BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE reigning Calypso King of St. Kitts and Nevis, Sylvester ‘Socrates’ Hodge, would like to dispel rumours that he had forgotten his lines during the first round at the Leeward Island Calypso Competition held in Anguilla on Saturday, August 7, 2010.
The calypsonian said during his performance of ‘The Real Health Scare’ he had experienced technical difficulties with the microphone.
“There was some concern in terms of my performance onstage where people said that I ‘buss’ or forgot my lines during my performance. The judges who were at the front knew it was a technical problem. The tapes are there, ZIZ was there to record…they have the tapes to show,” he said.
Hodge said that some persons in the audience and those who were listening via radio may have gotten that impression after Konris Maynard went on stage and sang that he ‘buss’ during his rendition of ‘Sleeping Tiger’.
“They would have cemented it in their minds that it was a fact. And with that, I took issue with him for that. I said to him, ‘You should not have done that…it was not true.’ But he said it was what he was told.
“The point is, how could I have ‘buss’, so to speak, and still score so high in the first round?” Socrates said.
In the first round, Hodge and Maynard were tied on 398 points.
Hodge said he thought that the delivery of his second song did not go down well because of repeated lines.
“I believe that’s why I placed lower than I did in the second round. As far as concerns or misinformation about me bussing in the first round, it was a technical problem. What the engineer said to me is that I may have pressed the mute button on the microphone and he was telling other calypsonians to hold the mic a certain way. But he didn’t tell me that, because that’s not the way I hold my mic. In the second round, he actually taped the microphone so I wouldn’t touch the button. So that was the reason…it was a technical glitch,” he said.
Socrates, who has won the National Calypso Monarchy on five occasions, said that he has no problem with Maynard who has seemingly become unstoppable in the calypso arena, as he is the first calypsonian to four-peat in the local competition and the first competitor to have two successive wins at the regional level.
“I have no problems with Konris winning and the First Runner-up. The judges thought she deserve a place, no problem there. I enjoyed myself. I represented the best I could. I’m not happy with the overall results. Of course, I thought I would win but that’s competition and that’s how you roll. It has happened to me several other times but you live to see another day,” he said.
In terms of competing in the 2010/2011 National Calypso Monarchy, Hodge said in a past interview that he would retire. However, SKNVibes learnt that he may be reconsidering that decision.
Hodge said he would definitely be competing in the King of Kings competition in Anguilla next May, because he is a former calypso king of that island.
He said they would have to sing on two topics; one song would be based on the history of Anguilla and the other on the sponsor, which would be LIME.
“As far as the local competition is concerned, I’m a calypsonian. I deal with issues. If I find that the calypsonians would be addressing what they need to address in terms of local issues, political etc., I have no challenge.
“For example, during the Nevis Culturama, not one calypsonian addressed VAT, which is one of the most important developments in our Federation since Independence, and not one of them had touched it; whether to support it or critique it…nothing at all. I have the options to wait until December to determine whether or not I’m going to take part.
“I don’t feel the challenge to, but as a Calypsonian who has lived his life by addressing the issues, speaking for the people, etc., I have a fan base who would like to see me compete. Some think I shouldn’t. I would leave it up to that point once the issues have been addressed,” he said.
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