The suggestions flowed in abundance but the nagging question at the end of the 2013 calypso review held recently was, how much of what was suggested would be implemented?
“Let’s put it that way” said calypso writer and one-time calypsonian, Ian Jackson, “I would be pleasantly surprised if many of the ideas are implemented”
But if others shared that view, it didn’t prevent them from presenting their opinions on what needs to be fixed in Dominican calypso and how to fix it.
The following are some of the suggestions put forward:
– a pre-elimination before the eliminations in order to reduce the extraordinarily large of number of calypsonians and ease up on the work of the judges during the eliminations.
– that voice quality should be removed from the judging criteria because “it gives an unfair advantage to those calypsonians who have naturally good voices”. Instead it was suggested that melody could be included as a sub-criterion of music and emphasis should be placed on rendition.
– that the judging pool should be increased and more attention should be placed on improving the competence of judges.It was also felt that scores for each calypsonian should be taken from the judges after that claypsonian has performed so as to prevent comparisons with other calypsonians.
– that calypsonians should be allowed to sing their songs on the road and those performances should not be considered in determining the road march.
– that greater financial assistance to calypsonians by the private sector is needed to facilitate their presentations which, despite not carrying many points, are an important aspect of the show as far as spectacle and crowd appeal are concerned.
– that the criteria used for the senior monarch and junior monarch shows should be standardized so as to eliminate the crowd response criterion now being used in the junior monarch show.
– that too much credence is being given to ‘heavy’ social commentary in terms of calypso lyrics at the expense of the lighter side of carnival, the bachanal and the fun. An example given was Shadow Flow’s Rom and De Party which is was felt should have been in this year’s final.
– that the Dominica Calypso Association should begin to do something in earnest about marketing Dominica’s calypso overseas and capitalize on the achievement of six-time monarch, Dice.
There were several other ideas coming out of the sometimes animated presentations. Some of them such as calls to put the calypso final on a Sunday and to segment the judging like the Queen Show did not receive much support from the audience. The notion put forward by a calypso judge that the DCA president and executive should not compete, met with a similar reaction after DCA president Ras Kelly made a persuasive argument against that suggestion.
In the end, one suggestion aimed at ensuring that Calypso Review 2013 did not go the route of previous reviews and become just another talk shop, called for the formation of subcommittees to translate words into action.
Photos by Zaimis Olmos.
let’s improve the product.make it more regionally and internationally acceptable. let’s get ourselves into the mode of globalization – let’s make the product to make money as well as enjoy ourselves on the road. let’s make it a little more happy. sometimes the politics is too much Pat. lighten up brother. i will always love you and my kaiso.
you know what, we could probably have the serious calypso show during the year and our jump up thing for the carnival season. what you saying?
why does social commentary have to sound like glorifed put-downs and lyrics that are sure to embarrass or humiliate others? Only “black” people could come up with something like that against each other and dance and jump to it.
Wae wae wae.
I don’t think that members of the DCA committee should take part in competitions
in picture 8,9 10 and 14,every body head down like they sleeping;my favorite is,8 9 and 14.i can see hunter and caressa
Discussions should continue, and it was very interesting….Dr. Severin is a real teacher…i enjoyed listening to him…
Calypso is all about social commentary,so what is all you issue. Listen to the songs in the other Islands. It appears that some people do not want calypsonians to have any say in the politics of the day. What an interesting era eh.
That is not what anybody is saying…calypso is social commentary but that’not all it has to be. A party tune can make some noise in a finals….actualy I believe fans would welcome a party tune now and then….but these days those type of songs asure you an elimination.
Well, well, a competition involving singing should not involve ‘voice quality’ as a criterion for judging? Is it a poetry competition? Of course someone with a natural singing voice has an advantage and rightly so! It is a song, not a speech! Is that supposed to be a joke?
hunter was ready for combat and chess looked still wounded for not winning
”too much credence is being given to ‘heavy’ social commentary in terms of calypso lyrics at the expense of the lighter side of carnival, the bachanal and the fun. An example given was Shadow Flow’s Rom and De Party which is was felt should have been in this year’s final.”
