If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it; that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and . . . die.” – Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Music is at the core of the celebration of the Crop Over festival. In fact, if we were to delete music from the Crop Over agenda, the festival would fall flat.
Over the years, some excellent music has come out this annual festival. Many of the calypsos, produced whether by monarchs or others, enjoy the status of classics. Chief of these is the Mighty Gabby’s Culture and West Indian Politician.
Red Plastic Bag, who is affectionately known as the ‘Lyrical Master’, has given us many songs some of which have been written in different languages. We remember Mr Harding, Sugar Made Us Free and, of course, Ragga-Ragga.
So there is no shortage of excellent music for which the festival must be given credit.
Over the years, I have enjoyed the festival even though I am dubious about its developmental thrust as I have called for a review of where it is going.
I recognize that, like other aspects of our society, the festival is not static.
We have moved from the single Pic-O-De-Crop competition to the current situation which sees us now producing two other competitions: the Sweet Soca and Party Monarch. All of these cater to their own constituencies.
I have a dim view of any attempt to limit the festival in any way. It is for this reason that the attempt to incorporate the “folk” element into festival in a big way is highly desirable and laudable. For this folk element also captures an aspect of music that is also part of cultural experience.
Wayne Poonka Willock, who over the years has almost single-handedly promoted “tuk”, took it all the way to the finals of Pic-O-De-Crop and had it not been for the intervention of the rain, he might have won the crown with his “donkey” song. Even though some Barbadians scoff at the “tuk” element, and can’t “stand” the “mother sally” and her gyrations and her highly padded posterior, it is an undeniable part of the cultural and musical spectrum that is so integral to this multimillion dollar festival.
In fact, the cultural industries, a whole new productive sector with many viable career opportunities, has now emerged thanks to Crop Over. Adrian Agard and the Gospelfest enthusiasts can take much credit for ensuring that gospel music is part of the tapestry of the festival.
We are about to climax another year’s festival.
It is against the backdrop of this crescendo that I wish to draw attention to what I consider to be ‘some missing notes’ on the musical staff of Crop Over.
I would not want to be offensive and say that we are catering to the lowest common denominator by the aspects with which we are preoccupied as this would fly in the face of truth and decency.
What I would say is that for a festival to be truly national in orientation and assume greater global significance, it must cater to the full continuum of musical tastes. While it is critical for the indigenous aspects of the festival to be developed, a critical fusion of the various genres of music must take place.
When the late Janice Millington-Robertson founded and registered the Barbados Association of Piano Teachers (BAPIT) in 1987, I suspect it was partly out of her concern for the promotion of other genres of music, including classical and jazz.
Even though her emphasis was on the piano, she also played the violin. Janice was the Caribbean representative of the International Piano Teachers’ Consultants. Among the aims of BAPIT were the promotion, the study, the enjoyment and performance of piano music and, of course, the hosting of recitals and concerts with a classical orientation.
What I am calling for is not entirely new. A perusal of BAPIT archives reveals that sunset concerts were held at the Frank Collymore Hall going back to 1994. These concerts and other performances featured Ebbie Gilkes (piano), Antonio ‘Boo’ Rudder (drums), Nicholas Brancker (bass), Raf Robertson (keyboard) and Andre Woodvine (sax).
An international flavour was interjected by Geoffrey Pratley who did a piano and violin recital in 2002 with Janice Millington. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a pan and piano festival, rather than limiting the street strains of pan to the sand?
My challenge, therefore, is to the chairman and the chief executive officer of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) who, in association with BAPIT, must move with haste to cater to the segment of our society who have been deprived of the opportunity to have their musical tastes satisfied. There are numerous talented musicians in Barbados who will fill any concert hall and complete the spectrum on the musical staff, on which such notes are glaringly missing.
Until the Crop Over festival caters to all the musical palates that make up the society, it will continue to be seen by some as nothing more than a festival of vulgarity and lewdness whose music, though sweet and pulsating, will last no longer than a Bajan sno-cone.
Matthew D. Farley is a secondary school principal, chairman of the National Forum On Education, and a social commentator. Email [email protected]
