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CALYPSONIAN KID SITE is taking issue with
a recent statement by Minister of Culture
Steve Blackett that the tents were
"the lifeblood of the [Crop-Over] Festival".
"I consider it an unfortunate statement
to make. The tents no longer fuel the
Crop-Over Festival as they used to," said Kid Site,
a four-time calypso monarch. Site, whose real name is David Piggott, said the lifeblood of Crop-Over included the bandhouse parties, the Party Monarch competition, music on the radio and the Cavalcades. "Most of the people who go to the Cavalcades and the fetes and Party Monarch don't go in the tents," he said. Site also chided tent managers for trumpeting that the tents were the lifeblood of the festival so as to get an increase in subvention. "I can say as a calypsonian that 75 per cent of the calypsonians don't benefit from the subventions. I was a guest artiste in a tent and up to now – and I performed four times – I have not been paid. Yet he had a handsome subvention," revealed Kid Site, a past president of the United Artistes of Barbados. He added that financing a losing cause would always benefit the tent manager, and he called for more artistes to participate in Crop-Over via the Party Monarch competition. "I made a proposal for the Semi-finals [to be part] of Party Monarch and they have not included it and now have [reduced] Finals participation to ten. "They have lessened artistes' participation. They have cut down on the Cavalcades, which cut down on artistes' exposure. And now they are talking about helping the tents as if they are this magical thing that would benefit the artistes. "The tents hardly benefit the artistes," he said. |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 19 June 2009 17:28 ) |