Monkey show he arse
Posted: Monday, March 24, 2003
By Kim Johnson
Standing in line in a fast food outlet last week I overheard a voice behind: "It's about time they took Saddam down."
It spoke with no-nonsense authority.
I turned to see a well-dressed fellow, neat, short hair, medium height, gym-inflated. A bank employee perhaps, trying to impress a chick with TV-talk.
After a minute inching forward and muttering, I heard a different, more strident voice.
One man was furiously remonstrating another for attempting to jump the line.
The one occupying the moral high ground was an office worker, older but shabbier than the "take him down" twit, perhaps a low level Public Service administrator or teacher. Balding, he could have been either Indian or mixed.
"The line don't start here, I don't care what the f--- you say!" he shouted.
"Why the f--- you don't go back to Texas?"
His ire was directed at a white man in a jeans and shirt, a foreign engineer perhaps, who responded lamely, "I'm not from Texas" and moved to the tail of the line.
But, I thought, Trinis not so. Only in traffic do middle class Trinis publicly exhibit anger.
"They could be cruel but not rude," sociologist Lloyd Braithwaite wrote in 1953, Strangling Beneath Propriety.
We rather grumble sotto voce.
The outburst arose from outrage at the arrogance of another Texan.
It's well known that George Bush and his cronies lied about Saddam's so-called weapons of mass destruction. The threat Iraq poses to the USA is a particularly ironic lie because a bully only picks on who he knows is no danger.
Monkey know what tree to climb, you'd think, but another proverb is more appropriate: The higher he go, the more he show his arse.
So Bush does not surprise. He has always been dim-witted, cold-hearted and spineless.
Look at any photograph of him. His forehead is furrowed in consternation.
What's happening around me? he seems to "thinking." What are all these grown ups talking about?
His eyebrows curve up towards each other: Fear.
"People who are scared do dangerous things," sang David Byrne years ago on a lovely album, Rei Momo. Another line goes: "He's got no personality/ it's just a clever imitation of people on TV."
For sure Bush took his script from TV, branding his enemies "nazis" and his critics "appeasers." Saddam is like Hitler but with a bigger moustache, and he has to confess live on TV, or ride out of town by sundown.
Even Bush's military strategy was geared to the TV, starting with a ferocious aerial bombing around Baghdad designed for maximum impact with minimum risk, followed by a "soft" ground invasion from the south, where Saddam is politically and militarily weak.
The plan is to occupy Basra, hoping to be welcomed by flag-waving crowds hugging the soldiers. Troops will give out food parcels to children, and TV correspondents will be flown in "to record any scenes of jubilation."
Americans can then bask in the world's love and admiration.
There's no contest. Saddam's regime will be crushed and Iraq will suffer.
But who will win?
Not the Americans, according to US ambassador to Greece John Kiesling, whose resignation letter stated:
"Until this Administration, it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president, I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer...
"Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offence and defence... We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known...
"We have not seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of American opinion, since the war in Vietnam... this Administration has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and largely defeated Al-Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally.
"We spread disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq."
This meaningless war won't decrease terrorism, but will increase hostility to America throughout the world. It won't even bring greater control over oil supplies to the USA, which has always happily done business with the Middle East's most sordid leaders.
It won't plant democracy in Iraq or anywhere else. On the contrary, it could unravel an already unstable region and elevate Iran to greater prominence.
Even the American public will lose. Not from Muslim fundamentalism which, as Afghanistan showed, is past its peak.
Rather, Bush's Christian fundamentalism has considerably eroded American civil liberties. Laws now provide for surveillance everywhere, secret courts, denial of constitutional rights in the interests of security.
And all of that for domestic politics.
After Bush's dubious electoral victory, 9/11 was a stroke of luck for him.
And when his Afghanistan stunt got mired in failure, he arbitrarily turned to Iraq to sustain his ratings.
How was that possible? Because 9/11 showed Americans they are hated by some people. The awareness shocked them into parochialism and xenophobia, which Bush has amplified.
Fear and hatred of strangers comes naturally to Bush, and to many Americans.
But not to all. That's why New York, the most ethnically mixed city in the world, voted against the war.
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Words to swear by
Posted: Monday, March 17, 2003
by Kim Johnson
Noting the marked absence of crime during Carnival, I am reminded of one Sunday when the NAR government announced it was going to clean Port-of-Spain and San Fernando streets of mad vagrants the following day.
Immediately they disappeared. By Monday not a lunatic was to be seen lounging in Tamarind Square or the Coffee.
Madmen, it seems, followed the news, at least if it concerned their freedom to assemble, and using the commonsense that they otherwise lacked, took no-pay leave of absence.
Similarly, maybe the police robbertalk persuaded our bandits to put their career on hold until another day.
Perhaps the bad-tempered-looking policemen posted on city corners did the trick.
And searching party patrons and their skettels certainly contributed. Every knife or ice pick confiscated could no longer visit some unfortunate's rib cage.
However, when I read about the 20,000 strong "Carnival Cool Down" at Manzanilla beach on Ash Wednesday, I couldn't help but wonder if things hadn't gone too far.
The police dragnet held 10 for possession of narcotics, nine for obscene language, for four picking pockets and three for possession of weapons.
It was described as a "zero-tolerance" exercise, and that foolish American phrase immediately gave me a bad vibe.
The squad of 72 lawmen also arrested men for fighting, selling alcohol without a licence, overcrowding a vehicle, dangerous overtaking, driving without a horn or with defective tyres and (here I shamefacedly quote the report of a colleague) "for resisting arrest."
Interesting philosophical issues surround the concept that a man could be arrested for resisting arrest. But at this moment I have other fish to fry.
By the Summary Offences Act it is unlawful to use "any obscene, indecent or profane language to the annoyance of any resident or person in any street or... in a place to which the public is admitted."
There's no list of obscene, indecent or profane words and phrases, but the Sh-word dropped off the scale, and, hell, I can use arse in even this august publication.
Policemen and magistrates generally limit the prohibited language to the F-word and the C-word.
It doesn't matter anyway because everyone, barring extreme Christians, uses strong language nowadays, especially policemen, and the obscene language/resisting arrest combination of charges is only carte blanche to beat up innocent members of the public.
I remember the time bandits robbed a store on Henry Street and scurried into the Frederick Street Mall. Police cordoned off the block and began evicting its denizens one by one.
Across the road a crowd quickly formed, many to maco, but some to heckle and vent their disapproval over the police harassment of the brothers.
As one policeman cautioned a particularly vociferous onlooker for the vigour of his heckling, another more enraged officer ran up shouting, "Yes! Lock up he f...ing m..... c...t!"
The protective services are as foul-mouthed as anyone else and more than most. Hence the saying, to swear like a trooper. But even the exemplars of society use the forbidden vocabulary.
"Good authors who once knew better words/now only use four-letter words/writing prose," wrote Cole Porter: "Anything goes."
Can such common linguistic currency really be criminally offensive? Methinks an officer must produce in court, a girl guide, a child under nine, or nun. If not, magistrates should get real and fling every cuss case out on its arse.
There are precedents to support my argument, m'lud.
Once Justice Jim Davis, when he was in private practice, won a cuss case by getting the officer to admit he wasn't really offended by a few F-words and maybe a C-word or two.
I'd say the presumption is that they aren't offended, whether F is followed by emphatic plebeian O or genteel middle-class U. In a 1996 cuss case from New South Wales, both complainant and defendant were policemen.
Sergeant Anderson had issued orders to Constable Cowin, a female, in the following terms:
"Constable, get f....ing over here... Why aren't these f...ing messages on the f...ing pad? I don't f...ing care, I want them on the f...ing pad."
Justice of Appeal Meagher held the words were unchivalrous and unbecoming of a sergeant, but not legally offensive.
Evidently, Sgt Anderson's colleagues specialised in such choice language. It was part of what was oxymoronically called "police culture".
And although an English judge dismissed a juror last week for wearing a "F..." T-shirt, an earlier Scottish judge released a man held for telling an officer to "F... off!"
Thus, I want to make a plug, so to speak, for a useful and versatile word.
Derived from good old Anglo-Saxon stock, it has none of the prissiness of Latin. The difference is that between "piss" and "urinate". One is short, clear, evocative and multi-purposed, whereas the other is awkward, vague and pretentious.
Words are like currency. Their value is their ability to spark images in the hearer's mind, or to evoke emotions. The sharper the image, the stronger the emotion, the better the word.
By those criteria the F-word is of the highest mint. Such is its remarkable potency that abuse by the armed forces has not devalued its tremendous emotional power and efficacy, if used appropriately.
You don't believe me? Just apply a simple test: whisper it on a rainy night in the ear of your lover. You'll instantly get a hard slap, or something altogether different.
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Flat nose and chinkey eye
Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2003
by Kim Johnson
Considering the soon-to-be inauguration of our first Carnival president (whose wining in Poison, I must admit, displayed more perspiration than inspiration), I recall one night three weeks ago when I visited Phase II panyard.
As I entered that short, dark slither of an alley, the sound of the band coasting greeted me.
Pliting pong boom pang boom boom pililing pliling pling plong bang boom plikitiplong plangpling plikiting plikiting.
If it doesn't go on for long, and sometimes even if it does, I love that crazy babel produced when everyone in a band is doing their own thing in their own time.
The chaotic tinkling makes no sense, your ear can discern no line or beat, no pattern.
Yet it's not random gibberish, but rather the focused, purposeful practice of a hundred musicians, whose efforts just happen to be not synchronised.
And when the iron clangs everyone to order, the music emerges like a flower from the earth.
That to me is magical. But to the impatient, it's exasperating.
"Aii," exclaimed the man trickling along ahead of me, "Chinee music!"
The Chinese might have long embedded themselves deeply in creole culture. (Who you think introduced whe whe? Why you think Chinee children called Terror daddy?)
Yet no culture seems as foreign. Even the syllables of Chinese languages and the characters of the script are incomprehensible in a way that Spanish or Hindi isn't.
That's why I suppose Chinese names and accents, the fly lice and clix biscuits, and long time ice cream vendors chanting "ikillim" were always good for a laugh.
