Almost two weeks after the songs of the finalists in this year’s Mashramani calypso competition were pulled from its airwaves, the state-run National Communication Network (NCN) has denied instituting a ban, telling calypsonians that it was only the song of this year’s monarch that has been “restricted”.
In a meeting yesterday with some calypsonians, including reigning monarch Lester ‘De Professor’ Charles and two other finalists in this year’s competition, acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the network Michael Gordon and Programme Manager Wendy Hermonstine denied that the songs were banned.
According to Calypso Associa-tion President Geoffrey Phillips, who is well known as the Mighty Rebel, Hermonstine last week contacted him to invite the group to a meeting to discuss the situation and he was the one who suggested that some of the finalists, who are directly affected, also be present.
Hours after the meeting, Phillips said it was not “fruitful. …Because they bulldoze us with a lot of big words and we got no [guarantee] that the songs would be played.”
NCN is yet to issue a public statement on the situation although Gordon had promised that this would be done over a week ago. Several efforts to contact him yesterday proved futile.
According to Phillips, apart from Gordon and Hermonstine, Kwame McCoy was also at the meeting representing the network’s Board of Directors, while well-known composer and international singer Dave Martins also attended with the calypsonians.
“All they do is use a lot of fancy words, saying that De Professor song restricted. And I want to know what that mean. They say how his song under review,” Phillips said, while adding that while he would have liked to hear a definitive indication that the music would be played “tomorrow,” they were told that the other songs are already being played.
“But nobody is hearing them and we said this to them and they said that when you are on 98.1FM the song could be playing on 100.1FM or Voice of Guyana,” he added.
Phillips said the meeting eventually “boiled down” to the quality of the music and who it should be submitted to for airplay. He was, however, happy with the fact that the group was at least granted the courtesy of a meeting on the issue and he hoped that there would be some change down the road.
A notice was posted up around NCN’s studios saying that the 10 songs of the finalists should not be played until further notice. The notice was put up a day after Transport Minister Robeson Benn had walked into the studios and objected to Charles’ song, “God Don’t Sleep”, being played on the airwaves.
Last Friday, Benn denied that he had sanctioned any ban but admitted he did visit the NCN studios after he heard the song, since he found the lyrics of the song to be “slanderous” and “abusive.” He said he thought it inappropriate for NCN to be playing the song.
“I didn’t mind if it was perhaps played on other places which I was not associated with, but I felt it should not have been played on the government radio station and I expressed that view and I still hold that view,” Benn stated.
Last week, Patricia Chase-Greene, the head of the committee that green-lit entries in the competition, said there were no objections to the songs by Culture Minister Dr Frank Anthony or other officials over the last few months and it was surprising that the decision was taken to yank them from the state airwaves.
Minister Anthony has shied away from commenting directly on the situation, saying it is the responsibility of the network.
Meanwhile, Phillips said the Calypso Association held a meeting on Sunday with the aim of reviving the group and also to discuss the issue. He said one of the decisions made was to take the finalists on a show to different parts of the country to give citizens an opportunity to hear the songs, since they are being denied airplay on the state-run radio station.
Charles said that while he was not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, from what he heard he “learnt a lot to give me the urge [for] next year to come stronger in defending the title.”
He added, “Although it was a meeting [with] a lot denials from the management side, I still get to learn some different approach in putting out my work.”
