then transcribed and arranged the songs as performance pieces. She was one of the first to research and formally perform folk music in the Caribbean, bringing focus to the importance of the genre, with its traditional Creole languages and instruments. Through La Petite Musicale, Walke brought rural Trinidadian music to the concert stage and earned national and international acclaim. The group were the first to treat folk music as worthy of performance by a formal music ensemble and they traveled widely. In 1958, they participated in a Caribbean-wide arts festival. The following year, Walke was presented to Princess Margaret in recognition of her contributions in collecting the early history of folk music in the Caribbean and was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire. In 1964, Walke took them to the World Folk Festival in Covington, Kentucky, and the CARIFTA Expo '69 in Grenada, as well as giving performances in Martinique and Saint Lucia. Walke's work inspired others to form chapters of La Petite Musicale, like the one that formed in Toronto in 1969. In 1962, the year that Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain, Walke was appointed as senator in the first Parliament of the new nation. She focused most of her attention in that body to improving education and advancing cultural development in the country. In 1969, the inaugural year of the Hummingbird Medal, Walke received the Gold Medal for her contributions of devoted service to the country. Death and legacy Walke died on 10 September 1969 in St. James, Port of Spain, Trinidad, after a lengthy illness. Posthumously in 1970, her collection of traditional music, Folk Songs of Trinidad and Tobago, was published. Her music is still performed in Trinidad. In 2003, Orville Wright paid homage to her as his mentor in a concert "Reid, Wright and be Happy", which also featured Ron Reid and David "Happy" Williams. In 2007, Amadi Productions presented a concert, "Ambataila Women", which featured some of Walke's works, including her most popular songs, "Every Time Ah Pass" and "Mangos". In celebration of the nation's 50th Independence Anniversary, Walke was one of the influential citizens selected by the Ministry of Education and author, Nassar Khan, to be included in the publication, Profiles of the Heroes, Pioneers and Role Models of Trinidad and Tobago. The Toronto chapter of La Petite Musicale celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2014 with a concert