Glasgow ready to help with soca competition

Promoter Randy Glasgow said he is willing to assist whichever organisation is chosen to host the government’s international soca competition.

He said on November 4 in WhatsApp responses, “We are there and ready to contribute expertly if we get a call.”

In April, Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Randall Mitchell invited interested parties to partner with the government in a renewed soca competition after the International Soca Monarch had not been held for some years.

Mitchell said an announcement about the selected organisation was to be made by December 6.

In WhatsApp responses, Glasgow said Randy Glasgow Productions started with the then William Munroe-run Soca Monarch competition.

Although Glasgow said in media interviews he was interested in hosting the event, he did not apply in time, owing to family business.

Mitchell said three proposals were submitted after the request for proposals (RFP) closed on November 19.

They were under careful evaluation by an appointed ministerial committee, Mitchell said.

Glasgow also weighed in on Kevon “Yankey Boy” Heath’s hunger strike after the announcement that Jamaican artiste Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Azim Palmer would perform at a concert hosted by One Caribbean Music Festival on February 28 (Carnival Friday).

Yankey Boy began the hunger strike on November 27 in protest.

Glasgow said while Yankey Boy’s call is a noble one, TT’s Carnival is a “gigantic festival” with over 400 shows.

“In this regard, it is a good thing for the country’s economy if a few big events are happening on the same date.”

He said TT was the birthplace of soca and a Soca Monarch contest expertly marketed and promoted should not cause people to “run scared” because Vybz Kartel was on a playbill.

“We run the risk of TT being labelled a cultural bully if your advice is taken seriously and, as a consequence, hurting tourism and carnival products in many ways,” Glasgow said.

Vybz Kartel is in TT and is expected to speak at the launch of Angostura's Str8 Vybz Rum on December 6 at Solera Wines and Spirits, Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain.