Education of London University. He returned to the Academy in 1964 to pursue a performer’s diploma, and in 1965 was awarded the Associate of the Royal College of Music Diploma in Performing, with Honours. 

 

In 1976 he received a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to pursue graduate studies leading to a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His interest in the Bahamian Junkanoo festival, which had begun in his youth, was deepened by this research that sought expressly to confirm that Bahamian music and its unique manifestation in Junkanoo were subjects worthy of serious scholarly study. 

 

Clement’s professional career at home in The Bahamas spanned some twenty-six years. He taught music at all levels of the government education system, from primary school to Teachers’ College. In 1968, he was appointed the first Deputy Head of the newly founded Highbury High School (now R.M. Bailey Senior High), leaving that post in 1969 to join the recently created Curriculum Division of the Ministry of Education and Culture as Education Officer for Music and Drama. In 1973, he was named Cultural Affairs Officer, and became Director when a Department of Cultural Affairs was established. This last post he occupied until his death.

 

While pursuing his full -time professional career, Clement was also actively involved in complementary cultural activities. He became a member of the organizing committee of the Music Festival very soon after his return to The Bahamas in 1961 and was later its Chairman. He assisted his former teacher, Mrs. Cumberbatch, in the organization of the Nassau Festival of Arts and Crafts which provided another showcase for Bahamian talent. In 1968, he founded The Bahamas Music Society, which was incorporated as The Nassau Music Society in 1978.  He helped to organize the Folklore Shows presented each year during Goombay Summer and, also in 1968, led a group of performing and visual artists to take part in the Cultural Olympics, held in Mexico City as part of the activities associated with the Olympic Games. It was for that occasion that the first version of The Legend of Sammie Swain was written—as the music for a ballet.  In 1965, Clement took over the direction of the Nassau Renaissance Singers and remained the choir’s conductor until his death in 1987. 

 

His responsibilities as Cultural Affairs Officer / Director of Culture involved Clement extensively in significant national and regional activities. Perhaps the most important of the national events in which he played a major role were those associated with the Independence Celebrations in 1973. He served as Artistic Director/ Composer/ Arranger for the cultural show that preceded the Flag-raising Ceremony, and for the Folklore show performed in the presence of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. He was also overall coordinator of other events such as the Youth Rally and Choral Concert. He performed similar functions on a number of other occasions, the most notable, perhaps, being his efforts in 1985, when he coordinated all cultural activities arranged for the visit to The Bahamas of Her Majesty the Queen for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. 

 

He lectured on Bahamian music and culture at home and abroad and served on regional and Commonwealth-wide Arts Committees. Having represented The Bahamas at the initial CARIFESTA held in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1972, Clement later led groups of artists and performers to participate in those events in 1979 and 1981. Sammie Swain was expanded into a full-scale folk opera in 1983 and from that date was performed at various times and in various settings, most notably before H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1985. In a different vein, under Clement’s direction the Nassau Renaissance Singers came to be regarded as one of the finest choirs in The Bahamas and the group’s annual Christmas concerts, held at Government House, were firmly established as an important feature of the Bahamian Christmas season.

 

Clement Bethel was married to the former Keva Eldon. The couple had two children, Nicolette and Edward, whom he loved unreservedly and of whom he was always very proud. He bequeathed to them a rich legacy of creative intelligence, passion for the arts, commitment to community and country and, not least of all, indomitable humour. Despite his full and demanding professional life, Clement always managed to find time to enjoy being with his family and his many friends. He died in August of 1987, at the age of 49, after a lengthy illness.  

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Written by: Keva Bethel