"As though the Chinee does get their name/ by the beating of the steelbands in Port-of-Spain," sang Viking in 1948, referring to an actual visit of Chinese cricketers from Guyana: "For is Ling Ting bowled and caught by Loong Tang And Ming Ting were clean bowled by Poon Pang.
"And the whole Oval shout When Loong Lung get Wang-Pung-Ting-Pang-Toong out."
As recent as 1988, Trinidad Rio gave us "Chinee Football Match": "Listenin the commentary on my cassette/ I thought was bottle pelt Chin Lee in a parang fete."
Gordon Rohlehr also lists Kitch's "Lai Fung Lee"; Melody's "Chinee Scandal," "Chinee Burial" and "Mammy Have a Chinee Man"; Skipper's "The Chinee Getting Creolised"; Killer's "Romantic Chinaman"; and Terror's "Chinee Children Calling Me Daddy."
Some are delightful. "Lai Fung Lee" was deservedly the 1946 Road March. "Chinee Football Match" always makes me grin.
The humour was based on difference from the norm, which still feeds the insensitive narrow-mindedness Raymond Choo Kong railed against in monologue years aback:
"My name is not Chin. My name is Choo Kong. Not Choo Fong or Choo Long or Choo Wong. It is Choo Kong; you know, like King Kong: Choo Kong.
"I spent the first 18 years of my life in a little Chinese laundry in Arima, (Yes, we had one of those.) And for 18 years all I would hear was, ‘Move your ass na Chin; Wha happen Chin, you stupid or what?'
"‘Why you don't take Mary and go back to China, whe you come from?'"
Choo Kong was right. I cringe at the supercilious way black people often speak to workers in Chinese establishments.
But the truth is, the Chinese don't let it get under their skin the way almost any other racial group would.
The reason is partly because there wasn't antagonism so much as plain stupidity.
And anyway the Chinese jokes, barring those about what is two inches long and what else is sideways, often acknowledge the aphoristic wisdom of an ancient civilisation:
Confucius say good thing no cheap, cheap thing no good; man who go to bed with sex problem wake up with solution in hand. Toooldtocum married Tooyoungtocum, who gave birth to Howcomeyoucome.
It's not entirely fanciful. My China-born grandmother used to say, for instance: "If you want to forget your worries, walk down Frederick Street in a tight pair of shoes."
If you unwittingly broke something, a glass for instance, she'd reassure you: "Don't worry, they wouldn't sell it if it couldn't break."
Black Power protested that the only non-whites hired by banks were Chinese because, many felt, they had straight hair and fair skin. I don't buy that. Rather, Trinis deeply believe Chinese are clean, fair-minded and bright.
They were always trusted to bake fresher bread, launder clothes cleaner, and keep other people's money without appropriating it.
Whether that is deserved I won't comment, but I do know that Chinese have not suffered from the racial complexes that afflict everyone else.
They are not given to ostentation and the insecurities that brings. As shopkeepers, they lived closely to the masses. And if they couldn't get another Chinese they shamelessly married black, white and Indian, up, down and sideways.
Catholicity of desire breeds universalism in culture, and accordingly the Chinese — or at least the "hack wai" Chinese-creole hybrids — have comfortably lent their talents to the development of T&T culture in a more all-embracing way than almost anyone else.
Carlysle Chang comes to mind, and Andre Tanker. Or if we go back further, "Chinee Patrick" Jones.
When racial tension rose just before independence, Eric Williams chose Solomon Hochoy as Governor General.
Max Richards might indeed have presided over the desertification of UWI, as Lloyd Best pointed out (a task requiring little talent, since the place was already quite barren).
But once again, in times of heightened Indo-African distrust, I can see how Patrick Manning would think no one's better than a Chinee hybrid.
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Sandra, Exodus Rescue 'Champs'
Posted: Monday, March 10, 2003
By Terry Joseph
It was a tribute in the absence of its chief celebrant and this country's numero uno pan fan, President Arthur NR Robinson (who is in The Hague for the inauguration of the International Criminal Court), but Saturday's Champs in Concert show proceeded all the same.
With ritual punctuality and in the end, keeping to its perennial promise of completion before midnight, the show paraded 21 acts before a Queen's Park Savannah Grand Stand audience that rarely exuded enough energy to trigger even the most sensitive applause meter, except for few performances, most notably those by Singing Sandra and the Exodus Steel Orchestra.
If playing only to the Grand Stand is Pan Trinbago's admission that its annual production is losing mass appeal, the organisation needs now to look beyond the obvious and further examine content and production values.
Predictably, the audience comprised a mix of elderly persons, astute couples lured by the cost-effective deal, locals and returning residents, and ubiquitous Culture Minister Pennelope Beckles.
For the most part, the show was boring and not for lack of interesting components.
Saturday's show meanwhile offered an increase in value for money—albeit dubious—with an additional senior king and queen (as a result of initial dollar-negotiation difficulties with the reigning monarchs), then all winners of a three-way tie in the Junior Calypso monarch category and the two joint champs of Junior Panorama. After Keisha Codrington played the national anthem and the observance of a one-minute silence in respect of Andre Tanker's passing, the junior pan champs opened, first Success Stars Pan Sounds with the Ben Jackson/Kareem Brown arrangement of "Trini to the Bone", then BPTT Renegades Youth interpeting Amrit Samaroo's work on Boogsie Sharpe's "Music in We Blood".
The three young calypso monarchs then rendered their works, Olatunji Harewood,'s treatise on "Donkey Power", third-time winner Karene Asche's "Vision 20/20" and nine year old Sheyinene Hazell capturing hearts with her performance of "We Can't Sing Along Anymore".
The first of three mas capsules followed, with Junior Queen Cyani de Frens parading as The Wings of Destiny, her male counterpart Shawn Derek in as D' Spirit of the Eagle Dance and Rosalind Gabriel's winning band, Melting Pot affording the audience some delight.
The pan insert at this time slowed proceedings as T&TEC Power Stars, winners of the Sydney Gollop trophy put in a less than lively rendition of Brian "Bean" Griffith's "Panorama".
Then there was The Mighty Sparrow, a surprise to even the chosen few lucky enough to have programmes, he belting out in swift segue "Jean & Dinah", "The Lizard", "Obeah Wedding" and "Drunk and Disorderly", before the reigning national calypso monarch and calypso queen Singing Sandra came onstage, eliciting stout applause by her mere arrival.
Sandra sparked some energy into the hitherto moribund audience, rendering the two songs that earned her this year's titles: "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and delivering a particularly vigorous choreography for "Ancient Rhythms".
Now it was time for the King and Queen of Carnival, Alana Ward as "Fire in D Sky" and Curtis Eustance dancing the costume "The Sky is D Limit", both from winning large band of the year, Legends' presentation of Bedazzled.
Next up was The Original de Fosto Himself, first being honoured for his contribution to Panorama music, then doing "Pandora", his song selected by most of the winning bands in this year's multi-tiered contest.
Exodus then assumed the entertainment portfolio as winner of a special 40th anniversary competition staged at Dimanche Gras and champion of the national panorama contest, treating an enthusiastic audience to the songs that won them those titles "Tourist Leggo" and "Pandora" (respectively). And indeed, a major exodus followed, with road march monarch Fay Ann Lyons yet to do her winning song "Display".
That, then, was Champs in Concert, an event not lacking in performing talent but one that needs to adjust its presentation before next year's edition, lest it play to even less than the Grand Stand's capacity.
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Legends wins Band of the Year title - a fourth time
Posted: Saturday, March 8, 2003
By Joan Rampersad, Newsday TT
For the fourth time in five years, the band Legends led by Mike Antoine and Ian Mc Kenzie won the Band of the Year title. This was announced yesterday by chairman of the adjudicating committee, Alvin Daniell at a media conference held at the Club House of the Queen's Park Savannah.
Antoine and Mc Kenzie who were present at the Club House, openly showed their elation when their portrayal "Bedazzled" was pronounced winners of the 2003 competition. In addition to winning the large Band of the Year title and the George Bailey trophy, Legends also won the Harold Saldenah trophy, after also having copped the King and Queen of Carnival. Also the male and female Individual of the Year titles. In the midst of celebrating, Antoine said: "Last year we had a bit of controversy, so this year is for all the masqueraders who portrayed and carried their mas and everything".
After four wins, Antoine said he felt great, and this year he added, proved that they deserved first place. Legends previously won the title in 1999, 2000 and 2001. From now on Antoine said, wherever there is Carnival around the world, whether it is mas or consultancy, they will find it. "We will be at the major Carnivals that is, we do Barbados, Grenada, Boston, Texas, England, Miami, I'll be there," said Antoine. He congratulated the Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee, NCC Chairman Kenny de Silva; Minister of Culture Penelope Beckles, and Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy for ensuring that all had a great Carnival. "It was free flow, no back up in the Savannah, and I think from there on we can grow from strength to strength and take the Carnival abroad," he said.
Antoine also supports the NCC running the Carnival again next year stating that this year spoke for itself in that there was a great police presence. When the NCC took over the Carnival he added, they did it effectively, efficiently, smoothly, sweetly and they all had a great time. Earlier de Silva said they had a lot to be thankful for, given how the Carnival turned out in the end. He paid special tribute to all the bands that took part in all the Carnival parades, for the part each played in the smooth running of operations. He even noted the great help he got from the media, and for 2004 he said he would plan pursuing a media award for the best Carnival story. Daniell admitted that the judging exercise was very exhausting, but rewarding and for 2004, with the NCC running the show, he promised results by Ash Wednesday.
