BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH the debate over whether or not compositions for this year’s Carnival Calypso Competition should be screened still fresh on the minds of all competitors, veteran calypsonian Sylvester ‘Socrates’ Hodge believes that the lack of proper representation is the root cause of the problem.
At the center of contention is Article Six.
This is where the National Carnival Committee (NCC) is seeking to vet all lyrics for purported plagiarism, which many claimed was evident during music competitions at the recently held Culturama activities.
“The St. Kitts-Nevis National Carnival Committee (SKNNCC), in its attempt to further educate local artistes participating in National Carnival, on the yin and yang of Intellectual Property Rights Violations, recently introduced what is labeled Article 6. The Article’s second intent is to protect all entities from possible lawsuits as they relate to an artiste sampling another entity’s music, lyrics, or melodies without the expressed permission from the rightful owner,” the Carnival Committee said in a press statement.
The statement continues: “Article 6 was included in the Rules and Regulations that govern Calypso, Soca, and Bands competing in Road March and its related contests, e.g., Best Sounding Bands.”
However, in recent weeks, a number of calypsonians, including former Calypso King turned politician Konris Maynard and members of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, lashed out at the position taken by the Carnival Committee.
As guest on popular daily radio programme, Voices, Hodge explained that the confusion surrounding the imposition of Article Six could have been avoided if calypsonians had their own association to represent their interest.
Hodge believes if that body was in place, dialogue could have been had with the Carnival Committee for calypsonians before the decision was made in relation to Article Six.
According to the veteran calypsonian, after having a discussion with the NCC’s Chairman, Noah Mills, it was pointed out that “if you are suing the Carnival Committee because an artiste is singing your song, you are suing the Government by extension. So after speaking with the Chairman, this is what I gathered from him. This Article is going to prevent such thing from happening”.
He said that the Calypso Association would have been a good instrument for calypsonians at this time of the year, because a lot of them develop complaints shortly before the annual event kicks into gear.
As a result, Hodge informed that he used his personal funds to have the Calypso Association legally registered, and collaborated with several others to drafted a Constitution for the body which was patterned after the one currently being used in Antigua.
“All it now needs is for the calypsonians to come together and elect an executive to tend to their affairs. Since you wouldn’t come to the meetings to form the association, I went and I took my money to register a Calypso Association. Before I left for London earlier this year, I had to go and pay the annual license again from my pocket.”
He added: “The point is that many of the calypsonians don’t know the A from the E and they have a lot of chatter and would not come together to get proper representation.”
These comments came on the heels of a recent meeting that the NCC had with Soca artistes, calypsonians and bands.
