Let masqueraders determine Road March

DEXTER RIGSBY

THE RECENT dispute between ragga soca artiste Ian Alvarez (Bunji Garlin) and the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation (TUCO), where Road March updates were provided to the media by a tabulator, is unfortunate. This led to Alvarez, supported by his soca artiste wife Fay-Ann, vowing to stay out of future Road March competitions.

The incident, which appears to have been unnecessarily amplified, highlights the archaic process currently employed for identifying a Road March winner. Incredibly, on both Carnival days, TUCO officials were still required to physically count the number of times a song was played at every competition venue to produce the results of the competition.

Moreover, DJs are still the ones who determine the Road March winner. They often play the soca songs they like or the one they may be “influenced” to play, which is not necessarily the popular choice of the revellers/masqueraders for whom they were hired to entertain.

A more progressive process would see DJs as facilitators of music while the masqueraders dictate what should be played. The evolved judging system must be impartial, reliable, secure and able to provide results quickly. In short, the process must be largely computerised for greater efficiency and overall effectiveness.

Consequently, the following judging system and process for selecting future Road March winners are proposed for TUCO’s consideration:

TUCO’s basic requirements

* Internet access.

* A robust server dedicated to hosting a new Road March website and online system with cloud storage access for contingency/back-up purposes.

* At least one proficient software developer and web designer to develop and maintain the online system, including its website and associated app, according to detailed specifications.

* A skilled network analyst or administrator to manage the server and cloud storage.

(The above IT professionals may also be referred to regarding more granular details than this initiative presents.)

Bandleader basic requirements

* Internet access.

* Each Carnival bandleader is to provide a code (likely numerical) to every masquerader upon full purchase of a costume. One code per costume to accommodate voting.

* A server or robust desktop computer or laptop with adequate storage to interact with TUCO’s online system via website or app for forwarding all official codes, and to obtain voting results/information specific to each Carnival band.

Masquerader (user) requirements

* Internet access.

* Desktop computer or laptop or mobile phone to access TUCO’s Road March online system via website or app for the purpose of voting.

The general process

* A masquerader named Judy purchases a costume from the Carnival band of her choice and receives a 12-digit code with her costume. The code will facilitate voting for one’s choice of Road March and can only be used once in TUCO’s online Road March system. Each bandleader will have codes unique to his/her band. For example, a code from the Harts band will not match a code from Tribe’s band.

* Judy may now vote for her favourite soca song using her computer at home to access the system via the relevant web page, or she can click the app on her mobile phone. She will follow the simple guidelines that will include entering her code into the system before she can successfully vote.

Note that the system will allow voting up to midnight on Carnival Sunday. The assumption here is that most masqueraders would favour a soca song for the Road March title by that time.

Bandleaders/officials will have special access to the online system as they will need to forward all the codes specific to their individual bands to TUCO at the start of the Carnival season, before the first costume is sold. TUCO’s system will use those codes to match against the codes used by masqueraders to authenticate their votes.

* At 12.15 am on Carnival Monday, top TUCO officials will trigger the online system to tally all the votes received. The system will then provide the officials with individual results for each Carnival band and the overall results indicating the Road March winner. The officials mentioned would have been sworn to secrecy until Ash Wednesday when the Road March winner is traditionally announced to the public.

* Upon completing the tally, TUCO’s system would have also notified all bandleaders and their delegated officials of the voting results relative to their individual bands.

Armed with the knowledge of his masqueraders’ preferred song or songs for the Road March, a bandleader will then instruct his DJs accordingly. DJs will now be made to play songs that the revellers in the band enjoy most on the road, while playing the most popular choice of the band on stage at competition venues.

For transparency, bandleaders should also publicise their band’s voting results on the Thursday or Friday after Carnival so that the average citizen may be able to compare the collective results with the official Road March winner as declared by TUCO.

If the foregoing proposal is found to be impractical by TUCO and other relevant authorities, the hope is for those stakeholders to be motivated enough into making a much-needed change to improve the current process for judging the Road March competition.

And that change must centre on allowing masqueraders to determine Road March winners as opposed to DJs having that empowerment. After all, the very name Road March was coined from the revelry of masqueraders parading through the streets in their respective Carnival bands.