Here is a synopsis of the results listed by Category - Band - Portrayal:
George Bailey Band of the Year 2003:
Large - Legends - Bedazzled
Medium - Trini Revellers - Gathering of the Tribes
Small - Tribal Connections - Warriors of the Great Plains
Mini - Rosalind Gabriel - Land of the Humming Bird
Lil Hart Award 2003
Large - Masquerade Funtasia
Medium - Trini Revellers - Gathering of the Tribes
Small - Mt. Hope connection - A Sailor's Dream
Mini - A Jackman - Sioux Festival
Harold Saldenah Award 2003
Large - Legends - Bedazzled
Medium - D'Midas Associates - D Awakening
Small - Young Aming & Associates - History in Fantasy
Mini - A Jackman - Sioux Festival
Band of the Day (Monday) 2003
Large - Starlift - If My Friends Could See Me Now
Medium - Trini Revellers - Gathering of the Tribes
Small - Tribal Connections - Warriors of the Great Plains
Mini - A Jackman - Sioux Festival
Individual of the Year - Male - D' Sky is D Limit - Curtis Eustace
Individual of the Year - Female - Fire in D' Sky - Alana Ward
King of the Bands - D' Sky is D Limit - Curtis Eustace
Queen of the Bands - Fire in D' Sky - Alana Ward
Best Instrumental Band - Roy Cape All Stars
Junior Band of the Year - Open
Large - Rosalind Gabriel - Melting Pot
Medium - Marisa Gibson Prescod - Step by Step - From Christmas to Carnival
Small - Keylemanjaro School of Art & Culture - The Spirit of Carnival
Mini - Christine Nunes - Chinese New Year
Junior Band of the Year - School
Large - Arima Boys R.C. - Save! Preserve! Conserve!
Medium - Success Laventille Composite - A Hot Trini Pelau
Small - Keylemanjaro School of Art & Culture - The Spirit of Carnival
Junior Band of the Year - Non-School
Large - Rosalind Gabriel - Melting Pot
Medium - Marisa Gibson Prescod - Step by Step - From Christmas to Carnival
Small - Classix Productions - I Once Wrote a Story
Mini - Christine Nunes - Chinese New Year
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Misrepresentation of Carnival
Posted: Friday, March 7, 2003
by Christine
Every Carnival Monday and Tuesday I would do one of three things. Either play mas, stay at home and watch the event live on the television or be down-town frolicking as a non masquerader. During the times I would be at home watching the event live on the television, my attention would be focused more on the masqueraders than on what the commentators would be saying. During that phase in my life my awareness about many things said and done was not as sharp as it is at present hence the reason I decided to write this article.
Choosing to watch Carnival 2003 parade of the bands live on television Carnival Tuesday, and also being aware of the perspective from which I was viewing the event, it was blatantly clear to me in a very short space of time, how other than seeing people on stage in a kaleidoscope of colors expressing themselves in sync with the music, there was nothing said by the commentators that was informative. Thank goodness I am familiar with the culture and some history of where and how carnival originated. But what about the other uninformed Trinidadians watching and listening. What about the tourists who were also tuned in to the radio or watching it live on the television? I was appalled by the careless and misinformed presentation of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago carried live by our so-called media TTT. Let's not forget the individuals who were representing their bands. They were like the salt in the injury. They were creating a history that left everyone else out except themselves. I even wondered if they were in fact speaking English.
Carnival is a trump card in the game of economics in Trinidad and Tobago.
My question is, what is really the key players' motive behind managing Carnival?
If NCC wants to play themselves for fools that is fine but don't dare take the people of Trinidad and Tobago and those outside looking in for fools. Taking an important thing as our history and making a 'pappy-show' out of it makes it quite obvious that their motive is not about promotion of this National Event.
It is important to remember where Carnival originated and how it evolved to where it is today. Keeping a clear perspective about where it can go and how it can get there will need a transition period directed mainly by the ones who have more sense.
I am looking forward to the transition from NCC - NATIONAL CARNIVAL COMMITTEE to NCC - NEW CHANGE COMING!
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Musical farewell for Tanker
Posted: Thursday, March 6, 2003
By TERRY JOSEPH
HUNDREDS are this morning expected to attend the funeral of musician Andre Tanker, who died from cardiac arrest on Carnival Friday night, less than 24 hours after an acclaimed performance at MO2BS, Chaguara mas for the Mad Hatters Ball.
Among those flying in for the funeral is Ron Reid who, for many years, played bass with Tanker's group One World Contraband and who currently lectures at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
The funeral is expected to bring together young and mature artistes, Tanker having left not only a legacy of fine music and friends across the industry, but memories of his willingness to help young artistes.
Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott heads a list of persons who will deliver spoken and musical tributes at this morning's funeral, which will be conducted by Fr Garfield Rochard, beginnning 11 a.m. at Church of The Assumption in Tanker's old neighbourhood on Long Circular Road, after which cremation takes place at the cinerary in St James.
Described as "A celebration of the Life of Andre Tanker", the tributes will largely take place immediately before the funeral service and features a number of performances by past and present members of Tanker's One World Contraband.
Opening the programme is sitarist Mungal Patasar, who first performed with Tanker in 1973 on the soundtrack of the movie Bim and who ascribes his current involvement in music to Tanker's persistence. He will join Contraband for "I Want A Witness", before Tony Chow Lin (aka Chinese Launry) delivers the first of six speeches listed.
Latter-day artistes Sheldon Blackman, Maximus Dan, 3-Canal and Ataklan will perform "Hero", the Bim theme and "Over the Mountain, followed by spoken tributes from BC Pires and Lasana Kwesi .
What is expected to be among the most moving contributions comes via a rendition of the song "Morena Osha" from Mavis John and Gail McLean.
Walcott, with whom Tanker worked on the soundtrack for the play Ti-Jean and His Brothers, will then deliver his talk, preceding an instrumental interlude by friend from childhood David "Happy" Williams and Contraband member Theron Shaw, before the band comes together again to do "Here and Now".
Daughter of Andre and Christine Tanker, Zo-Marie, will then speak about her father, to be succeeded at the pulpit by lifelong friend George Ng Wai, listed to deliver the eulogy.
The official funeral service then begins, with The Love Movement choir (enhanced by Juliet Eckel) leading the singing of hymns selected by the family and closing proceedings with two of Tanker's best known works, "Forward Home" and "Sayamanda".
Also expected to perform are Tanker's half-brother, guitarist Peter Shim and protege/nephew Joey Ng Wai, son of George, whose popular band Imij & Co yesterday afternoon hosted rehearsals for today's musical performances.
Activity coordinators Sonja Dumas and Don La Foucade were busy organising the event right down to the smallest detail.
Many of Tanker's long-standing musical colleagues were left in a bit of a quandary, as mutual friend and parandero/pannist Ken Brathwaithe, who died mere hours before Andre, is also being buried this morning at 10 a.m. at St Finbar's Church on Morne Coco Road in Westmoorings, miles away from Church of the Assumption.
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Fay-ann is Road March Queen
Posted: Thursday, March 6, 2003
Newsday/TT
Fay-ann Lyons, 23, became the third woman to capture the Road March title when her song, "Display" was played a total of 174 times at all judging points around Trinidad and Tobago on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. She also became the youngest singer to achieve the coveted title of Road March monarch.
In second place was rival Destra Garcia with "It’s Carnival" which was played 131 times. The Road March competition is organised by Trinbagonian. Unified Calypsonian Organisation When asked how she felt winning the title, Lyons responded: "Cool!" But quickly added: "When I see the car park up in front of my yard, then I will believe it."
A fully loaded Ford Focus donated by Diamond Motors is the main prize for the Road March winner while for placing second, Destra will collect $20,000.
Fay-ann is the daughter of top calypsonian, Superblue, (Austin Lyons) who has eight titles to his name. Asked if her victory was a sign that she was taking over from her father, she said: "No, I am just continuing what he started and I’m just following in his footsteps. My focus now is on next year’s Carnival and to try to deliver good music." Superblue said yesterday that there was irony in the fact that he won his first title 23 years ago and now at 23, his daughter captured her first road march. He recalled when she telephoned him from New York last year, he encouraged her to keep writing and her victory in this year’s road march contest and with her own composition would give her even more confidence. He said he plannd to share some of his "little secrets" with her.
Though there are no prizes from the third placed artiste, the first five places were as follows:
1st Fay-ann Lyons - Display 174
2nd Destra Garcia & Machel Montano - It’s Carnival 131
3rd Iwer George - Ah Home 39
4th David Rudder & Carl Jacob - Trini to de bone 34
5th Machel Montano - Mad Man 15
The two other women to win Road March honours were Calypso Rose who won in 1977 and 1978 with "Tempo" and "Fire, fire " and Sanelle Dempster who won in 1999 with "The River".
'Colours of the Wind' wins Downtown Band of the Year title
The 2003 offering from Masquerade/Funtasia' "Colours of The Wind" earned Downtown Band of the Year honours. At a news conference late yesterday, Mayor of Port-of- Spain Murchison Browne announced the results of the downtown festivities. In second place was Poison with their "Fleurs de Passion" presentation.
Legends "Bedazzled" came in third, Barbarossa's "Comme Se Comme Sa" fourth and Callaloo Company's "Ship of Fools" in fifth position. De Midas and Associates' "The Awakening" took the Medium band of the year crown, while the small band honour went to The Boss with "Festival of the Hopee Cochinas" the mini band crown went to Jackman and Associates with "Sioux Festival". Browne added that, "We witnessed one of the brightest Carnival in many a year." The Mayor offered glowing praise to the NCC in their running of the parade, and added that "before the NCBA took over, downtown was a compulsory site." He went on to say that all but one major band passed through downtown this year. Poison was also praised repeatedly by the Mayor who said that for a 32-section, 10,000 member band to cross the stage in 70 minutes was very commendable. The Commissioner of Police and the Chief of Defense Staff were also lauded for their efforts. He said that just as criticism is passed, praise should also be offered, and all defence personnel were commended by the mayor.
