I am very glad the matter involving Machel Montano is behind us. Much has been said and written about this incident but one thing is certain about Machel–he is the biggest soca superstar in the world today. This certainly does not condone any form of violent behaviour, but respectfully to all involved, he is a cultural ambassador for T&T. This unsavoury incident could have been handled differently, not covered up, but used as an example to us all to turn something negative into something positive.
He is loved not only in T&T but by the diaspora from LA to London to Tokyo. After the early days when SuperBlue, Merchant, Explainer, Shadow and David Rudder gave us soca and mastered it, Machel took it to new heights. Again, being ignorant of the events that led to the conviction, this did not need to get this far.The Trini Posse formed at the same time Machel began his rapid ascension to soca superstardom in the early 90s. Machel would frequent the stands then as his love of sport is well known.
Unfortunately, later in the 90s, after a day's play at the Oval, Machel was followed to his car by an irate fan where he was physically assaulted. This left a bitter taste in his mouth and he mentioned this to me years later; the incident really affected him.I personally would like to publicly apologise to him for not handling the situation better. The point is, too often in T&T our more famous citizens take pride in mingling with us, the regular folks. Sometimes, it seems, some of us misinterpret this as an invitation to invade their personal space, and this can lead to problems.
Again, this does not condone violence. As a maturing nation, suffering at the hands of growing violent crime, and with our young men and women looking up to their idols as role models, we did not need this ugly incident to be highlighted in the public domain for so long.However, some positive can come out of this if those involved would speak out against the ills of violent behaviour. We have a number of impressionable young citizens who would benefit immensely.
I am a huge fan of Machel Montano and his music from Big Truck to Jumbie to Mr Fete. It's difficult to imagine Carnival after he calls it a day, but all of us who have lived long enough know life goes on. We all need to learn from this, channel the negativity into positive growth, and move on as better people.
Dr Nigel Camacho
St Ann's