BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FIVE bands on Nevis are protesting and questioning the results of the 2013 Culturama Road March Competition and are calling on the authorities to declare the basis on which the winner was selected.
On Tuesday evening (Aug. 6), the Culturama Committee revealed that the Kore Band was named the Culturama 2013 Road March Champion having amassed a total of 406 points, beating out its closest competitor by some 147 points.
Earlier today – however – a letter began circulating said to be sent jointly by the Ultimate Band, the Odisi Band, the X-zibit, the UltraSonics Band and the Kasanova Band. The correspondence has five signatories, one representative from each band.
The letter reads, “Please be advised that, we the leaders of the following Bands: The Ultimate Band, The Odisi Band, The X-zibit Band, The UltraSonics Band and The Kasanova Band, formally protest the judging of the Road March for 2013. To this end we are seeking an urgent meeting to discuss among other things the basis of the Road March being awarded to The Kore Band.”
The communiqué spoke of a situation which transpired in 2010 in which the circumstances were identical, the only difference being the results.
“We note a previous situation involving Kasanova Band in 2010 which is identical to what has transpired as far as it relates to the judging points along the prescribed route. It therefore appears to us that though the situations were identical the results are totally different.
“We therefore seek clarification as to the said results for 2013 and would appreciate a response to our request as a matter of urgency as the outcome of such discussion may impact the participation of one of the bands referenced above for the Band Clash planned for Friday 9th August, 2013.”
SKNVibes was able to confirm the letter’s authenticity and, in addition, contact was made with the Chairperson of the Culturama Committee - Dr. Patricia Bartlette - who indicated that she could not pronounce on the matter as she had not yet seen the communiqué.
Executive Director of Culturama, Abonati Liburd told this publication that he had not seen the letter and, likewise, could not pronounce on the matter.
This publication was reliably informed that the correspondence was delivered to the Culturama Secretariat yesterday afternoon.