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Fay-Ann or Destra for road march
Posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2003
'Display' tipped to win Road March
Abstract Newsday TT
By SEAN DOUGLAS
Fay-Ann Lyons is a favourite for the Road March title. If she pulls it off she will be only the third female to do so. (Calypso Rose was the first in 1977, "Tempo," repeating in 1978, "Soca Jam" and Sanell Dempster's "River" in 1999.) A victory for Fay-Ann will make her the youngest person ever to win the title, as well, she will be chalking up a family and national record as the first father and daughter to win the titles. Her father SuperBlue won eight times. Fay-Ann says she fears no one in the Road March race. And this is from one of the newest persons to the soca game, namely the Soca Monarch competitions and the upcoming Road March race. A serious contender in her own right, the pretty 22-year-old front-line singer with Invazion has been heating up the airwaves with "Display", a tune that she wrote with everyone in mind. "When I write a song I don't try to channel anything," she says. "I don't picture the bands sweating it out on Carnival Tuesday, no images of jumping or waving crowds. You see, I never try to channel anything like that, you won't get anything out of it. It's like trying to channel a river and a couple of people may get washed away in the process, you know? So I don't do it. All I want to do is pick up my pen and write." She describes her song as something that all classes can identify with, no particular uptown or downtown posse. As she says, the kids can jump, the people can wave and pick up the beat, catching the natural momentum of the music. When asked who she considered a threat, she simply says, "God, I fear no man!" Then she breaks into laughter. Her father Austin Lyons (SuperBlue) is as proud as any doting papa, she admits. "He gives me advice on performance and showmanship."
With her sexy on-stage moves and blatant sexuality, Destra Garcia makes soca delivery look frighteningly easy. Some may even think that she has a 2003 Road March victory on the brain, given her popular songs, "Carnival" and "Choo Choo", which are literally "mashing up" de place. "Believe me, I'm not really thinking about the road march at all, Destra admits. "I not studying that... I just making the music for the people to enjoy. If it comes out to be a road march contender, all well and good." Garcia already tasted some road march success when her song "Tremble it" placed third last year, but she feels no pressure, even after breaking away from Roy Cape and launching into a successful solo career. The songwriting team of Kernal Roberts and Machel Montano (they co-wrote "Carnival") along with the sexy songstress generated its own creative formula. "Kernal came up with the verses and I came up with the chorus," says Garcia. "I don't really believe that there is a real 'formula' as such for writing a road march tune, because what happened with us, it was a vibe... everybody contributed a vibe of their own to the piece, so no real formula, because a road march is like an anthem. When you hear it, it makes you go crazy. It's a song that can make you run, make you wave, make you march. It's something sweet with a catchy hook... you have to catch the soca jumbie." Garcia, doesn't see anyone else as a threat, or herself for that matter. In her eyes, it's not about seeking prizes; she's in it for the fun of it. "Right now I am thanking God for his many blessings and I can say that my plate is a full one. For me to want anything more at this point means I will be greedy, and I'm not. "With this road march race, there are so many people I want to wish the best, like Fay-Ann, KMC, Iwer, and Ronnie McIntosh, now that is a possible dark horse right there, because his song mashing up right now. "And 'Madman' Machel too, don't leave him out either! (Laughs) I'm just concentrating on making it through the season, surviving Soca Monarch... Maybe one day it will be me to win a title, but I consider myself still at the bottom, but I'm climbing."
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King and Queen of Jouvert
Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2003
By Ralph Banwarie, Newsday TT
Trevor Thomas is the 2003 Jouvert King and Patricia Goddard, the Jouvert Queen.
Thomas dressed as a medical doctor in white coat and carrying his medical kit began administering injections depicting what was written on his placard "Ah want to injek sum peace in this country" impressed the judges and the city crowd which won him the title of Jouvert King 2003. Goddard, the Jouvert Queen, portraying a newspaper reporter with negative reports on her outfit claiming the reports were "Painting T&T Black" also got the judges attention which contributed to her being crowned Jouvert Queen.
Inspite of all the controversy and fears that Carnival 2003 would be affected by reports of crime and possible terrorist attacks Jouvert began on a good footing and was declared opened by the Mayor of Port-of- Spain, Murchison Brown, promptly at 4 am at South Quay in downtown Port of Spain. All paying patrons who occupied the stands were seated quite comfortably, while the spectators gathered behind the iron bars along South Quay awaiting the parade of ole mas and Jouvert bands.
A large police presence headed by Police Commissioner Hilton Guy, Assistant Commissioners Winston Cooper and Everald Snaggs and other officers created the assurance of security for all present to witness Jouvert. Asst Commissioner, Winston Cooper said zero tolerance would be accepted "even if one is caught with a penknife, he or she would be locked up and released on Ash Wednesday. Asked if there is the manpower and facilities to cater for this, his smiling response was "yes." Mud mas again dominated the early morning celebration as several bands all muddied, passed the stage. Some of the other bands which paraded before the judges minus the mud were; Rhythm Drummers, TT Limers, Merry Tones _Nasty Nasty Marabunta Ants, and others.
Final results of Indivduals category were:
Male:
1st Trevor Thomas- Ah want To injek sum peace in dis country.
2nd Peter Christopher- Its Rubber to Trini to D Bone.
3rd Mervyn Foncette- D Hi Cost of Communication.
Female:
1st Patricia Goddard- Newspaper reporter Printing T&t Black.
2nd Helen Fullard- A battered Woman
3rd Gloria Jones- Celebration of a Nation 40th Independence.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/stories.php?article_id=293
Political portrayals dominate south Jouvert
By Richardson Dhalai, Newsday TT
UNC leader, Basdeo Panday, wife Oma, President-elect Max Richards, David Rudder’s "Trini-to-de-bone" 2003 offering and Education Minister’s Hazel Manning infamous "breakfasses" slip were among the most popular depictions at Jouvert 2003 celebrations in San Fernando, yesterday. San Fernando West MP, Diane Seukeran, and Police Commissioner, Hilton Guy also made unexpected appearances at the celebrations which saw one of the largest turn-outs in recent years.
The festivities were declared open by San Fernando Mayor, Gerard Ferreira at 5.50 am, calling on revellers for a "clean, safe Carnival," while having "good, clean fun." First band to cross the Harris Promenade judging point was, "Brown Sugar Boys," who declared their intentions when a female masquerader, carrying a placard reading, "Oma have a big a "count", courted a male masquerade who was outfitted in a cardboard suit stuffed with "pounds", with one pound in a strategic location below the groin. Another masquerader was then pounded with a mallet while carrying a placard reading, "oh-mah gets pounds." While three revellers "jammed" in front the judges under the banner: "A wining president." Not to be left out were several "Trinis to de bone and skin," as one extremely thin reveller proudly displaying all of his natural "Trini" bones for the bemused audience. The Sando Warriors presentation of "Sando in K US" followed, with several masqueraders carrying signs reading: "fish market too smelly," "flood in de bowl," "ah spring in Vale, with no water" and "el(r)ection paving."
Then it was the turn of Jouvert Lovers with "Never a dull moment" who proclaimed "Oma have stones" as an extremely endowed woman paraded across the stage, with two large green balloons hanging from her costume. Another proclaimed "Panday have real pounds" while president elect Max Richards was described as "de president like jam and wine," while a Sadiq Baksh impersonator darted from side to side under the banner "Sadique fraid to appear." Then it was the turn of the Blue Boys with their presentation of "Blame it on Bas" who blamed the spiralling crime rate on "thong bandits controlling Patrick". A female "Education Minister" impersonator followed, in a brightly coloured dress, and carrying a menu that read "Hazel breakfasses: eggss, bakess and sharkess, baconss, and buljolss." National Security Minister, Howard Chin Lee, also came in for special mention when one reveller revealed "Town say Chin Lee must leave the security wok," and promptly discarded his uniform into a giant wok.
Not to be left out was San Fernando West MP, Diane Seukeran, who appeared in Artherly’s by the park presentation, "Balisier save we" under the banner "bringing out the youth vote." According to Artherly’s, TT was saved from "Sad dick," "Ganja singh," "Oma baba and the 40 thieves," and "Kamla "ah want pipe." While the southern "Trini to we bone" band explained the UNC’s defeat at the 2002 general elections ad "Manning give Panday bone," and "PNM give dem bone." Several mud bands and steel orchestras also paraded before the judges providing an entertaining mix for the large crowd of spectators who had gathered from as early as 4 am. Afterwards Police Commissioner, Hilton Guy, said he was "satisfied" with security arrangements for Jouvert celebrations after walking through a thick crowd of revellers and spectators who had congregated on the Promenade. He appealed to the public to "behave" themselves, saying the police was ready to deal with any "lawbreakers."
http://www.newsday.co.tt/stories.php?article_id=294
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EXODUS has scored a double for 2003
Posted: Monday, March 3, 2003
Newsday
After taking the National Panorama title on Saturday night, the St Augustine-based band returned at the Dimanche Gras show one night later to capture Pan Trinbago’s 40th anniversary competition at the Queen’s Park Savannah. There were special rules for this competition. Bands had to play compositions published or sung between 1963 and 1983. They had to have no less than 50 members and no more than 75 and had to remain on stage no longer than six minutes.
Exodus, playing in position number two, delivered Short Shirt’s "Tourist Leggo" and walked away with the title and $50,000. Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove, which placed second in the National Panorama finals, was second, earning $30,000. Phase II chose Sparrow’s hit "Natasha". Solo Pan Knights collected $25,000 for third place with Sparrow’s "Obeah Wedding". Tobago’s Our Boys also collected $25,000 for fourth place with another Sparrow composition "Pussy Cat." BWIA Invaders placed fifth with "Bassman" by Shadow. The Woodbrook band earned $20,000. The sixth and final place was taken by Arima Nutones, which played "This is Madness" by David Rudder. That placing earned the band $20,000.
A steelband competition returned to the Dimanche Gras for the first time since the 1980s. But its inclusion on the Dimanche Gras ensured that the programme went on longer. The time taken up by the six bands to perform was exactly 85 minutes. While the audience accepted the six bands and the tunes of choice, many felt the competition should not have been held on Dimanche Gras night. The decision to have this competition was taken by the National Carnival Commission (NCC).
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Fools rush in
Posted: Monday, March 3, 2003
by Kim Johnson
"You eh see they call theyself Ship of Fools?"
A man propped on the bar one late night complained about what he'd seen on TV.
Just as the waiter brought my order, the man concluded, "They only playing theyself."
I moseyed off, the midweek solitude of an empty pub inducing reverie. I recalled a similar disparagement years ago of Peter Minshall's Rat Race.
"Look how he get Trinidadians to pretend they're rats," observed a friend contemptuously.
