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When the Village Births Fire
By Dr. Isaac Newton
There are moments in the life of a nation when it does not simply honor its artists but enshrines them. Antigua and Barbuda has now done exactly that.
With the stroke of a Cabinet decision, Potters Main Road has been renamed The Burning Flames Highway. It is no longer just a path of passage; it is now a living monument to a sound that carried a people, a rhythm that redefined identity, and a fire that refused to die.
I was raised in Potters Village, where music was more than background noise. It was our pulse, our poetry, our prayer.
The sound of soca and calypso floated across fences, spilled through wooden windows, and made even the stillest moments feel alive. Among us were four local sons whose talent would one day shake the Caribbean and echo across oceans. They were called Burning Flames.
I must confess, with reverent honesty, that my own spiritual convictions have often placed me at odds with certain expressions of Carnival. Some aspects have stirred tensions between sacred values and cultural expression.
Yet even within that conflict, I could never ignore the creative brilliance, the sonic mastery, and the deep cultural meaning embedded in the music of Burning Flames.
What they offered was more than entertainment. It was a liberation movement disguised as melody. It was celebration steeped in struggle. It was joy seasoned with survival.
From Workey Workey to Stiley Tight, from Island Girl to Swinging Engine and Janet, their music lit fires in the soul. They transformed porches into dance floors and village squares into arenas of expression.
Their sound became the soundtrack of emancipation, where movement and meaning collided in perfect rhythm.
The official recognition they have now received is more than deserved. It is redemptive. Diplomatic passports, national honors, and the naming of a national road are not merely symbolic acts.
They are affirmations of cultural dignity. They are acknowledgments that rhythm can be a form of resistance and that melody can memorialize memory.
This is both a triumph for Burning Flames and a victory for the village. It is evidence that greatness can rise from humble soil and that the ordinary can give birth to the extraordinary.
It is a reminder that Potters Village did not simply nurture musicians. It raised architects of national joy.
To the sons of sound who carried our hopes in every note and turned rhythm into revolution, I offer not only congratulations but profound gratitude.
Your music made us dance with purpose
Your legacy makes us proud with reason
And your fire still burns across the landscape of our hearts
Long live the music
Long live the memory
Long live the Flames
Dr. Isaac Newton is a global strategist, thought leader, and theologian of transformation. A native of Potters Village, he has studied at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia University. As a professor, policy analyst, and advisor to leaders across continents, Dr. Newton brings together spiritual wisdom and intellectual brilliance to inspire meaningful change and honor the deep roots of cultural legacy.
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Anything less than a knighthood is out of order for these four men who entertained and serenaded the entire Caribbean with the sweetest music for decades. They are icons.
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