Some calypsos are utter rubbish

04.JULY.08

EDITOR:

Once upon a time calypsoes were of three kinds: Party songs, humorous and poetic compositions on life, and social/political commentaries. Nowadays, there is a fourth category: Calypsoes as personal abuse. This last group of calyposoes represent a danger to the art form. The practitioners offer very poor compositions. It takes no skill to rhyme words of personal abuse against this or that person. And it requires no courage to do so since almost everyone who is abused ignores the abuse.{{more}} In short, there are no penalties for abusing and slandering people. Perhaps there should be. The CDC and the judges ought to be better regulators of the art form.

This year, the Man Age continues his pointless abuse and slander of the Prime Minister. Abijah recycles his jaundiced and untruthful criticisms; I-Pa has joined the verbal abusers for no real reason, since he has talent to do better and is not by nature malicious; and so on and so forth with another one or two calypsonians.

Meanwhile, people like Princess Monique and Sulle continue to lift the calypso art from with quality compositions and reasonable and telling critiques of this or that matter of public concern.

Under the circumstances, it is understandable that fewer people are listening to calypsoes either at the tents or at the Big Yard. On the FM stations, political prejudices rule the choices of what is played; so, the public gets turned off.

It is thus amusing to hear the twenty semi-finalists asking for more appearance money. They draw no crowd and “the dance can’t pay for the light”. As a result, tax-payers money subsidise this substandard fare, since the sponsors run and hide from mediocrity and personal abuse. Let’s do better next year.

Johnathan Dennie