... this main post is from a friend. However just letting you know I enjoyed Nuit Blanche in Toronto, and my Lake Waubashene annual autumn retreat with my fellow educators of many years Liam, Jerry and Kevin. Bonfire, Graham's Port, cutting off dead branches, boating, my teaching dominoes(including 50's) to de three amigos were the highlights of those beautiful days at Jerry's cottage! So here is the piece by Hudson:
Grenadian Melee: Politics, Calypso and Carnival.
by Hudson George
Grenadians main interest is politics even though they love calypso, soca
and jab jab music as a part of their culture. Some of them always in a
political mood when their party is in opposition, as though they expect to hear
the government call a snap election. But when carnival fever is in the
air, and calypsonians singing for and against politicians, well all those
politicians become worried and calypsonians
find themselves into two camps to start the melee!
However for the past decade or so, one of Grenada’s best calypsonians, Scholar,
became the hardest hitting anti NNP critic. Scholar hits at the NNP,
whether they are in government or as opposition. As a matter of
fact Scholar best years of singing against the NNP was after hurricanes Ivan
and Emily ravaged the entire Tri-Island State. Scholar was on top of his
singing career and no other calypsonian could
beat him. Not even the “King Man” Ajamu had a chance against
the Scholar.
Scholar even took time off from calypso competition to go and study at
university on two occasions. After he completed his Masters Degree in Great
Britain, he came back and won the Calypso Monarchy in 2012. However, in this recent 2013Monarch
Competition, the undisputed champion lost his title crown to a young
female calypsonian named Keturah George. But the big question is:
did Keturah really drop some licks on the Scholar?
Some people are saying that it was a set up and Scholar had to pay the
price for hitting the ruling NNP government and its leader too hard with
disrespectful lyrics. Others are saying that Scholar is still the best
calypsonian in Grenada, but he is a bit too vulgar and raw with his
lyrical contents, without trying to be diplomatic on the night of the Dimanche Gras.
However, as it is well known that Grenadians like too much politics, and
sometimes the love and passion they put into politics turns to hate, mischief
and spite. And even though Keturah George is the reigning calypso monarch, she
will not be wearing her crown without having to deal with
criticism.
In addition, due to all the political melee that always going on in
Grenadian politics, the calypsonians will remain divided into two
political camps and forget to promote the art-form. Therefore, there is a
possibility that the Keturah George camp and the Scholar camp will continue to
stifle the true purpose of calypso.
In addition, there is a sort of dog eat dog business among Grenadian
calypso and soca artistes. The majority of them are more interested in “eating
ah food” , thus they lack the understanding of the true meaning of culture. And
while Kuturah George is wearing her crown as the present Calypso Monarch,
Scholar must be planning how to reclaim the title from her in 2014.
On the other hand, some people were surprised that Scholar did not get a
lot of media support from journalists who were once anti NNP. And
it seems to appear as though those journalists and political activists have
changed their pattern of news reporting against the NNP, so Scholar did not get
the media support this time around. However, maybe it could be a blessing in
disguise for Scholar. He is an educator, therefore he supposed to be a very
good thinker. It will be up to him to learn a new lesson about life and
politics, or continue to keep doing what he has always been doing in the
calypso art-form.
There are other social and political issues affecting the whole aspect
of culture in Grenada. Due to the fact that Grenada is a mountainous island
with rolling terrains, the people are not really connected as they should.
There is a lot of ignorance among many of the people involved in carnival. Some
of them see carnival as urban and others see their style of carnival as rural.
But the simplest thing they should understand is, carnival is part of
Grenadian culture.
It is a pity that those folks who are involved in calypso and carnival
cannot understand that culture is what brings out art and the artistes who
create the art are the living witness of the culture. Therefore,
artistic people should promote our cultural arts and not politicians.
They are supposed to know that politics is a unique art that has no
allegiance to culture.
