I'm back but....

... 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.