Rum, Water & Some Bitterness

Much has been said for and against Cro Cro's rendition which was delivered on Calypso Fiesta Saturday.  Many have bashed the words used in his rendition.  Having listened to this song a few times, I cannot help but agree that it is crude in its formation and indeed bitter upon delivery.  I however am able to look at this without dispensing the baby with the bathwater. 

The calypsonian's sentiment, while not popular, expresses a view that has crossed many a Trini mind since May 24th.  While I by no means subscribe to the view that we should vote based on our race, I believe that one of the sentiments holds very true and this is that Africans as a people are much quicker to throw away our own and raise up what is foreign to us.

Many lines of the calypso rubbed me the wrong way because I hold to the opinion that if you can berate a rapper for calling a woman "bitch" in his song, then the same must be done for someone who calls a woman a slut.  No woman regardless of her standing in society deserves that form of disrespect, further more to call one such based solely on the fact that she stood on a platform against a seemingly "African" party is unfounded and nonsensical.  I believe the writer allowed his venom for the outcome of May 24th colour his social commentary.  His attempt while noble may have alienated those of other ethnicities from viewing the true nature of what he attempted to do.

That being said, I believe he went the cruder route in order to bring his point across to a people who he believed could not or would not hear him otherwise.

His bitterness however has marred the beauty of the artform.  His rendition fell neither under picong nor social commentary.  What it became was an assault on the senses and essentially an abuse of a long treasured way of delivering the spoken word in this nation.

Him I can understand.

On another front, another calypsonian  alludes to the fact that he recommended the 2 million dollar prize money for artistes and as such should be allowed into the finals of a competition  regardless of the quality of his calypso.  He proceeds to undermine the integrity of the judges because he was not chosen.  Now,  having also listened to his composition, I have to ask how he even made it as far as he did and then to further imply that he is supposed to get into the finals (based on what I do not know) and then win the entire competition by extension,  is degradation in another form.  Take a look at some of his words:

"I am the one who advocated that $2 million and they leave me out. How they want me to survive? I have no more money to make. On Carnival Sunday night, the PNM has prevailed."  

It makes implications that allegiance to a particular party or to the government of the day affords you certain luxuries.  This allusion to nepotism and cronyism is appalling and brings more disrepute to the artform dare I say than the bitterness of the first calypsonian.  I maintain that his rendition was lacking form and substance and was unworthy of even being in the semi-finals.

Someone will need to school me on the finer attributes surrounding the rendition which won 'chutney soca star' Rikki Jai two million dollars.  'White Oak and Water', really?  Now I must admit that upon hearing the name, I thought to myself this must be a twist on something that I may not have understood so I listened to the song.  How on God's green earth can a man walk away with 2 Million dollars for a rendition in which he says all he has is White Oak and Water to pass off as a dowry?

Did I miss something?  This man sang an entire song about being so poor that his only offering is rum and water (even more ridiculous considering the cost of alcohol in this country).  Is this the standards we have come to in this nation?  I won't even touch the aspect of a father thinking his daughter is worth a bottle of rum and a bottle of water, I won't touch the idea that is being pushed there and i will not touch respect for women either which is an aspect of both compositions that I find insulting.

To the judges that awarded 2 Million dollars to that man, I can only wonder what they were thinking.  It almost felt as though they robbed the entire nation at gunpoint.


These renditions lead me to think that the artform is in jeopardy and I wonder if this is what comes out in 2011 then what is left? Make no mistake, if we are able to deliver a hefty 2 million dollars for what can only be described as tripe, rubbish and gobar of the foulest nature, then what on earth is left for the future?

Ponder on that...