Vincy Mas continues to slide

De Carnival is over, but of course, de Back-anal continues. Many of us will now go looking in some corner ah de house foh de school book-list dat we had throw-down till after Carnival done. Let no one fool yuh, buying school books and supplies foh de new school year is ah reality! De Go-venom-mint Book Loan Scheme ain’t wuking. De Free Secondary Eddy-care-shun widout ah functional book loan scheme, mek de Eddy-care-shun Rev-all-yuh-shun look like ah AK 47 Rifle wid an MT magazine (no books) oops, no bullets.{{more}}

Many thank to those Organizations that offer scholarships: Co-operatives, de Credit Unions, PSU, SVUT, Billing ‘ah’Loan, Banks and so on. Even Searchlight has entered de club with de Norma Keizer Scholarship Foundation (NKSF), named in honour of de good lady herself. She was ah foundation member of de Searchlight, and ah prominent Educator in SVG. Searchlight very quietly celebrated its 20th Anniversary last year, and de high point of de celebrations was de launch of de NKSF. Actually it is de company’s token of appreciation to all its supporters whether yuh ah reader, non-reader, subscriber, non-subscriber, sponsor.

If yuh read last week’s publication, yuh would ah seen de Secretary of de Foundation’s modest account of what de NKSF is all about. Presently two needy students are recipients of a full seven-year secondary school scholarship. Plus four others wid one-off bursaries. Applications are already pouring foh dis years awards. Dey will be one annual major fund raising event, dat’s ah dinner tomorrow Sat-dey evening at de Cruise Ship Berth. Since it is ah once ah year ting, de contribution is $150.00. But if one is thinking of ah smaller contribution, dat too is greatly appreciated, so kindly reach de Secretary, Clare Keizer at Searchlight. Thank Yoh!

GIVE RSPECT WAY RESPECT IS DUE

Ah find it hard to refrain from commenting on de Carnival, limited to ah view from my Living-room. Thanks to technology via FLOW, ah watched de big shows on TV. Marlon Roudette’s one hour presentation at de Miss Carival was astounding!! Marlon’s performance alone was worth de $95.00 extra ah had to pay-to-view de weekend package. De only thing dat will stop me from saying FLOW’s package is ah real rip-off, is if ah hear de company offer to pay all prize money foh CDC Competitions. Vincy Mas 2016 was made poorer by de Culture Vultures posing as business houses and show promoters.

Respect is ah master recipe foh Harmonious relay-shun-ship. How could CDC be planning Carnival Shows and not have on dey Guest Appearance list, big names like Skinny, Luta, Jamesy P et al, not forgetting de Veterans Becket, Scorcher and Soso if dey are at home. On de other hand, our stars, superstars or raining monarchs must keep high on dey schedule, de date and time of de country’s National Festival. So dat when Skinny, de raining Power Soca Monarch, was offered ah contract by de Trini promoters, he should ah enquired of CDC if dey needed him to perform foh de Festival? Even though he had indicated since last year dat he was finished wid competition, CDC, out ah respect foh de Art-form and Artistes, also had ah right to secure a contract wid Skinny who is powerful on de international scene. But two wrongs don’t mek ah right and it all boils down to proper management on both sides and disrespect in de case ah CDC.

Congrats to raining monarch, Man Zangie foh making it three in ah row. He’s an excellent performer wid ah humble and pleasant personality. Ah had ah talk wid him ah few years ago, and he told me he did not want to get into any pull-it-tek-all can-throw-verse-see. Dis explains why in his second song “Access Denied” way he let loose ah beating pon Pedophilias of Society, except his lyrics got nowhere close to de real Pedophilias in high places. Dat is way ah think de song lacked de punch. Remember Sulle, de master blaster when it came to shaking down de wrong doings in de Establishment? Sulle’s song “Up Grade” called pon all strata of society to upgrade, except de Establishment dat badly needs an upgrade. Oh how we long to hear de real Sulle of yester-year! “Chico B” came in third, if de Calypso Association hopes to res-ah-wreck de Calypso Semi Finals and Finals, den more Kaisos like Chico B’s should be encouraged. Mental Laziness is de only way find to describe Skarpyans second song. Ah Calypso foh competition must have at least three verses, ah waiting to hear Scarpyon’s third verse. Patches of course sings from and wid his soul, he’s my choice foh King oops!

Congrats to Blondie Bird again, and Owen Ralph finally got de Judges nod foh Queen ah de Bands wid his Caribbean Pan ting, very creative. Ah special thank yuh to Becks Gonsalves foh lifting de standard ah Mas in SVG over de last 30 years. Dis year he made ah winning final appearance. Becks can’t stay out foh long!

And my Band ah de Year is de CWSA/Public Health Sanitation workers foh keeping dis place clean all during der season. Ah have de Police second place, dey got ah minus mark foh ruffing up de Searchlight Reporter. Let’s get de country moving. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.