, a seamstress. RM was the second son of nine children born in Barbados. He was an outstanding student who had won a scholarship to study law.

That presented a major problem for RM’s father who believed that if his son studied law with the sons of his wealthy clients — the clients would believe the Baileys had independent means – and as a result Bailey, the carpenter, would lose business. Instead, RM was sent to Codrington College, where he studied the Classics — not only Greek and Latin, but also music. His instrument was the violin — and like grandson, Cleophas, he was a talented musician. However, while Cleophas, lived in a time in which he could and did become a lawyer by profession, his grandfather became a tailor by trade.

While in Jamaica at the age of 24, RM Bailey heard that a hotel was being built in Nassau — the Colonial Hotel. With such activity, he rightly believed that a good tailor might be needed and so he headed for Nassau. Eventually, The Bahamas became his home, where he settled, married and raised a family.

He eventually became well established, not only as a tailor for the leading men of the town, but as the mentor of many of them. It was not unusual for House of Assembly members to consult with him for advice on matters of government. Many of them became his friends. He was passionately interested in education and pushed for the establishment of the government High School.

He was a friend of The Tribune’s founder, Leon Dupuch, later of Leon’s son, Sir Etienne Dupuch. He also wrote a regular column for The Tribune. We even called him friend. When we were a graduate at Columbia University, rather than go to a library, we flew to Nassau, to sit in his tailor shop while he stitched away, and we picked his brain on the social history of The Bahamas for a paper we were writing for the university. By then, he was a wizened old gentleman, with a delightful twinkle in his eyes, a devilish smile, and a mischievous sense of humour — but what an active brain. We sat on a stool in his Bay Street tailor shop and took notes.

And now his grandson, who had achieved all that was denied his grandfather because of the times in which they lived, had come to the end of his journey after a long and debilitating battle with cancer. It was Cleophas Adderley who had created the Bahamas National Youth Choir in 1983 and took it around the world, making a name for The Bahamas wherever it performed. A noted composer, he wrote, “Our Boys”, the first opera to be written and performed in the English speaking Caribbean. He also composed the first Bahamian concert Mass – “Missa Caribe.”

Cleophas Adderley was a great believer in discipline and insisted that if a person wanted to belong to the Bahamas National Youth Choir they had to follow the rules.

“Discipline,” he once said, “is very important, because we are training these people to be ambassadors. When they go away people don’t just see them — they see a whole country. And if we don’t give our best, and show our country in the best light possible, they judge every Bahamian by their experience with us.”

On June 17 Cleophas Adderley was wheeled onto the stage at the Melia Nassau Beach Hotel to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 5th Aliv Bahamian Icon Awards ceremony. By July 5, at the age of 62 years, he was dead.

We now hope that there is another Adderley-Bailey in the wings to carry on the proud tradition of this remarkable family.