Calypsonians Fear Reptilian Autocrats

Reptilian Autocrats Striking Calypso Fear

By William Doyle-Mashall
Anyone who has been around the cultural scene of Trinidad and Tobago would have heard the saying: calypso, mas and steelband compliment each other or some would say – they go hand in hand. But I never thought I would witness a time like now when the leadership of Canada’s calypso conclave would masquerade as complicit baboons.
This 2012 Calypso season has presented numerous examples of this type of behaviour married with profound acts of autocracy. Over the years we have witnessed calypsonians creating their own words but for 2012 the Organization for Calypso Performing Artists (OCPA) has changed the meaning of the word “unattached”.Calypsonians who do not belong to the two tents the OCPA board arbitrarily included in its music series are deemed to be unattached.
   Spivey the singer from Montreal who is a member of the cast at Caribbean Expressions; June Smith and Newton P of De Master’s Cove were identified as being unattached when they performed in the semi-final round trying to qualify for a bid to capture the Calypso Monarch title. There is talk about an environment of fear and that was certainly obvious that Saturday night as emcee Dick Lochan performed his chores on stage at the Professional Calypso Tent. Maybe it was a natural slip when he identified De Master’s Cove during introduction of Newton P’s first appearance. But his second bid to call the tent’s name hung in the air like a broken twig on a tree branch. He bit his tongue probably to avoid offending the calypso autocrats. At the conclusion of Newton’s first song Dick (de Juiceman) Lochan said ‘okay, he is from the,,,,’and stopped dead in his tracks.  The audience did not get the full name treatment.
   Clearly those “unattached” singers were victims of an Unfair competitive disadvantage. You got a feeling of sabotage as those performers stepped on stage. In one case the deejay played the wrong song track for the competitor. However when the Professionals cast members appeared before the judges everything was flawless. Where was the fairness?
   Why is OCPA taking liberties? This question is circulating as the organization is telling people the Master’s Cove has opted out of its music series. However the truth is: OCPA decided to exclude the tent for operating on a Saturday night. The Calypso autocrats believed that would be in conflict with the Professionals Calypso Tent. The Master’s Cove management was informed that it would not be included in the music series Subsequently, Colin Benjamin, OCPA’s spokesman circulated an email that forced John Perez, manager of De Master’s Cove to respond in a bid to set the record straight.
   “For the record Master’s Cove did not decide against participating in this year’s Calypso Tent Music Series,” Perez wrote. “The opposite is true. We were rejected from participating in the series after securing a location for housing our tent for this year,” he informed OCPA honcho..
   Responding to Benjamin’s allegation that the tent refused to participate in the music series, Perez explained in his email to Benjamin: “Further there never was any agreement or understanding between OCPA and Master’s Cove regarding dates or days on which Master’s Cove or any other Calypso Tent should open as participants in the 2012 season. I was absent from the April 27 Tent Manager’s meeting. In fact I was in hospital. There was no communication written or otherwise to me or my organization from you about decisions taken at that meeting. Hence your claim that the “dates proposed by De Master’s Cove conflict with the schedule for the series that was agreed upon and approved at the Tent Managers Meeting on April 27, 2012", from which I was absent is incorrect.”
   Your correspondence of April 18, 2012 notes “we regret that you have decided not to comply with the requirements of the series as presented to our funders and sponsors and opted not to participate this year”. Once again we must state categorically that no decision was made by this tent to opt out of the music series. I am confident if you had conducted proper prior consultation with me in advance of submitting your proposal to funders we would have certainly found a happy medium.
   On reflection I am trying not to compare the OCPA board members with having crocodile mentality. There are 23 species of crocodiles that survived the ice age. The wanton autocratic behaviour of the organization’s leadership has me wondering whether one of those reptilian species now resides in the City of Toronto under the sobriquet of OCPA spreading fear that results in calypsonians cowering daily under perceived threat as they maintain doubts about their future.
July 20, 2012