The Dominica Calypso Association has expressed concern that a local radio station is not airing the calypsos of three calypsonians.
DBS is presently not airing Sye’s calypso ‘Dr. Finger’, Yakima’s ‘Lookin for their Pocket’, and Peter Prosper’s ‘Ma Domnique Garbage Bin.’
In an interview with the media, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the DCA Ian Jackson said such a decision will hurt the calypsonians.
“We are really concerned because we have not heard about that in a while. The temporary non-airing of the songs as DBS has indicated is a disadvantage and we think it’s not a good step as far as our carnival is concerned,” he said.
Jackson told Dominica News Online that the Calypso Association had not received official notification of a ban, but he said the calypsonians had been contacted individually by the local radio station.
According to the PRO, carnival is a time for revealing and when the laws regarding calypsos are relaxed.
“Calypso was born out of the slavery era, whereby people use song, humor, to mock and bring to the fore certain grievances and experiences. We think that moreover, it’s in a post-election era and the calypsos have no bearing on
anything. As a matter of fact, they are songs that we can all enjoy,” he added.
Jackson wants DBS to review its decision.
Dominica News Online has since learned that two of the calypsos are now being aired.
when all public defenders fail to defend the public against enemies of the innocent public, you can depend on Calypso do stand up. So these enemies of the public must remember that when society shields them because of their social standing, they must consider that the calypsonian, the true calypsonian will not let them get away with their wrong doing, so DbS we dont need you to stand for us, you are always laying low anyway, keep on hiding your head in the sand, you do that on all serious issues. nothing strange, nothing has changed
I’m sure that DBS has no problem playing the American Rap songs where the artist disrespect their own race by using the N word and by calling women B,yet still they want to take away the freedom expression of their own people. Y is Dominican a democratic country?
stop the unnecessary censorship DBS!!
To concerned citizen. The song Cool Pipe was banned! so do not count it as one of the songs that should have been banned and was playing on DBS all the time. Cool Pipe should have never been banned. It was a warning song and in my opinion there was nothing wrong with the song being aired. it was stupid to ban this song. If u think that coolpipe Should have been banned then these three songs should be more than banned.
DBS made a foolish move and I call on all DJ”S across the island to play the calypsos the lyriics are wonderful and it is Canival time, we should not allow them to interfere with our Culture. I see Democracy under attack in DOMINICA and this is just the start..
The radio station and their members of the board are so inconsistant. If we live in Dominica and a calypsonian sings a song we immediately know who and what they are singing about, Karesseh has a wonderful song and he didnt disguise the person he is singing about, he says the person full name and this song is being airede on DBS.
Freedom of speech and expression is still just that and should never be censored. There are censorship campaigns going on worldwide which have been stepped up.
Be careful that your freedoms are not taken away. They are worth fighting for unless you want to be slaves and I think that most of us don’t want that.
Democracy under attack-That’s what this is all about. Some us in the interest of party politics will find all kind of excuses to support DBS ‘s action. It is politics as usual. I hope the same does not happen on Kiari. This is just a repeat of the campaign era strategy by the DLP..
Wow!
Too much propaganda! In case you all don’t realize, the radio stations are being aired internationally. What kinda of image are we going to paint for someone who doesn’t know Dominica??
Come on, I TOTALLY agree with the radio station.
OK so i finally got a chance to listen to the entire ‘looking for their pocket’ yesterday while I was driving. Yes i know i’m late but i got to say that song is the shiznit!!!
Especially like the part at the end where she’s calling out all the names lol that ish is hilarious. And this is coming from a strong DLP supporter. So I don’t see y DBS shouldn’t play the song it didn’t stop Labour from winning 18 seats did it? Play the dayum song!!
ian now u talking when it was for dice to return u never talk ha haa ha hahah ahahahhahahhahahhahahahhahahha looks jokes
…….,, well i doh listen to them n.e ways so it wont hurt me,,,,,, i never like d.b.s since i small,,,, it always seem like “old people” radio to me,,,,, n i cannot stand there death announcement music,,, it make me feel like someone close to me gonna die soon,,,,, so all in all i doh listen to them,,,
What is wrong with sye’s calypso, … Don’t get us started now.
play dem calypsos
Come on guy what’s going on!! this is just childish! …….i havn’t heard the Dr finger but i know what the other 2 are about. I dont know what is hapenin right now, maybe the rules have gotten more strict on the lyrical content of calypso but i can remember hearing that song Coolpipe all the time. I can hear vybz cartel and black rhyno (jamaican artists) sing about guns and violence. If DBS radio think these calypsos are bad…..well then obviously they think that something is wrong with the songs’ contents ……i just hope they make it clear to the public exactly y they feel that way and how they came about with this decision.
I hope this has nothing to do with politics, cause if it does, this is very unprofessional. If it is well my advice to them is that the best party won, we dominicans voted these leaders in, thats the people we want to lead us so whether or not DBS decide to air these songs wont change a thing, we all have heard the songs and we didnt flinch. If the reason for not airing these song is political, then i think who ever is behind that should stop it, its carnival season not elections season. If politics was to show its face in everything well then nothing will be fair or democratic, we wont be free to express views and opinions. This would then be rightfully termed by calling it a dictatorship.
P.S. ..u guys dont have to that to get our full support.
To me they can play all. Labour in the house and the bin in the yard. The pocket have a hole. My favourite kaiso is Ghetto Prince Paro in Roseau. Mr. have such a refined voice and he doesnot struggle to sing like the others. I like calyso.
Yes, play them calypsos (SHOCKS). It’s not like those calypsonians are lying.
play dem calypsoes