Brother Resistance: Calypso Monarch needs better marketing

Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) president Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance) says greater attention must be paid to the marketing of the National Calypso Monarch competition.

He said so on Saturday in the wake of the poor turnout of patrons at the 2020 finals on Thursday night at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain.

"We have to continue to develop on the marketing of the event to such an extent that it will standout within the context of the Carnival week," Masimba told Sunday Newsday.

Masimba said although he was disappointed with the turnout, the shift in the staging of the event from the traditional Carnival Sunday night, at Dimanche Gras, to Carnival Thursday, marked a fundamental change some patrons were not prepared to embrace.

"There are always people who believe that it should be within the Dimanche Gras. We have grown up knowing that the Calypso Monarch is always on a Carnival Sunday night. To some people that is tradition and some people do not like to mess with their tradition and we understand that."

He said some foreigners booked flights to TT expecting the competition will be held on Sunday night.Masimba believes the change in the hosting of the event "in a week that is packed with a number of activities," also contributed to the poor patronage.

"So, that is the challenge that lies ahead for us as an organisation. But, it will take some time before we could develop a product befitting of the prestige of the calypso monarch competition."Masimba said TUCO will do a review of the calypso competition and other Carnival shows under its jurisdiction by the end of April.

"From there, we will take the contributions of our members of all of our Carnival activities. We do an executive review and then we go to the general membership and face all of the hard questions, listen to the suggestions as to the way forward. And and that will inform us as to the way we approach the next Carnival.

Masimba insists the artform is not dying.

"The artform cannot be dying. The artform will always grow and expand. It will always create new styles, new experiences because it is musical art and that is connected to the DNA of a people."On the results of the competition, in which women claimed the top three spots, Masimba said: "That is a very good thing for the calypso movement because I would recall when there were just a few women of prominence representing the music."He also observed history is repeating itself.

"Many years ago, if you check Dr (Rudolph) Ottley's book, where the women had a prominent role to play in the music and then for some reason they were marginalised, I think now we are seeing the power of the women and it is bearing fruit."