Kaiso Kaiso? Yes Kaiso.

For years diehard Kaiso fans had complained that the artform was dying; that the shows were too boring. And the calypsonians and their many songwriters heard the complaint and upped their game. As a result, our Calypso tents have rebounded with a bang. There is once again a wide variety of interesting and exciting calypsos to entertain the patrons.

The quality has undoubtedly risen. We even have seen a great injection of honey voiced females entering the fold and forcing their male counterparts to pay more attention to delivery. At the same time we have seen an advance of youth from the primary and secondary schools stepping in and performing beside the veterans. So we are satisfied that the Calypso fraternity is moving in the right direction.

This year the tents were all very entertaining, but the response from the public was lukewarm. It was widely grumbled that the entrance fee from $10 to 15 was objected to. But it costs money to operate a tent so the extra $5 sounded quite justified.

We go to the semifinals with 22 picks of mostly high quality, so we were promised a great semis show. The show started on time and displayed a very keenly contested first round of competition. Then something strange happened on the way to second round.

The audience of diehards and returnees were forced to endure close to a 45-minute intermission that served absolutely no purpose. And when that ended the audience had to endure the second backing band warming up!!!! Incredibly ridiculous!!!

With the challenge the Carnival Development Corporation and Calypsonians Association already have to attract people to Victoria Park, we must be careful how we manage these shows because patrons leave home to be entertained; not to have a good mood spoilt.

The calypsonians must be commended on raising the bar, now we can’t drop the baton as we rebuild the confidence of the public of the ability of organizers to put on an entertaining package. We must take care of the small things.

Kaiso, Kaiso? Yes Kaiso.