Calypso has gone to the dogs

Feb 23, 2012 Letters

Dear Mr Editor
I must comment on the Calypso and soca competitions held for Mash 2012.
I have been was involved in the planning and execution of Mash for the period 2000 to 2003 and I have a very good idea of what it entails. But what I saw recently has left a very bad taste in my mouth and has spurred me to making this public statement.
The Ministry of Culture, during my time there, embarked on a programme to develop the calypso art form. At that time the only persons entering the competitions were the “usual suspects”. Sorry to be this blunt but most of them lacked the intellectual capacity to take calypso to greater heights. The schools competition was producing a better quality calypso that the adult competition.
Efforts were made to source resource persons from Trinidad who came and worked with the Calypsonians; the Junior competition was started to bring new blood in the art form and later the winner of the Junior Competition was allowed to participate in the senior competition.
After 2000, the Judging criteria and system that were used were introduced and I am proud to say that I was integral in having that system implemented. But this is 2012! The criteria need to be re-evaluated. The present criteria were developed after an evaluation was done to determine where we were and where we need to go. It is time for a change again.
From my observation at the Calypso competition we have returned to the pre 2000 years! Eleven of the 14 calypsos were strictly political campaigning songs! They lacked creativity and poetry! How could these songs make it so far? The judging criteria need fixing. Where and when could the winning song be played after the competition?
It was no wonder that the 2011 champion felt compelled to defend his crown with a song with words like “I love the APNU, you love the APNU, we all love the APNU’? Is this calypso? Where is the marketability of that song? The competition seemed to have been an occasion to “cuss out” the Government officials rather than critique social ills which is what true calypso does.
The Ministry of Culture and by extension, the people of Guyana, spend millions of dollars each year on these competitions. Please let us get something out of it at the end.
I am hereby appealing to the Minister, the Mash Coordinator and Calypso Coordinators, Ms Chase-Greene, to review the criteria ensuring that it included marketability of the song; that the song must be able to be played after that year’s competition and in any crowd and venue, and be entertaining.
Also the panel of Judges needs to be expanded! I know that music is an art form but all the persons who listen to music are not musicians!
I must however complement the Soca artistes who are really lifting the bar with better performances each year. And I would like to single out Vanilla whose creativity seems to be improving daily but I am afraid that the same way that Big Red was pushed out she also will be if the discrimination in these competitions does not stop.
Both of the females who were in the finals sang better songs than both Jomo and Adrian. How creative does someone have to be to put music to our national motto or a known fact that has been repeated year after year by that same singer, that we are Guyanese!
I willfully did not comment on the chutney competition since it is still young and emerging but needs some attention before the same fate that befell the calypso is visited on that.
I hope that we will see a better standard of judging come February 23.
Raymon Cummings
Former Member of the Mashramani Committee 2000 to 2003

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