I was puzzled. I saw only a marvellously didactic flood of grey scurrying, cavorting rodents making mas on the stage like a plague from Hamlyn.
Now I see connections and disconnections.
Up to the '70s mas provided a moment to play yourself, that is, your fantasy of wealth, power, desirability or fearsomeness.
For a day you were an Roman or Aztec ruler, a slut or anti-hero of Western culture: an avenging robber, a wild Indian or African warrior, a vampire or mummy, a demon, imp or Beelzebub himself.
"What coruscating, mincing fantasies!" wrote Derek Walcott in 1969.
Along came a Trini trained in English art school technique, steeped in 1960s street protest and theatrical design, but also saturated from childhood in traditional mas.
Peter Minshall combined these influences with his own zany style and wit, his brilliant sense of colour and drama, to produce some of the most evocative mas ever.
Who can forget the fallen angels of Paradise Lost, leaders on the road to perdition? Or Papillon's object-lesson in colour, with hundreds of seven-foot wings, each a canvas of unique and surprising harmony.
The memory of Danse Macabre women can still give me shivers. Bone and ragged feathers dangling from brown sackcloth evoked the grave, while flesh-coloured bodystockings flashed underneath to incite desire.
(Ironically, those bodystockings launched the bikini & beads mas.)
Traditional to the core, his mas drew on the shimmering mobility of bats, the dreadness of midnight robbers, the surrealism of fancy sailors.
But it was also radically new, a mas of social commentary, usually about the decadence of civilisation, environmental destruction or the horror of nuclear war.
Theatah of the street, he labelled it grandly, and the masqueraders played at being actors.
That was the novelty. A traditional masquerader plays out his fantasies; whereas an actor plays a role, which can as often be repulsive, cowardly and scheming, as it may be noble, heroic and desirable. Nothing's wrong with an actor playing a cockroach, but if it's hardly fit for fantasy.
Why not? In 1970 Black Power mas depicted 1001 White Devils and King Sugar, statements similar to Minshall's.
Only Callaloo Co carried it two steps further: masqueraders played actors playing roles in a morality play scripted by a masmaker playing a playwright.
What, then, is their Ship of Fools? A sailor band, yes, but anything more?
Not having visited the camp I can offer only a few notes on the most complex metaphor in literature and art.
It began in the waterways of medieval Germany and Netherlands, which were plied by ships of fools, who had been taken away from towns by sailors paid to do so.
Folly, you see, wasn't today's mere stupidity, it was madness, from the French folie. The ships were like the vans which attempted to cart off mad vagrants in the '80s, although our madmen showed more sense than the government and decamped.
By the 16th century the ship of fools, and folly in general, replaced the danse macabre as Europe's main literary and artistic theme.
Guyot Marchant's 1485 Danse macabre gave way to Hieronymus Bosch's "Ship of Fools" and Erasmus's In Praise of Folly within 20 years. Madness rather than Death now haunted Western civilisation.
This madness was not just an absence of reason, however, for the fool saw truths denied the sane.
The greatest literary fool was of course Don Quixote, born in 1604. That same year another old fool, King Lear, was maddened by filial treachery in a tumultuous, dislocated universe not unlike ours, in which schoolgirls can beat a police officer.
So there are local parallels of a sort.
An 1873 federation proposed the transfer of convicts and transport of madmen to Barbados. According to Eric Williams, "(it) meant freedom of movement for lunatics and prisoners."
A century later Earl Lovelace's madman (the only character common to Lovelace and VS Naipaul) tries to emulate Christ, but baulks at being stoned:
"Let every sinnerman bear his own blasted burden; who is I to die for people who ain't have sense enough to know that they can't pelt a man with big stones when so much little pebbles lying on the ground."
The real Jesus allegedly died for the love of all mankind, but isn't love the greatest folly?
I close the circle, then, with Don Quixote, who is dismissed as the jokey madman that confused reality with his imagination and believed windmills were dragons.
Before doing penance in the mountains he dispatched sidekick Sancho Panza to recount his great deeds to his lady Dulcinea.
The squire cackled. Dulcinea was really Aldonza Lorenzo: vulgar, strong as a bull, loud and rather a whore.
But Quixote knew his imagination had transformed the peasant girl into a noble lady, which is the essence of love.
"It is enough that I think and believe that Aldonza Lorenzo is beautiful and honest," he said. "The question of class is of no consequence… I paint her in my imagination as I desire her… And let the world think what it wants."
Beauty, desire, madness, is there a better characterisation of Carnival?
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Dimanche Gras Results
Posted: Monday, March 3, 2003
Calypso Monarch - Singing Sandra (Sandra Des Vignes-Millington)
2. Chalkdust (Dr Hollis Liverpool)
3. Skatie (Carlos James)
4. Heather Mc Intosh
5. Devon Seals
6. Bomber (Clifton Ryan)
7. Sugar Aloes (Michael Osuna)
8. Roger George
9. Shadow (Winston Bailey)
10. Mystic Prowler (Roy Lewis)
King of carnival - 'The sky is the limit' - Curtis Eustace
2. Roland St george
3. Geraldo Viera
4. Aaron kallicharan
5. juan Maximo
5. Ansil Price
7. Leroy Preito
8. Dave Lackhan
Queen of carnival - 'Fire in the sky' - Alana Ward
2. Inez Gould
3. Peola Marchan
4. Anra Bobb
5. Nicole Parker
6. Wendy Kallicharan
7. Gail Lumsend
8. Janelle mendoza
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Patasar, Rudder pay tribute to Tanker
Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2003
By Terry Joseph
Sitarist Mungal Patasar says it was the late Andre Tanker who convinced him to leave his law studies and pursue music.
"On a personal level, it was Tanker who encouraged me to get into the business. I had taken two years off from playing the sitar and went to study law. He met me one day and said the world had far too many lawyers and not enough good musicians and asked me to reconsider.
"I did. I gave up my studies and went into the music full-time. He used to keep at me, telling me I have to be prepared for success every moment. ‘You have to keep practising as though you have a major concert every night’, he would say.
"Andre became my mentor. Anything I did there would have to be a moment in which I would contact him to take a listen and he would invariably hear something or feel something that I may have missed and together we could polish the work."
Patasar added: "This was one wonderful son, a man who contributed not only music but inspiration and instilled a self-esteem among musicians who may have been worried about the integrity of their efforts. I shall miss him with every note and I wish to offer my condolences to his family, knowing that their support must have been part of that tremendous contribution made by Andre Tanker."
David Rudder, long-standing friend of Tanker, said he was still in shock hours after getting the tragic news.
"It is a kind of continuing shock," Rudder said. "I really didn’t expect Andre to go out at this time, perhaps because he kept that boyish face, looking like a teenager all his life, and then his work reflected a kind of vibrant youth that one does not associate with death.
"It is almost like if I was still seeing him in the red jacket, playing the vibes with The Flamingoes at Hilton Hotel. I worked with him a lot and did a number of his compositions. When I signed with London Records, my very first choice of song was "Basement Party" and I went on to do others."
Rudder, who's currently in Canada, added: "Andre was one of the foundation guys in our music, like Bob Dylan to contemporary American songs. I was happy to see him re-emerge as a frontline artiste in the last few years. It is something he always wanted to do but, just like Andre, he tested the water for a long time before jumping in.
"He was always positive, always feeling good about our music and our musicians. He lived it. He stayed with it, his resilience coupled with that level of talent brought him back to the spotlight again and again, with new and interesting work in every decade.
"I would like to offer condolences to his family and those who remained close to him. We shall miss him much. I shall for sure."
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Full Results of Panorama Competitions 2003
Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2003
FINALS
Conventional Bands
Place - Band - Tune - POINTS
1st Exodus - "Pandora" - 476 Champions
2nd Trinidad All Stars - "Pandora" - 471
3rd Phase II Pan Groove - "Music in We Blood" - 468
4th Renegades - "Iron Man" - 462
5th Pan Knights - "Ah Home" - 455.5
6th Tropical Angel Harps - "Pandora" - 447.5
7th Desperadoes - "Music in We Blood" - 443.5
8th Silver Stars - "Identity" - 441.5
9th Redemption Sound Setters - "Pandora" - 440.5
10th Fonclaire - "Music in We Blood" - 440
11th Skiffle Bunch - "Trini to the Bone" - 437.5
12th Birdsong - "Music in We Blood" - 437
13th Nu Tones - "Trini to the Bone" - 427
SEMI-FINALS
Conventional Bands
Placing - order of Appearance - Band - Tune - POINTS
1st - 12 - Phase II Pan Groove - "Music in We Blood" - 466
2nd - 30 - Exodus - "Pandora" - 461
3rd - 26 - Desperadoes - "Music in We Blood" - 450
4th - 6 - Silver Stars - "Identity" - 441
5th - 5 - Fonclaire - "Music in We Blood" - 438
6th - 3 - Renegades - "Iron Man" - 434
7th - 16 - Redemption Sound Setters - "Pandora" - 433
8th - 23 - Birdsong - "Music in We Blood" - 432
9th - 29 - Pan Knights - "Ah Home" - 431
10th - 1 - Tropical Angel Harps - "Pandora" - 430
11th - 19 - Skiffle Bunch - "Trini to the Bone" - 427
11th - 24 - Nu Tones - "Trini to the Bone" - 427
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13th - 9 - Hatters - "Thunder Rolling" - 424
14th - 13 - Invaders - "Ellie Man" - 423
15th - 21 - Pamberi - "Pan in Paradise" - 422
16th - 20 - Starlift - "The House of Music" - 414
16th - 11 - Laventille Sounds Specialists - "Identity" - 414
18th - 15 - Merrytones - "In Front de Band" - 407
19th - 17 - Sangre Grande Cordettes - "Pandora" - 406
20th - 14 - Siparia Deltones - "Tribute to Ellis Knights" - 405
20th - 25 - Valley Harps - "Music in We Blood" - 405
22nd - 10 - New Dimension East Side - "Thunder" - 401
23rd - 22 - Tornadoes - "Iron Band" - 399
24th - 7 - Potential Symphony - "Ah Home" - 397
24th - 8 - Tokyo - "This Time" - 397
25th - 2 - Melodians - "Pan in the Wind" - 390
27th - 4 - Couva Joylanders - "Identity" - 381
28th - 18 - Our Boys - "Identity" - 379
29th - 27 - Fascinators Pan Symphony - "Pan on Fire" - 377.5
30th - 31 - Parry’s Pan School - "Bad in Yo Yard" - 339
- 28 - Trinidad All Stars - "Pandora" - Defending Panorama Champs
The top 12 bands, moved on to the national Panorama Finals along with Defending Panorama Champs Trinidad All Stars.
