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TURNING POINT: Viagra versus Crop-Over
- Friday 23, July-2004
by SACH MOORE
WHAT DOES CROP-OVER AND VIAGRA
have in common? That may seem to be a hard question, but when you
get down to it you will find that it is not, in fact the answer
comes easily.
Viagra, the erectile
dysfunction drug was originally developed for the treatment
of thrombosis – blood clotting – but when experiments
were conducted with elderly human male guinea pigs, it was discovered
that the Viagra was giving them enough lift to get off the tarmac,
to get airborne for several hours before touchdown.
Indeed, that was great news for the folks at Pfizer
Incorporation in the US, because what started out as a blood thinner
ended up as a blood pumper, which is now being faced with stiff
competition from a growing number of similar products.
Crop-Over, on the other hand, started out as a festival to recognize the contribution of sugar cane to the local economy and social structure.
However, over the past two decades or so, with the heavy pounding of calypso music year after year to stimulate its nerve centre, and recognizing that the more calypso pumped into it, the better it perks, the festival has developed into hardly anything more than a platform for calypso and its sister, soca.
The similarities don’t end there, however. Evidence has shown that calypso can come hard or come soft, can thin blood or pump blood, and most importantly, as we are seeing this year, when you mess with the makers of calypso, whether you care to admit it or not, Crop-Over can get screwed good and proper.
Now, somebody should run tell that to the cultural planners at West Terrace, and the Big Boss Man at Bay Street. There is need for reform of not only Crop-Over, but the whole approach to the crystallization of cultural concepts, for we are in crisis…deep crisis.
Generally speaking, for a long time entertainment workers in Barbados have failed to recognize their strength collectively and individually. The result is, with the exception of a few who developed business skills as they developed their artistry, all the others have been shafted by a wide range of employers/promoters from the hotel and nightclub industry to the Government of the day.
What the shafters employed is that old divisive mechanism called “Divide and Rule. To achieve that, they used psychology at its best. That is, they offer the workers a tidbit for their talents, keep them poor and living hand-to-mouth and worst of all, constantly fighting and scrambling among themselves for the crumbs, which barely sustain their survival.
So, every time frustration creeps in and some of the more forward-thinking workers raise their voices to protest low pay, bad working environment, and more recently, theft of what little they own, everybody hastens to the conclusion that it is nothing more than unnecessary noise, an attention grabbing gimmick, and a stink in a teacup that will soon smell like a rose.
Crop-Over is the main time of the year when everything said above is clearly correct, leading to more internal frustration, this time among those who feel that despite their valuable contributions to the island’s economic and cultural landscapes, they are still grossly underpaid, largely ignored and live like beggars with no social status.
And whenever there is a threat to pull the plug and stop the show, the pundits bet and the distracters criticize whilst the planners keep on planning, because they are all firm in the belief that Crop-Over is bigger that the calypsonians, thus commonsense will prevail.
Regretfully, for more than three decades their predictions were right. That potent smell of Crop-Over drew the calypsonians back to the tents, back to the NCF, and for the so-called shareholders, back to the Stadium for a shot at the mesmerising monarchy.
I can remember the late-1970s when the Musicians & Entertainers Guild of Barbados (MEGOB) was around, knocking hard on doors to demand better pay, performing and changing facilities and more government recognition for its members, amid hostility and growing resistance.
However, in 1978 when an Old Year’s Night strike-out loomed large in the hotel industry, it only took one entertainer to cross the picket line and destroy every shred of credibility MEGOB had mustered up to that point.
Then, a few years later it was reported that one leading figure in the music business made a telephone call to another leading figure in the business to advise that he had never had any problems with the hoteliers, hence we was no longer associating with MEGOB, to jeopardise his standing with the hoteliers for the sake of his colleagues, or should I say “partners in “non-profit?”
This year, though, a new trend is emerging in the industry. It started with a group of record producers, calypsonians and music retailers whose profits have been sailing away with the modern-day pirates, who show no mercy in their plundering.
Under the theme “No New Music for Crop-Over 2004 Unless…” they launched their campaign early in the year to put not only the NCF and the Government on notice, but every person who gets involved in the festival one way or another.
Well, as expected, all the critics came out of their holes in the ground and cracks in the wall to denounce the planned action of the group as uncaring and unwarranted. In making their points, the group got cussed and criticized, ‘bused and baptized and, no doubt, everyone said the controversy would be over before Crop-Over.
Nonetheless, the group didn’t get what it demanded from Government. All they received was a cover version of Sam Cooke’s old song “A Change is Gonna Come”. No one said when, neither did they say how effective it may be when it comes; they only asked that their promise be taken in good faith.
Naturally, that was good enough for some, after all, they were only bluffing in a game where the other players have much deeper pockets, bigger fan clubs, a better knowledge of playing games, and a dismissive attitude.
As for the other members of the Concerned Group, they were not playing, for too much was at stake for games, so they felt this was the turning point, they had to stand up and fight like real men. On principle, now was the time to make a principled stand. Indeed, this is the stuff that real men are made of.
No matter what happens from here on, the outcome of this year’s Crop-Over will be far from successful, because it will take a lot of light at the end of the tunnel to put a shine on the gloom that’s covering the calypso landscape.
Nevertheless, I am sure of one thing, that is, many kings and/or queens will be crowned this Crop-Over, but the ones who will stand tall above the rest are the Red Plastic Bags, Mac Fingalls, Colin Spencers and all those who stood firm on principle. One cannot overstate the fact that to reach adulthood we have to take some falls. The important thing is to know what fell you, how to deal with it next encounter, and to get up and keep going.
Further, commonsense tell us that if we stuff our guts with the first-course serving, we will not have room for the main course, which comes to those who dine wisely.
Finally, all those who believe that Crop-Over can perform successfully without calypso should take some Viagra. I have been reliably informed that, in addition to its pecker power, it still works well for blood clotting. source :-http://www.nationnews.com | 
