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De bachannal
starts by Special Correspondent
With Carnival officially launched last weekend, already things have become hot in the entertainment industry. It is reported that a radio station here is attempting to railroad Hitz FM’s Soca Swing show, scheduled for Sunday, May 29.
The radio station is said to have advanced a proposal to various artistes and bands to boycott Hitz FM’s Soca Swing. Part of the proposal is said to include sanctions if the artiste or band refuses to ride the train and perform for Soca Swing.
The proposal also seeks to pay double performance fees if and only if the artistes and bands boycott Hitz FM. After signaling its availability and contracted price, one band has bowed to the pressure from the radio station, and has since changed its mind and refused to honor its commitment to perform at Soca Swing.
It is reported that one artiste that has factored into the radio station’s plans, refused the proposal and has had his 2005 releases pulled from rotation on that station. Some DJ’s there report that they were instructed not to play songs by that artiste. Some young artistes who have been targeted by the radio station, are upset at the tactics, and are considering withholding their music from that station.
Soca Swing is Hitz FM’s annual show that launches its Carnival programming, with a switch to an all-soca calypso format right up to the Friday after Mardi Gras. Outside of the Ragga and Soca Monarch shows, in recent times, Soca Swing has become the only show that mainly features and highlights Vincentian Soca artistes. Hitz FM says this strategy is deliberate its efforts to develop and promote Vincy soca, which has come of age and as many say, is as good as, or in some cases better than soca music from other Caribbean countries.
Artistes who have performed in Soca Swing include Kevin Lyttle, Maddzart, Bomani, Poorsah, Fireman, DJ 20, Alla-G, Luta, Shaunelle McKenzie, Squitty, Skinny Fabulous, Galanaire, Johnny Rebel, Sgt. Bread, Pampalutee, Syxx, Bunny Rebel, Sexy Shugaz, Kahalia Beache, Prince Marcus, Aretha, Colin Peters, and Zonell.
Soca Swing 2005, will again feature the best of SVG, and will be staged on Sunday May 29 at Victoria Park, one day after the Miss SVG show.
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Calypso house
cleaning by Rochelle Baptiste
Organizers of calypso tents in this country have been told to get their houses in order for this year’s Carnival season.
The strong warning comes from president of Pan-Kai-Mas, Hugh Ragguette earlier this week. Ragguette says calypso tents and their organizers must understand that they need to produce a quality product for the market, especially with the age of globalization and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) slowly creeping in.
Admitting that in the past several years calypso products in this country have not been appealing to the corporate sector and the general public, Ragguette says the various calypso tents need to clean up their acts.
The Calypsonian’s Association will hold their Annual General Meeting on Saturday March 5 at the Peace Memorial Hall.
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Victoria Park handed over by Rochelle Baptiste Tuesday February 22
The management of Carnival City, Victoria Park is now in the hands of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA).
Minister of Tourism and Culture René Baptiste says the decision was taken by Cabinet, based on a number of facts including the NLA’s good track record of promoting sports and culture in the country. Baptiste further notes that Vincy Mas is now becoming a big business for this country’s development and announced that figures show that there was an increase in tourist arrivals during the period for Vincy Mas last year totaling some 26%.
Baptiste says the increase in visitor arrivals for the season last year was most heartening as it serves to show how important marketing is. The minister noted that the festival was further boosted by the exposure it received at the World Travel Market in London, which a number of CDC officials attended.
Baptiste described Vincy Mas as a brand product, which is being seen as the premiere national cultural festival of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Meanwhile, chairman of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) Dennis Ambrose says promotion for Vincy Mas 2005 has been ongoing, and hopes the hard work will pay off by the number of persons coming in for the festival.
Ambrose says one of the initiatives for this year’s event is to have a public consultation along with the members of the CDC on how they can make the festival bigger and better. The CDC chairman is however appealing to more businesses in the private sector to partner with the CDC to make Vincy Mas 2005 beyond all others.
Victoria Park was formerly managed by the Kingstown Town Board.
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Twelve Mas
bands ready by Rochelle Baptiste
Mas for this year’s Carnival is promising to be even more competitive with more bands competing for top honours.
President of the Mas Bands Association Hugh Ragguette says twelve bands will be competing in this year’s festival. He noted that more would have liked to compete but were omitted due to late submission.
The bands include defending champions Heineken Hitz FM Dragons Cultural Organization with their presentation “Come celebrate with we”; Beautex International “Out of Africa; SVGTV Guinness Blondie Bird & Friends “Ring games”; High Voltage Mas Productions “For the love of..”; Singer Lynx Organization “Books we love”.
Other competing bands are Melbourne Artisans “The golden age of Carnival”; Deuce Morning Radio Mirage Productions “Midnight Sun”; My Imagination “Pirates of the Caribbean; Hitz FM Digicel Nelson Bloc “You asked for it”; Owen Ralph & the Professionals “The way we live”; SVG Players International “Somewhere in Taiwan”; Sting Wizards Mas Camp “Wishes”.
The newest entrant, Tribes Carnival Band, will only be making a guest appearance at Junior Carnival with their presentation “Global Dancer.”
Of the twelve competing Mas bands, six have already received sponsorship.
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Young
calpysonians trained by Zhinga Greaves Young calpysonians here were this week honing their skills in the art form.
They turned out in their numbers to a symposium put on by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) yesterday. The symposium provided them with training in the areas of voice and vocal performance as well as calypso composition.
There were a cadre of trainers, among them veteran calpysonians Kenneth Scakes Alleyne and musician Vincent Stewart. The issue of music as a business was addressed by producer/arranger Junior Sutherland.
Present at the symposium was CDC chairman Dennis Ambrose, who said the symposium is an effort by CDC the ministry to provide an avenue for training for junior calpysonians. He says the success of Kevin Lyttle should be an inspiration to all young people.
Lyttle’s gains he said are an acknowledgement that opportunities exist for artistes to make inroads on the international scene.
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