East Zone Conventional Bands Preliminaries
PLACING - BAND - TOTAL - POINTS
1st Exodus - 272
2nd Nutones - 263
3rd Sangre Grande Cordettes - 256
4th Pamberi - 251.5
5th Pan Knights - 249.5
6th Parry's Pan School - 245
7th Birdsong - 243
8th Melodians - 236
9th Potential Symphony - 234
9th Fascinators Pan Symphony - 234
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11th Arima Angel Harps - 230
12th Five Rivers Modern Symphony - 229.5
13th Simple Song - 228
13th Tunapuna All Stars - 228
15th Curepe Scherzando - 225
15th Moods - 225
17th Sforzata - 222
18th Tipica - 220
18th Flamingoes - 220
20th Harmonites - 213
The top 10 bands, moved on to the national Panorama Semi-finals
North Zone Conventional Bands Preliminaries
1st Trinidad All Stars - 278
1st Phase II Pan Groove - 278
3rd Desperadoes - 270
3rd Invaders - 270
5th Renegades - 269
6th Starlift - 266
7th Valley Harps - 265
8th Silver Stars - 258
9th Laventille Sound Specialists - 253
10th Merrytones - 252
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11th Tokyo - 251
12th Power Stars - 250
13th Fifth Dimension - 245
14th Casablanca - 238
15th Panatics - 237
16th Humming Birds - 232
17th St James North Stars - 224
18th Blue diamonds - 223
19th West Stars - 208
The top 10 bands, moved on to the national Panorama Semi-finals
South-Central Zone Conventional Bands Preliminaries
1st Angel Harps - 270
2nd Skiffle Bunch - 262
3rd Fonclaire - 258
4th Hatters - 253
5th Siparia Deltones - 246
6th Tornadoes - 245
7th Joylanders - 238
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8th Southern Marines Steelband Foundation - 231
9th Longdenville Claytones - 227
10th Southern All Stars - 220.5
11th Mount Moriah Pan Movement - 218
11th Pan Elders - 218
13th Starland - 194.5
The top 7 bands, moved on to the national Panorama Semi-finals
Tobago Zone Conventional Bands Preliminaries
1st Redemption Sound Setters - 267.5
2nd East Side New Dimensions - 257
3rd Our Boys - 243
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th Tobago Buccooneers - 240
5th Dixiland - 237
6th West Side - 224
The top 3 bands, moved on to the national Panorama Semi-finals
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DE BONGO NITE
Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2003
Newsday T&T Editorial
Carnival 2003 is only 24 hours away and with it Jouvert and the later explosion of colour and sound. This evening the National Carnival Commission presents its Dimanche Gras show at the 'Big Yard', Queen's Park Savannah, at which the piece de resistance will be the battle for the Calypso crown worn for the last year by the current champion, Sugar Aloes.
Dethroning Aloes, whose songs, "My Only Wish" and "Where Dorothy?", even though they earned him second spot behind Chalkdust for this year's King of Calypso crown a week ago, will not be that easy. Chalkdust's "Rowley Letter" and "Just So"; 2003 Queen of Calypso Singing Sandra's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Ancient Rhythms", and Heather MacIntosh's "Ten Feet of Rope" and "Only the Fools" are strong contenders.
Should Chalkdust go for a repeat of last Sunday's victory in which his song, "Just So", which dealt with topical issues, was among his finest, he may decide to spring a surprise with inserts of the latest topics commanding the public's attention. But although tonight's Dimanche Gras may be seen by many as shaping up to be a battle between the current Calypso Monarch, Aloes, and this year's King of Calypso, Chalkdust, another Calypsonian, Singing Sandra clearly is not going to make it a walkover for anybody.
But whoever wins will do so in a year that has been signally lacking in talent. The offerings in the tents and in competitions not only bore the stamp of mediocrity, but in many cases were downright offensive and obscene. One Calypsonian's idea of a prop, for example, was more than crude.
Word picturing, creativity and talent were consciously absent from many presentations and their strengths, or it would be more apt to say their weaknesses, lay in the appeal to the baser instincts. They lacked the humour and subtlety of a Spoiler, the double entendre of a Kitchener, Sparrow or Roaring Lion, the piercing commentary of an Atilla [on the death of George Washington Carver], a Lord Invader [Rum and Coca Cola], or a Sparrow [Jean and Dinah].
The composers and singers of yesteryear's Calypsos made little more than pennies in the 1930s and 1940s, when entrance to a tent could have been as low as six cents. They sang to crowds accommodated on folding chairs or wooden benches in tents roofed in galvanised iron sheets and with sawdust covering dirt floors, and who would hoot them off the stage if their lyrics and content fell short.
Today's Calypsonians, no matter how crude and pointedly suggestive some of their songs may be, can rattle off the names of places in North America and Europe in which they have performed, at the various points on the Carnival circuit, whether it be New York's Labour Day, Toronto's Caribana or London's Notting Hill. Some are well off by today's standards, living high off the hog, on the basis of Calypsos better left unsung and unheard, performing at venues at which the entrance can be as high as 1000 times that of the 1930s!
The cynic would describe developments as the price of moving on. But we must wonder at the direction in which our national art form is moving. In the old days our singers stood on makeshift stages and rendered songs that were tuneful, meaningful and amusing. Today they stand on grand stages, strobe lights flashing over and around them, but what they offer is decidedly inferior stuff.
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EXODUS 2003 Panorama Champs
Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2003
Place - Band - Tune - POINTS
1st Exodus - "Pandora" - 476 Champions
2nd Trinidad All Stars - "Pandora" - 471
3rd Phase II Pan Groove - "Music in We Blood" - 468
4th Renegades - "Iron Man" - 462
5th Pan Knights - "Ah Home" - 455.5
6th Tropical Angel Harps - "Pandora" - 447.5
7th Desperadoes - "Music in We Blood" - 443.5
8th Silver Stars - "Identity" - 441.5
9th Redemption Sound Setters - "Pandora" - 440.5
10th Fonclaire - "Music in We Blood" - 440
11th Skiffle Bunch - "Trini to the Bone" - 437.5
12th Birdsong - "Music in We Blood" - 437
13th Nu Tones - "Trini to the Bone" - 427
Soca Monarch Results
1. Iwer George
2. Bunji Garlin
3. Destra Garcia
4. Fay Ann Lyons
5. KMC
6. Maximus Dan
7. Blazer
8. Shurwayne Winchester
9. Dereck Seales
10. Sean Caruth
11. Denise Belfon
12. Naya George
13. Patrice Roberts
14. Shammi
15. Wanski
16. D Godfather’s Aslyum
17. Blaxx
18. FLO PG
19. Rupee
20. Young Marcel
21. Tony Prescott
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Andre Tank walks the streets no more
Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2003
Andre Tanker with Ivan Laughlin (right) and
veteran pannist Clyde "Lightning" George (centre) at last Wednesday's jazz-jam at Phase II Pan Groove
panyard, Woodbrook. Courtesy Cathy George
By Raffique Shah
IF any carnival character of yesteryear has made a big comeback in recent years, it's the "Grim Reaper". Ironically, the Angel of Death seems to have been making a statement about declining standards in this country's Carnival by snatching from us the most talented standard bearers of excellence, those who had the ability to blend the best of tradition with new trends. Three years ago, the Grandmaster of Calypso, Lord Kitchener, made his exit to the hereafter on the eve of the festival. Then recently Pretender, who had only just released a remix of one of his greatest calypsoes, "Never Ever Worry", died after a long illness. Now, on the eve of this year's very controversial Carnival, the doyen of this country's indigenous music, Andre Tanker, was virtually stolen from us as we partied or "panned" away Carnival Friday night.
To say that news of Andre's passing was shocking is an understatement. I was driving home from my Friday night lime in the city, listening to radio commentary on the Panorama Single Pan Bands finals when one announcer broke the news. I turned up the volume on my radio just to double-check what I'd heard. I was shocked and saddened. You see, when Kitch and Preddie left us, they had both lived full lives in the sense that they had crossed 80 years on this Earth, and given us many more good songs and music than we deserved. In Andre's case, he would have been just about 60. And although he seemed to have been around forever, he'd only just begun dishing out a different genre of music that ignited the festival's shrinking fare, his "Bin Lion" (done in conjunction with Three Canal) of last year literally lighting up from fetes to the road.
Although the religious and fatalists among us would say, "his time had come", those among us who recognised his immense talents, much of it still untapped, would disagree. I do. I mean there are so many evil people out there, so many high-society bandits who are worse than the gun-toting thugs who terrorise ordinary people, so many hypocrites and misfits. And of all the people Basil chose to rest his hand on, it was one of the kindest, most talented sons of the soil, "The Tank". Life—and the cold hands of death—is never fair.
The tragedy of the loss is compounded by the fact that most of today's radio personalities know Andre only as the man who sang "Sayamanda", or worse, as the creator of "Bin Lion". Trapped as they are in the world of "fast foods" music, they know nothing about the glory days of this genius who started playing pan in Woodbrook as a boy. I would learn a lot about Andre's earlier flirtations with music during the many private conversations we had. He moved on to become a pioneer of "combos" that ruled the dancehall roost in the early 1960s. I first heard his music and the name when he was the key player in a group named "The Flamingoes". He did play in other bands before that, though. In an era that could be described as one in which strings overtook horns, Andre's "Flamingoes" was more than a match for the likes of "The Commancheros", Monty Williams' "Cassanovas" and others.