I agree with this view. Carnival is essentailly bachanal. Some years ago Shadow Flow with ”I come for De Rum and De Party” , would have been among the top three finalists and perhaps even win the crown. Given
the manner in which calypso is judged these days in Dominica, I doubt the Pink Panther who won the crown in Trinidad and Tobago would have made it in Dominica. The furtherst he may have reached is the semi-final.
Calypso judging in Dominica leaves much to be desired.
Exactly IPO, Marketing mepuis….
It seems like the judges have the notion that calypso or should I say good calyspo should be based on social commentary. That is and should never be the case. For example Shadowflow’s ” Rum and the Party,” should have been one of the top songs entering the finals. Instead, it was frowned upon and passed over, not even making the finals. A complete waste of a good song, not receiving the recognition it deserves. For your information, that is the easiest song to market abroad. Wise up!!!!!
I concur. In Trinidad, that song would have been a top contender in the final.
Don’t be surprised if sometime soon you will hear some of these words in a different format sampled over some wicked baseline soca groove.
And then we will say eh huh…”that’s our song dem man take”
But no, we want to market Babalen and beat me mama beat me, and they other meypuis style music….
When will we learn….pou une coco, was Dominican to the core, same socail commentary…can you imagine a well dress french man in Paris dancing to this…Nah he will dance to Zouk La…
Rip this Parrot off the flag and let’s start acting…we are to small minded and myopic in our views and thus Dominca has the best of everything
Attendez toujours, attendez
yes i hhhmmmmm
“- that voice quality should be removed from the judging criteria because “it gives an unfair advantage to those calypsonians who have naturally good voices”. Instead it was suggested that melody could be included as a sub-criterion of music and emphasis should be placed on rendition.”
this one there i guess, the person who suggested that, thinks that Dice is too good to beat, so removing voice quality would put other calypsonians on an equal par with him… dice or no dice, i think that’s a stupid suggestion, and it would dumb down the music in general… any rum shop voice would jump on stage n sing…
“- that too much credence is being given to ‘heavy’ social commentary in terms of calypso lyrics at the expense of the lighter side of carnival, the bachanal and the fun. An example given was Shadow Flow’s Rom and De Party which is was felt should have been in this year’s final.”
nonsense again, the social commentary is a major part of calypso… some have dictated election results in the caribbean, so i guess people should sing about rum n jump up… what i see i see huh???? when u listen to Brake’s Malawey, Keep the candle burning… Dice’s stand for teacher, beat me mama…… how can one suggest that too much is credence is given to social commentary??? didn’t they learn the history of calypso in the windwards, specifically dominica… that was how the slaves channeled the messages of pain n suffering, through music smh…..
Calypso has always been social commentary. The ability to make it jumpy is what is sometimes missing. Great songs like “Follow, Solomon, Wang fan Choo, Never hang Your Heart and Charlie” were all Social Commentary.
I understand that, but like you said these calypsonians lack the ability to create uptempo songs with the content consistent with social commentary, so as a result of that when a song like shadowflow’s is making noise, why not boost it….enourage it…also he was a new artist, encouragement goes a long way too, but instead we had some really dead calypso this year. Dice was the best of the worst.
If you think that Dice has the best voice in calypso, something wrong with you. Dice does not have a ‘better voice’ than Web, Bod, or Electra, Tasha P, or Tarina. That’s why I say some of you are just on the bandwagon that Dice sings so well. He is a very good showman – but does not have the best voice in calypso, in my opinion.
jealous of Dice. you’ll never get close. stupid. Dice Dice Dice dice again.
Marketing calypso or marketing meypuis
If the Calypso is meypuis then we market both.
This one is pure genuine IGNORANCE!! you may as well remain under the rock u live.
The poor man wants his voice to be heard and the upper class call his words meypuis.Only a crab would call another crab. If the calypso we market is called meypuis then so be it. If it raises the awareness of the plight of the poor man or malaway then it deserves marketing. I am a calypsonian incidentaly.