We jinking, we jinking

Vincy Mas is over and looking at de broader picture ah would say it was very good. Ah done say nuff already bout de high quality music coming out ah SVG; and is like we needed only to bring back on stage de vintage bards Becket, Soso, Scorcher and Ron Pompey of “Banana Police” fame to remind carnival lovers dat good music was always synonymous wid Vincy Mas. After all we got Frankie and Syl Mc Intosh and Cherry Ince and Lio Smith and Touch and Adrian Bailey, Bassy stop! stop ! stop! dat’s enough.{{more}}

De ole Kaiso fox “Vibrating Scakes” whose next zero is sixty put all contenders, young and ole to chill and convincingly took home de Kaiso King title, is how de ole people does put it again: “De older de fiddle de sweeter de tune”; ah didn’t know dat applied to music, ah thought dat was reserved foh dem ole fellars who love to boost or boast bout dey expired libido. Fireman Hooper is ah Soca Devil, if de criteria foh judging remains de same, way crowd response virtually decides de winner, Fireman will be Soca King foh ah long time. Dat criteria is an insult to de beautiful Soca songs dat we have had dis year, and de next CDC will have to change dat.

Ah went to de Junior Panorama, de other shows like my fellow Christians ah locked-on to de TV. Tuesday ah took de kids on de streets to look at de costumes. Ah met our Governor General on de street, no he was not jumping, he stood on de side eye-in de costumes, guess which ones he like? De sling shot girls and why not, member when he was rated “Ready like Freddy”.

Junior Pan is on de rise. Ah thought Sion Hill won. De two bands dat impressed me were GHS and Sion Hill. GHS played Pan while de others beat hell out ah de Pan making ah set ah noise foh music. Arrangers and Band leaders must impress on de young ones dat Pan is ah delicate instrument like any ah de other instruments violin, piano, harp or whatever, and dey must respect de instrument and treat it with ah softer, kinder gentler touch like de GHS girls do.

Did I say de next CDC? Now ah not calling foh CDC head on ah platter, but ah sense an element ah tiredness inside de CDC. Ah recall people come-plain dat at de grand opening ah Vincy Mas 2007, was 2006 T-shirts used and even de tickets were dated 2006. Lie-Za come-plain dat de new show “Mas on de move” was ah let down, it needed some crowd pulling artistes, de fact dat Ras Coco who has now deteriorated to vagrant life was ah guess artiste, is ah sure sign ah laziness if not disrespect, yuh would think “We Jinking”.

But dey comes ah time when no matter how good ah person or ah team is, some players have to move on and mek room foh de next set ah fresh players, wid fresh I-dare. Carnival is Mas, Music, Art, Culture and is therefore not static. Everything has changed over de years, de Kaisoes, de Mas, look at de costumes this year, we are gradually moving away from de skimpy sling-shot, G-string swim suits back to more cloth where yuh see ah greater array ah colours, back to de days when Vincy Masmen were rated among de best in de region foh blending colours. And de colours were beautifully blended dis year. So CDC got to do some internal cleaning.

DE YOUTHS DESERVE BETTER

Oh boy dem young people can’t come-plain bout de jump-up, if anything dey got too much dis year. Like Party Animal all night Fri-day night, from where I live ah tired hearing “We jinking, we jinking we jinking”, Sat-dey night, Soca Monarch still “We jinking”, Sunday Night thru Monday morning “We jinking we jinking”, again in de evening till near midnight, den last lap on Tuesday is “We Jinking, strong rum and Hairoun mix up wid sting”. What ah theme, Lot ah N-ah-G and exercise foh de development ah de foot only. Is dis all dat Carnival got to offer D’s young people, are we not aware dat de country is becoming occupied by violence of all sorts, murders, gang killings, domestic violence, can we afford to allocate ten full days of festivity wid just fete, fete and more fete and allow de spirit ah darkness to tek full control ah we young fertile minds. My question is, how can we ever divert some ah dat N-ah-G to more positive development. Maybe next year we could encourage exhibitions things like Art, Food or Cuisine, Craft, Agriculture, Drama, Music; erect more stages around de town to host midday and evening (live) concerts, give all de young Artistes more exposure. De material at D’s concerts should not be restricted to Carnival material like Kaiso and Soca but Reggae, Jazz, Blues and Gospel as well. Whatever we do, please do something more positive foh de youths next year.

EXPECT ONLY VINTAGE STUFF

Well de long awaited Gems and Friends Steel Orchestra from Canada is here. Gems is ah pan-side comprising ah number of lovely Vincy Girls and not so lovely Boys among dem, and ah few Trinnies who have made ah name foh dem-selves promoting Pan as well as SVG in Canada. While here dey will do ah number ah concerts, Friday night at Government House, Sunday at Anglican Church, Thursday at de Ole Library and next Sunday at GHS.

Ah got ah number ah E-mails from Canada telling me how de band BAD and expect only Vintage stuff. Foh de records, D’s folks are not here to mek money foh dem-selves, dey have used dey hard earned cash to pay dey way here just to raise funds, not foh dem-selves, but foh ah number ah worthy charitable organizations in SVG, dey are proud to give back something to dey country, how nice. Singing sensation Erline “Miriam Makiba” Williams is wid dem and two ah de not so nice looking Vincy Boys include Vin Cato, one ah SVG’s greatest Pan man and Syl Mc Intosh one ah de Caribbean’s best Saxophonist foh years. D’s guys been thrilling audiences wid dey music way back in de 1950’s and still going strong, dat’s because it was all hard wuk, dedication and discipline and not all dis “We Jinking. We Jinking We Jinking”. So see yuh there and ah gone again.

One love Bassy