Andre would migrate and spend some time in North America—a period I never did ask him about. But he must have expanded his mastery of music there because by the time he returned home sometime in the late 1960s/early 1970s, he did it with the proverbial bang. His first hit, "Ah Come Back Home" was a statement in song that went way beyond its musical appeal. Its lyrical contents, a kind of cry of the Prodigal Son, formed the root from which songs like David Rudder's "Trini to the Bone" would spring.
It was shortly after he returned home that he wrote and produced the soundtrack for the locally made movie Bim. That film remains the best local production to date. And the music—a blend of ole' time pan, club-room horns, haunting strains of Indian music from the mandolin—was out of this world. I still treasure a 20-plus year-old tape of that LP I made way back when. His "Jumbie Call" from that soundtrack still has listeners tapping to its beat whenever it is played. For reasons that are best defined by the lack of pride in our heritage, that movie seems to have disappeared, along with the soundtrack.
One of his finest moments, for me, was when he teamed up with Brother Valentino to produce a concert at Queen's Hall sometime back in 1973/74. "Valli", who had just come off a string of hits ("Life is a Stage", "Stay up Zimbabwe"), blended so well with Andre's offerings and accompaniment, the music was out of this world. I'll never forget "Valli" singing "Hark, Hark, The Dogs do bark", which, I believe, was an Andre composition. Then, as within more recent times, Andre would play the guitar and sing, then calmly extract a flute from his pocket to add a haunting piece, and later resort to the ever-present harmonica to give soul to his offerings. When he pulled out his pocket comb covered with foil and played music on that, those of us who considered that "child's play" had to think again!
Andre, who got many of his early ideas for "roots" music from hanging out with the brothers from "The Village Drums of Freedom" in St James, a group that came out of the 1970 revolution, went on to churn out a string of hits in the 1970s and '80s. "Sayamanda" might be the best known, but he rocked the party circuit and the airwaves with hits like "Basement Party", "The River Come Down" and "Steelband Times" (just a minute sampling of his works). With "Bin Lion" he injected subliminal lyrics with "rapso" to create a monster hit. I know he worked on some follow-up Jouvert jam music for this Carnival, but he never got the opportunity to complete his life's work.
In Andre's passing, this country has lost a genius, a trailblazer-supreme, one who was daring and talented enough to experiment with our various forms of music. His music contained healing properties, lyrics and soulful music that demanded from the society and end to schisms and racism. It's now up to the likes of Mungal Patassar and David Rudder to fill the breach.
My deepest sympathy goes to Christine and the Tanker family. You have lost a loved one. The country has lost an unsung hero.
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Pan Night
Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2003
By Terry Joseph
NLCB Fonclaire opens tonight's musical battle for the $200,000 prize at stake in this year's Steelband Panorama competition, a cash plum whose worth pales against the prestige of being declared the best steelband in Carnival 2003.
Promoted as the 40th anniversary of the contest, this year actually marks the 41st time bands have lined up for competition. In 1979, after the first round, a protest by pannists led to boycott of all subsequent stages of the contest.
For all its tremors en route, this year produced no major rumble except a teacup-sized storm over the direction in which bands will flow to the Queen's Park Savannah stage and even that has been swiftly silenced by Pan Trinbago's magnanimous reversal of the earlier dictum.
So it's on to the grand prize, with the 12 conventional orchestras adjudged best in the land coming up against the formidable Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars, in the hope of dethroning the legendary Port of Spain band.
Among the best-advertised threats to Trinidad All Stars' retention of the trophy are Len "Boogsie" Sharpe's Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove (with whom they tied for the north zone title) and World Steelband Music Festival and two-time Panorama champions Exodus.
Musical arrangers for each of the top three bands are already claiming victory but the Panorama final has been known to throw up some rather rude surprises, depending only on how well the band performs at the crucial time.
Already, the choice of calypso has suffered a severe turnaround, from "Trini to the Bone" being the most popular piece at the preliminary stage of competition, it has now been relegated to just two appearances tonight.
Frontrunners are de Fosto's "Pandora" and Sharpe's "Music in we Blood", making for sideshows between bands that have selected those songs.
Four bands are performing "Music in we Blood" and an equal number doing "Pandora". Pan Knights have selected Iwer's "Ah Home" and Silver Stars are in with Mark Loquan's "Identity", while Renegades will pin their hopes on arranger Jit Samaroo's "Iron Band".
Witco Desperadoes, whose lacklustre showing at the semifinal round left many of the band's fans deeply disappointed, have reportedly reworked the song into a masterpiece and is coming to the Queen's Park Savannah venue intent on shocking other bands out of their aspirations.
But then, no band is going there tonight to run second or down the field.
The task of determining who comes away with the prize, though, is left exclusively to a nine-member panel of judges, from whom seven are selected immediately before the start of the contest.
Any possible tainting of the results by favouritism or prejudice is avoided by dumping the highest and lowest points given each band by the panel, leaving only the five median scores in the reckoning.
Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold yesterday said the organisation expects its best crowd ever and urged patrons to arrive at the venue early, "in the unlikely event we end up with seating problems that we have really tried hard this time to avoid."
Over the years, the event has been plagued by seating problems, much of which results from the purchase of bogus tickets by patrons, with consequent duplication of seat numbers.
Showtime is 7 pm
Tonight's order of appearance for National Panorama Finals
Position - Band Name - Song - Arranger
1 - NLCB Fonclaire - "Music In We Blood" : Darren Shepherd
2 - Nu Tones - "Trini 2 De Bone" : Terrence Marcelle
3 - Witco Desperadoes "Music In We Blood" : Clve Bradley
4 - Solo Pan Knights - "Ah Home" : "Ah Home" : Robbie Greenidge
5 - Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars - "Pandora" : Leon "Smooth" Edwards
6 - Tropical Angel Harps - "Pandora" : Clarence Morris
7 - RBTT Redemption Sound Setters - "Pandora" - Winston Gordon
8 - Petrotrin Phase II Pan Groove - "Music In We Blood" : Len "Boogsie" Sharpe
9 - Excellent Stores Silver Stars - "Identity" : Edwin Pouchet
10 - TCL Group Skiffle Bunch - "Trini 2 De Bone" : Lloyd Martin
11 - BP Renegades - "Iron Band" : Jit Samaroo
12 - Birdsong - "Music In We Blood" : Rudy Smith
13 - Exodus - "Pandora" : Pelham Goddard
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Jamette doh play jamette
Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2003
by Bukka Rennie, Website
It is rather interesting that last week so many commentators and social analysts have in one way or another supported our interpretation of the historic development of Carnival in T&T.
It has always been our view that the history of T&T's Carnival is in fact an interplay of two entwined Carnivals. The following is what this column had to say last year:
"...There have always been two Carnivals. Two perspectives from time immemorial to the reign of the so-called Mad Monarch. There was always the Carnival of the past governors and their entourage, the virtual "kings" and their court, the "citizens of substance", with their grand balls and masquerade parties particularly on ‘Big Sunday'.
"And then there was always the ‘Jamette Carnival', the Carnival of the streets, the Carnival of the ex-slaves and the plebs to whom Carnival was always about parody and portrayal rather than mere masquerade...
"That would continue until finally, with the massive bludgeoning of their class numbers and now no longer racially inclusive, they would take over the Carnival completely with the sheer weight of their historic commercial strength.
"The Jamette Carnival of the masses has now been pushed to the fringes, relegated almost to mere nuisance value, the nostalgia of traditional characters of bats, dragons and devils, and the rare appearances of steelbands blocking up the competition points and hindering the flow of the so-called ‘big mas bands'. The impetus and drive for this nowadays Carnival comes from west Port-of-Spain rather than east Port-of-Spain...
"Carnival today is middle-class, largely feminine and superficial. There is no creative portrayal, save and except Minshall who moves to a different drumming of the heart, and everything boils down to decorative adorning and the application of ‘bells and whistles' to bikinis that celebrate female nakedness, female narcissism and crude commerce.
"What a departure from the supreme days of the Jamette Carnival when every portrayal required intense self-preparation and self-discovery, including specific dance, stance and speech as well as definition of space. In other words, the fullness of art..."
Marion O'Callaghan, in her recent piece, reinforced the above view of the struggle of the people to retain and advance their conception of Carnival and she went further to even elucidate for the records the efforts of her father Patrick Jones ("Chinee Patrick") — well known calypsonian and socio-political activist at the turn of the last century — to institutionalise and strengthen downtown Carnival against the onslaught from the uptown Carnival that was managed by the middle-class big boys.
The point is that the people's art of Carnival, the very essence of Carnival replete with its inner dynamics of catharsis — as is the case with all art — has always been constantly threatened by the banalities and crassness of middle-class philistinism, commercialisation and bureaucratism disguised as professional management.
Look around, look back at the past years and at all that has been done recently, and you will see that nothing that has been introduced to Carnival by these managers work in favour of the essence of the art. Everything they do serves to marginalise people and stultify the process.
Carnival now, as a result of this degradation, has been confined to empty glitter, mindless nudity and profit. Interestingly, all the huge bands declare numerical membership of 2,500 to 3,000 for tax purposes, while in fact 6,000 to 10,000 cross the stage. So in addition they are all national thieves.
And with the withdrawal of men and the overwhelming involvement of women, Carnival seems to be drifting into the mere projecting of sexiness.
Peter Minshall in a recent interview was quite clear in his pinpointing of the exact moment in history when this degradation of Carnival became imminent.
He recalled when the middle-class white girls began to destroy, maybe the better word is "desecrate", Lil Hart's costumes to allow for the baring of skin. Peter remembered because Lil Hart in anguish complained to him and expressed her bewilderment at what had begun to happen.
Well today that process of desecration and degradation of Carnival has been taken to the ultimate. It's amusing though that these middle-class white girls, in doing what they did back then, thought they were being groovy, relating to the masses, relating to the roots by being "jamettes". What they missed is that jamettes never played jamettes. And who says that a jamette is a naked woman?
That association of jamette with the flirting and flouting of nakedness and being coquettish is indeed a middle-class perception. In any case, the art defined that you did not play what you were in real life.
