This year’s Crop–Over festival is receiving mixed reviews from those involved in the music industry.Mikey Hulsmeier, producer from the RedBoyz Studio, said he has had enough of the “lack of direction of our music”.According to Hulsmeier, “we’re either going backwards or running on the spot”. Enough with the “wukking, wining and grinding”, – this, he said, showed a lack of creativity. It is time to stop the “regurgitation of concepts and say what you have to say differently,” Hulsmeier noted. “I am bored of people trying to curse in a smart way”. “My position is not one of arrogance, I just want to see the music go forward,” he said.This year, Vincentian Skinny Fabolous has many people Charged Up. Hulsmeier said that such foreign influences should be encouraged as many of our artistes travel all over the world to push our calypso. “We stand less of a chance of moving forward if we block out outside influences,” he said.Popular DJ and music producer Peter Coppin of Monstapiece indicated that he was also disappointed with how the season was turning out. He said for him personally, “the vibe is just missing”.Coppin said that new music was not being pushed enough. “In the fetes we’re getting less than 50 per cent of the music.” Dave Smooth, DJ at 98.1, has no major complaints about the season so far. “We’re making headway but not fast,” he said. He has high hopes for the music produced. “We can match anyone in the world.”However, the DJ offered advice for those looking to succeed in the industry. “This is a business, not a joke thing,” he said, encouraging those involved to take the music seriously.DJ and artiste Verseewild said that some people had become too accustomed to “crying down the new styles of soca”. “The music is actually evolving,” he stated, “and this is a change we must embrace. These fusions between soca and other genres will help Barbados to get into markets all over the world.” “Crop-Over is not in crisis,” said programme manager of Starcom Network Inc., Ronnie Clarke. “I’m not convinced there is any deterioration in our music. It may seem this way to some because there are many new recordings this year and this has led to the diluted quality of uptempo music.”He was full of praise for producer Chris Allman who he said “set the ball rolling” for the season and had consistently produced music of a good quality.Clarke, who performs as De Announcer, said that it might seem that the season was losing its fire because it had been overshadowed by the World Cup, the Prime Minister’s current health problems and the state of the economy.He stated, however, there was always room for improvement, adding that the media, studios, and cultural agencies needed to meet from early to help give direction to the festival.
