Discussions will get going over the next few months between the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and stakeholders about the preservation of Grand Kadooment.
NCF chief executive officer Cranston Browne said that “because of the dynamism of the cultural industry, we often find ourselves in a delicate balance of tradition versus evolution, culture versus commercial”, and also faced with “conversations regarding the future of traditional mas’ ”.
Those conversations, he added, centred on the preservation of costuming and making it more attractive to a younger audience, thereby “stimulating a similar level of growth to that of the Foreday Morning Jam” as well as on the format of the event which saw 54 bands being registered this year, even though 45 made it on the road.
“These are the types of dialogues that we will be engaging in over the next few months with the respective stakeholder representatives, in an effort to revitalise the Grand Kadooment product,” Browne said while speaking at the 2014 Crop Over prize winners’ ceremony held at the Errol Barrow Centre For Creative Imagination, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.
He reminded that the NCF’s role was not only developmental but it “assumes the role of a guardian of our cultural heritage, in this case ensuring the preservation of many of our festival traditions for generations to come”.
He also mentioned some of the plans for the island’s premier festival which will start on May 24 and end on August 3 next year.
“Among some of the changes on the table is the NCF’s imminent rebranding and management of the ‘Reveller’s truck’ in 2015 to bring a bit of structure and colour to the whole concept, so they too can become a part of the spectacle that is Grand Kadooment. With the proposed transition to the NCF truck, we would like to recognise the contribution of Robert’s Manufacturing which has helped to make this possible for a number of years,” he said.
He thanked the festival’s sponsors and partners, saying that a production of that magnitude “would not be at all possible without the assistance of our many partners who see the vision and understand the importance of this national festival”.
Prizes were presented to those who participated in all aspects of the festival, such as the calypsonians and artists in the Pic-O-De-Crop, Sweet Soca, Party Monarch and Junior Monarch, Tune Of The Crop and Jam Tune competitions. King and Queen Of The Crop Grantley Hurley and Judy Cumberbatch, junior and adult masqueraders, visual artists, Kadooment band leaders, the youth volunteers and team leaders were also awarded.
Anderson Blood Armstrong won the BATMAN Prize for Best Nation-Building Song with Hold Together; while Geoffrey Biggie Irie Cordle won the Nation Publishing Company-sponsored Best Social Upliftment Song with Get Over. Both and he songwriter Jason Shaft Bishop were rewarded.
Omar Gorg Sobers copped the Most Humorous Song for his Meh Rum; Shane Reid and Reshawn Ince, aka Lead Pipe & Saddis and Porgie & Murda, copped the Best Songwriter Of The Festival award; Samantha Sammy G Greaves won the Best Performance and Best Rendition awards in the 13-18 years category of the Junior Monarch as well as the BMA Brands Of Barbados 100% Bajan Award for her song My Tribute, while Jamal Slocombe won the Best Self-Penned Song with Come Together.
Keonai Walker (Doan Behave So) and Rikardo Reid (School Boy Jam) won the Best Soca Song 8-12 and 13-18 age categories, respectively, while the HIV/AIDS Awareness Awards For Best Lyrics were presented to Liana Ifill for her song Day By Day in the 8-12 category and to Adele Payne in the 13-18 for her song De Letter. Payne also copped the prize for the Best HIV/AIDS Awareness Song. (Green Bananas Media)