KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- Dr. Olive Lewin the well known Jamaican musicologist, folklorist and founder of the Jamaican Folk Singers is dead.

Lewin, 85, who died on Wednesday, dedicated her life to keeping the nation’s traditional songs alive by researching, collecting and recording anthologies for the benefit of future generations.

In the 1980s Lewin also spearheaded the Jamaica Memory Bank Project, at the direction of Prime Minister Edward Seaga, which focused on the recollections of Jamaicans from all walks of life, recording and transcribing their stories.