It was refreshing to learn that I am not the only one concerned with the Soca Monarch competition and the level of government involvement. Let me firstly say that the competition has carved its space in Carnival and has benefitted the successful artistes and patrons continue to enjoy the performances over the years. Its contribution to the development of the artiste fraternity and soca music Industry is however debatable.
While we may joke about knowing who is likely to be in the finals of the International Soca Monarch competition and marvel as the whopping $2 million first place prize, it may be worthwhile to ask some questions in the interest of the artiste fraternity and the general public.
SuperBlue and Machel Montano "tied" a couple years ago, really? While its possible, people present at the show would know that there could have only been one winner and everything else seems to be politics.
I expect that highly acclaimed soca artiste Bunji Garlin would have had good reason to take a stance in recent years to collect his total prize money upon winning and subsequently walked away from the competition. While the artistes express frustration publicly they have reserved some of their deeper concerns for private audiences.
The competition has however made an attempt to introduce a much-needed category in the Breakout Artiste segment which is really about new and upcoming talent.
The climax of this concern is some of the questionable conditions surrounding the relationship between the Government, the competition and the Monarch for the past four years. While Machel Montano, now Monk Monte, is as talented as they come, how does he get government endorsement and a sponsorship cheque for $5 million to produce a going for Gold Album on his own and then makes a "generous" donation of $100k to the Children's Life Fund.
The Minister of Finance then says in Parliament that the project yielded a "profit" of $142k with a straight face. The truth is that the $142k is unspecified "revenue" insignificant in context. The $5 million was written off as sponsorship so the concept of profit is then null and void.
We as citizens of this country would do well to request a breakdown of this $5 million Going for Gold album and a detailed account of how inclusive this project would have been in terms of the other credible songwriters and artistes of T&T. The public is also in the dark as to what results, tangible or otherwise, this $5 million project has yielded.
There are also some other technical details that we need cleared up in terms of ownership, one of which is the allocation of mechanical, performance and other copyright royalties. This may prove to be a significant source of long-term revenue and therefore the public should know if this income goes solely to the artistes or does any of it add to the public purse.
This is then added to the advertising for Soca Monarch 2015 which says "sponsored by the Prime Minister and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago." We are really in an election year!
As stakeholders we must also ask if this level of government sponsorship is necessary for an extremely profitable event that already enjoys significant and major corporate sponsorship. It would be wise to consider other cultural avenues that can benefit from similar levels of support to grow and expand our Carnival celebrations.
One thing is for sure, with the recent global oil and gas price reductions causing our significant loss of revenue, we cannot afford to do business as usual.
Ronald Huggins,
St Joseph