Bassy

Ah want to apologize to all dem gentle, kind and merciful women wid de name Beryl. Dey’s Beryl and dey’s Bare-ill. Ah didn’t know Mother Nay-cha so powerful. Is pain-ful to watch de aftermath caused by Bare-ill on our beautiful Gem of de Antillies.

Nothing is more disgusting dan to hear U.S. President Joe Biden asking NATO to pledge 40 Billion Euros (E.C. $120 Billion) in military equipment to enable Ukraine to defeat Russia. Lie-Za is an E-Con-ah-mess and she says two point five (2.5) billion E.C. Dollars will mek de Grenadines de Gem again.

Here at home, dey will be hard times ahead as de effects of de ravages will cut deep and wide into our Econ-ah-me. My main concern is de Grenadines, our neglected and abandoned sister islands. Way do we start wid hundreds ah citizens who prior to de hurricane had ah roof over dey head, are now homeless, have had to be moved to shelters on de mainland, some luckily wid relatives. Homes flattened, dey will be no electricity foh sometime. Drinking Water in de Grenadines is collected and stored privately (plastic and concrete tanks). Since dey’s no roof, den dey’ll be lickle or no collection of water foh some time. Many fisher folk out-ah-wuk! Ah lot ah dem have lost dey boats, engine and equipment. De Inter-island trade by farmers and traffickers between mainland St V and de Grenadines is massive and lucrative, it’s now like ah daily trade . Customers include local residents as well as Yacht-ees.

DE NAYS HAD IT DESPITE

Well de hurricane has moved on, so has de Carnival. Ah listened to de arguments, both sides.

Vincy Mas or Not. Those dat say: “Carnival is we Culture, de show must go on,” would be well advised to listen to Dennis Bowman’s Kaiso dis year in which he is asking: “ Where is de Culture.” Anyhow de Show went full blast! Lie-Za is upset, her take is dat we, as ah Nay-shun wid hundreds- thousand ah might add, widout ah roof over dey head, many have lost everything; wid our diplomats/leaders appealing foh help from de wider community, de least we could ah done at de moment, was to push back Vincy Mas 2024 to August or October, show Empathy more Love, Concern and Care foh our distressed and distraught brothers and sisters. We could have gone de correct way reaching out to de Master for His Divine Intervention. It’s not to late.

The restoration process promises to be ah long haul.

MADZART IS CALYPSO MONARCH 2024

As ah land Surveyor ah thoroughly enjoyed “Contours”, Calypsonian Madzart’s song dis year.

He sang ah biting social commentary dealing wid corrupt-shun in de country, in particular Go-venom-mint. Madzart used rich kaiso language mixing Picong, Double Entendre, Satire and Humour. Bravely he did some Cartography and Mapping, using Contour Lines to highlight people, places and sites men-shunned in de song. To avoid disqualification of de Song, he punned wid de name “Contours” ah “Homonym” of de real name. De crowd loved “Contours”; so did de Judges. Congrats Madzart.

AND VINLEC GETS BAND OF DE YEAR 2024

At times it takes ah Cry-sis to get de best out of an Organ-I-say-shun. Vinlec at one time was named CDC, not Carnival Development Committee at all, Colonial Development Corporation.

Under de former name CDC Vinlec gave very bad service, dey lacked proper equipment, and so dey got ah lot ah licks. Calypsonian Mighty Toiler sang “ No CDC have sympathy, yu killing poor people like we”, and won de Monarch. Den ah fisher-folk Didley “Band de wrist” Anderson did ah one man protest in front de office. Over de years Vinlec has delivered, except de bills too high. But during de passage of Hurricane Beryl last week. Vinlec performed outstandingly, restoring electricity in dey good time, widout any incidences. So much so Lie-Za as Chief Judge foh de people’s Nah-shun-all Festival dis year is pleased to announce Vinlec as

Band of de Year 2024!”

Thank yuh Vinlec, yuh serve our country well! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.