The jamettes played and portrayed everything else, they played flagwomen and section leaders in the bands (we need to remember that they were custodians of "pan", the instrument, in its early struggle for existence), they were lovers and solace-providers to the pan pioneers, they were organisers of mas sections, they played SPs (Special Police) in the sailor bands (one great friend of mine left All Stars never to return because Ms Camps give him a "butt" for not getting into his proper section when the band was due to go on stage for presentation), they played imps, bats, devils, followers and concubines of kings and king devils, dame lorraine and burrokeet, and yes, they played queens — in parody — the biggest jamettes of all.
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Furore over Gypsy at extempo final
Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2003
By Terry Joseph
Sheldon John was a popular choice as he chalked up a hattrick of victories, by topping Thursday night's final of the annual extempo contest, but not all of the judges' decisions were that well received during the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, show.
A large group of well-heeled patrons uncharacteristically led a chorus booing and jeering Gypsy, as MC Mervyn Telfer announced the former monarch's elevation to the second round. Backstage sources later reported the normally unflappable singer even contemplated giving up at that juncture.
Invoking the late Maestro's famous hook line, "They cheat, they cheat, we want to see the scoresheet," the relentless chant of objection came from a screaming cross-section of patrons.
And it only got worse. When Gypsy's advance to the final "war" was announced. It seemed the large crowd was unwilling to even let him sing, keeping up a steady chant of "We want Lingo, we want Lingo", loudly vocalising preference for the blind participant eliminated at the penultimate level; as Gypsy tried to hurdle the din and present his first stanza.
Nor was that the extent of disfavour with the selection of the former UNC MP. When Black Sage came to the microphone for his second round joust, he opened with a sharp reference to the issue, saying: "Ah know it is Lingo who should be here."
Part of the problem came from a misunderstanding of competition rules, which allowed for elimination of both contestants in a "war", if their points simply did not merit advancing to the next round. No longer is it a question of who "wins" a one-on-one contest.
When Gypsy and John did the first round and it was clear the latter won, the crowd erroneously took it to mean Gypsy's end, only to later discover he and John advanced because, resulting from another first-round battle, both Lady Africa and Zano had been dropped.
And in flight, Gypsy did little to endear himself to the audience. On the theme "Calypso music for so in 2003", he launched a scathing attack on the current season's crop and when reminded by John about hits like "Trini to the Bone", worsened his position by including a line that (quite inaccurately) said both the song's singers were illegally in North America.
This, of course, opened the gate for John to pepper his opponent about the dual-citizenship issue that ferried Gypsy to court in 1995, John suggesting that the status of the "Trini to the Bone" singers might have come about "because they didn't lie". By then predictably, any anti-Gypsy comment purchased resounding applause.
But Gypsy was not the only unpopular performer that night. Guest artiste Black Prince soon discovered that none of his songs moved the audience to do anything but make noises and gestures of derision. That was the extent of bad news.
The show opened with the final of the limbo contest, a flaming, colourful and exquisitely performed segment, at the end of which Kimmy Stoute-Robinson emerged the nation's new limbo queen.
The Ole Mas segment also failed in terms of originality, but for sparkling displays from individuals Darren Pope, who portrayed "Kid-napping all over T&T" by dressing in baby clothes and taking short naps at various points of the stage and Gail Phillip's version of Crazy's "Rosie", who was that night "back in thong".
In the sum, it was a clean, inoffensive and highly entertaining event that at conclusion left Sheldon John $40,000 richer.
NCC in control of Carnival, NCBA takes back seat
THE National Carnival Bands Association (NCBA) has rejected the offer from the National Carnival Committee (NCC) to form a joint committee to manage this country's major cultural festival.
Calling the offer an insult, NCBA public relations officer David Cameron said yesterday at a press conference "the NCBA has decided to stand back" and give sole control of all Carnival mas shows to the NCC.
But it does not mean that the NCBA has washed its hands totally from Carnival events.
As NCBA chairman Richard Afong revealed, the band leaders are engaged in negotiations with an international sponsor for Carnival mas shows next year.
"This sponsor is very interested in our local culture, and we are looking towards making arrangements for Carnival 2004," Afong said, adding that the new sponsor would be expected to provide monies to stage and manage Carnival events as well as offer bigger prizes to competition winners.
Afong pointed out that, assuming the new sponsorship arrangements are agreed, there will be no new Carnival shows. He said he hoped the NCC would facilitate the NCBA in putting on the traditional mas shows.
"I have my fingers crossed, and my legs too," he quipped.
Cameron referred to a letter, dated February 27, to the NCBA from NCC chairman Kenny De Silva, which invited the NCBA to a meeting to discuss the joint committee.
He said the NCBA replied, indicating the committee was not necessary since the NCC had represented that it was able to manage Carnival.
De Silva expressed his disappointment with the NCBA's decision when he was interviewed shortly after the NCBA press conference.
However, he said the NCC began making arrangements for the Carnival shows since January.
"We have to work a little harder, which we don't mind, but we'll get things ready. We'll get things in place," he said.
The NCC chairman said he met with sponsors Thursday to finalise their participation. Also, he said almost 40 DJs had signed contracts with the NCC for the Junior Carnival Parade today.
De Silva said he had no problem with Afong's intention to bring in a sponsor for the mas shows.
The National Carnival Development Foundation, a splinter group that broke away from the NCBA last year, voiced its support for the NCC in a press release yesterday.
The group, which comprises several mas bands, said the fall-out between the NCC and NCBA was due to, among other things, poor organisation on the part of the NCBA.
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Sparrow, 'the loveable rascal'
Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2003
by Michael Delblond, Newsday TT
Friday 28th February 2003
In a recent television interview Sparrow claimed that he was a member of "the Lack family." Elaborating on this statement, he identified some other members of his family as "lack of opportunity," "lack of funds," "lack of education" and with a wicked smile he also recognised "lack of good behaviour." Of course he hastened to add that the last mentioned of the family no longer existed.
Sparrow was no doubt referring to his early humble beginnings and his "youthful indiscretions." The stories about Sparrow's "scrapes" are legion and are easily believed as quickly dismissed by Sparrow's supporters and admirers. Sparrow's reported "badjohnism" was simply dismissed, with a wave and a smile" and "What else you expect from Sparrow?" It's a difficult to say whether Sparrow didn't enjoy creating this "badjohn image" as part of his public persona and his charismatic appeal. Remember the instance when Sparrow was reported to have been involved in some fracas when shots were allegedly fired and Sparrow had to run for his life? The incident might have damaged the career of a "lesser individual," but not the "larger than life" Sparrow. I believe that the Mighty Sparrow was taken to court. As far as I know, nothing came of the matter but Sparrow's version of that escapade found its way in his memorable calypso, "Ten to one is murder." According to Sparrow, "Dey say a slap de gyul from Grenada....Ten to one is murder!"
Sparrow was apparently chased by ten men and the fellow in front was a big, big fellow and Sparrow detected a white handle razor in his hand. After all Sparrow was simply having "a chicken at Club Mirama" which he thought was "his last supper." Well, as fate would have it, "a Sparrow in flight" was saved by a loud report from some unknown pistol. As Sparrow remembered it, "Ah hear padow pow, and de crowd start to scatter." Now, it ought to be made clear that in the early days calypsonians sometimes identified with the badjohns and relished throwing down the gauntlet to the notorious badjohns of the era. We had someone with Mastifé, Mastifé, meet me down by the Croseé, Cutoutta, Cutoutta, meet me down by de corna!" It should also be pointed out that the traditional badjohn prided himself in manly fistic combat and was nothing like the psychopathic gunmen and cold-blooded killers of today. Some suspected that Sparrow's cultivated public persona of bad-johnism was more bluff and bravado than anything else so it was not necessary as in Cro Cro's case of having to appeal to his calypso constituency thus: "Mr youthman, please put down de gun." Sparrow portrayed himself as an inveterate "troublemaker." Hear Sparrow: "Ah young and strong/ ah ain't fraid a man in town/ If dey feel dey bad, make dey play/ If dey ain't bad, clear de way." Sparrow was probably sending a message to "troublemakers" when he depicted himself as, "Drunk and disorderly/ always in custody/ me friends and me family, all man fed up wid me." His fans saw him as "the loveable rascal."
Ironically, a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams, Sparrow sometimes portrayed "de Doc" as some sort of intemperate character, with shades of "badjohnism." He "quotes" de Doc as telling those who disagreed with his handling of a particular issue that, "If you doh like it, get to hell outta here." I may have been a bit unfair to the Mighty Sparrow by dwelling unduly on one aspect of his calypso output. Sparrow's calypso output has not only been prolific but I can hardly think of some national or international, newsworthy topic that Sparrow has not put his calypso stamp on, in his own inimitable style. Like Dr Williams, Sparrow had, in my view, keen political instincts. CLR James took Sparrow very seriously and once expressed the view that Sparrow was capable of making very profound statements on political matters in his claypsos. Sparrow was once seen as "PNM to the bone," but there came a time when he was no longer "PNM in the flesh," despite his "undying love for the Doc."
If Kitchener was dubbed "Grandmas-ter" then Sparrow could well be the "Elder statesman of calypso." He has been awarded the nation's highest honour, the Trinity Cross and although, as he said, he was related to "Lack of Education," he received an honourary doctorate from the Uninversity of the West Indies. But being the guy that he is, Sparrow, having won the calypso and "road march" competitions on several occasions, declared himself "calypso king of the world," even before such a contest existed. And no one seemed to have had any quarrel with that. Perhaps more than anyone else Slinger Francisco has been able to put calypso on the international map and raised the status and profile of the calypsonian so that politicians welcome and even seek their endorsements as though they (the calypsonians) belong to what some fellow called "society's validating elites." At the opening of Sparrow's "Young Brigade" calypso tent, a government Minister once "brought greetings from Dr Williams" and said that Dr Williams not only followed Sparrow's calypso career closely but often took some of the advice offered in his calypsos. Give me a break! On second thought, Williams might well have used Sparow as "a political sounding board." Now some mischievous soul had been spreading rumours of Sparrow's supposed death. Arrogant to the bone, Sparrow assumed that there were weeping and wailing among his women admirers and he assumed the general reaction was: "Sparrow dead, so what we go do? We might as well kill weself."
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