TUCO: $1.5m not enough; calypso, extempo competitions face cancellation

An estimated $1.5 million is not enough to stage the Calypso and Extempo Monarch competitions which are in danger of being cancelled.

The preliminary round of the Calypso Monarch competition has been postponed until further notice.

Seventy-two calypsonians registered to participate in the competition, the finals of which were expected to take place on February 27 during Dimanche Gras at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain.

The preliminaries were expected to take place on Friday and Saturday but Friday’s round was stopped less than 15 singers in, while Saturday’s round was cancelled.

Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) acting president Ainsley King told Sunday Newsday the decision was made after he met with the National Carnival Committee (NCC) on Friday.

He said TUCO was told to plan the competitions and tents and they would be facilitated. Later it was allocated $1.5 million but the money was not enough despite the organisation doing everything it could to reduce expenditure.

“I was in a meeting with the NCC. We expected they were going to treat with the situation but they came back into the meeting saying, ‘This is what it was.’ So those same ones who put all these Carnival plans forward came back to say it can’t work, that we should make the impossible possible. But if it can’t work, it can’t work.

“We decided to stop and postpone the prelims so we could continue negotiations and declare that we could move forward with the assurance that we could cover the expenses of prizes and all the events.”

After stopping the prelims on Friday, the TUCO general council held a Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. King said efforts were being made to see if the organisation could source funds to make the competition happen.

Another general council meeting will be held on Monday, before the extempo preliminaries, where a decision would be made on the way forward for both competitions.

In 2020, the Calypso Monarch prize was $800,000, and in previous years it was $1 million. The Extempo Monarch prize was $200,000.

At the opening of the Klassic Ruso Tent at Queen’s Hall, Port of Spain on Friday night, reigning extempo monarch Brian London made a last-minute change to his performance where he sang an old song, ‘’Ah Calypsonian” instead of the new “Strain.”

“I can’t say much because I too am waiting, but earlier today (Friday) the calypso preliminaries at the Queen’s Park Savannah was abruptly ended after about ten singers auditioned. So far, we are hearing that there won’t be a competition again. My concern is that if I sing my new song and there isn’t a competition, I won’t be able to sing it again next year. The rules of the competition state that if you make a song public at the tent, you won’t be able to sing it in a competition in any other year after that. So I had to make a business decision not to sing the new song.”

However, in an interview with i95.5 fm NCC chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters insisted there would be Calypso Monarch preliminaries, semifinals and the finals at Dimanche Gras.

“I can assure you right now that there will be calypso in A Taste of Carnival. I can give you that assurance that that will happen. It’s not that it may happen or it may not happen. I am saying to you that it will happen. We will have calypso and we will have calypso in abundance the way it’s supposed to be had.”

Government allocated $15 million to NCC for its A Taste of Carnival and $5 million in sponsorship. Pan Trinbago has said it was offered $4 million for its shows but is not staging any competition.

In the meantime, King said TUCO would use some of the money to manage the calypso tents – there are seven of them – which will not be negatively affected by any changes to the competition.

Noting the sparse attendance at the Kaiso Karavan on Thursday, King said the organisers found themselves in an unfortunate position because the dates were already set and no funding had been given so the tent’s organisers were unable to advertise.

“We have no intention of creating any bad relations with the NCC or anybody but the way negotiations are going, it will not put us in a good position. Based on that, we are trying to be wise as we move forward to avoid any kind of embarrassment and avoid negativity taking over the Carnival plans.”

Michael “Sugar Aloes” Osouna who manages Kaiso Revue said his show was on for Saturday at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando. He said even though he had no idea how much calypso tents would get, he was not worried about funds to cover costs because it was promised.

About the scarcity of the audience, he said he understood some people were sceptical about attending events during the pandemic so “que sera, sera.”

Steve ‘’Ras Kommanda” Pascall, manager of Kaiso Showkase reiterated that “the competition has nothing to do with the tents” and assured his event at Naparima Bowl on Sunday was on.

However, he expressed his displeasure with the situation of TUCO’s budget.

Even though he is not competing because he is unvaccinated, he said it was unfair and disrespectful to calypsonians to “shift the goalpost all the time.”

He said the Government and the NCC should agree to give the various stakeholders a portion of the money and simply give it to them. He added that the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell needed to bring all the stakeholders together and make a determination.

“You can’t be changing it every minute. You’re putting everyone in a kind of tailspin. If you tell me you giving me ten cents, I will plan to do at least eight cents shopping while I leave a penny for miscellaneous. But when you come now, midway, after I plan for my eight cents, you come and tell me you could only give five cents. Come on! We don’t do business like that.

“This culture is already on the map. Harry Belafonte, Rolling Stones, they are the kind of people who have already invested in calypso! By now we should be treated with more respect. We shouldn’t have to be battling.”

He also disapproved of the “level of discrimination” in this year’s Carnival with only the vaccinated being allowed to attend and perform. He said there could not be a national monarch when a sector of the nation could not participate.