Dear Editor,
I was both amused and a bit annoyed by the reactions to the “Baderation Show” events as they were posted on social media. What posts did not amuse me about their typical Guyanese styled presentations, annoyed me with the blame casting and the condescending remarks of some, especially the ‘older folks’ who seem to be speaking from their ivory towers of Supreme morality. What happened Friday night was not a reflection of just the people who were at the show who were branded as ‘dunce thugs,’ ‘empty headed,’ and ‘lawless lunatics’ among other names.
It’s a thing about the older generation to always cast blames like “these young people…”; “and the young generation gone far…” etc. I remember a recently passed on grandfather told me that ‘wrong things used to always happen.’ Those young people at the concert are children and grandchildren of people in their 40s and 50s who danced to Shabba Ranks’ “Punaani Rhythm” chanting lyrics like “one jook one wash”; Adesh Samaroo’s “rum till I die”; and had their children and grandchildren loudly repeating Beenie Man’s “no gyaal can’t siddown pon mi head…” to loud laughter and hoorays.
I am in no way innocent of these very accusations as I myself danced to these very songs. I admit being part of the problem as it’s one of the first steps in having an appropriate response.
The very names of the concerts leave a lot to be desired. “Baderation” may not be as bad as “Stink and Dutty” but if the former produced what we saw, I hope by the time this letter is published we would not have seen revelations of the latter standing truer to its colloquial interpretation. I hear some people already responding that many of these are adults and should know better to never conduct themselves like this, ‘as we can have fun without doing such weird things.’ My counter will be that these types of social issues aren’t dealt with at an individual level as we will be going around in circles awaiting pigs to fly. I notice our Chief Security Advisor stating an intention about hauling in the promoters. I hope this will be complemented by hauling in of the agency/sub-agency that issued permission for shows carrying these names. I am not au fait with the names of recent concerts around the Caribbean, but even if they carry similar names, are we to necessarily follow suit? The artiste did not choose to sing lyrics that lead to interpretations revealing what we saw, overnight. He would have earned credit throughout his career to reach the point of hosting shows like these. My point is, if we continue to have the framework that support and reward phenomena like the themes of these shows and some music that go along with them, we will dance to “One bottle of rum a day” one day, and blame gun-toting members of an audience at a show a next day. I am in no way asking for a religious state. However, we must be cognizant of the root of the very things we want to be condescending about and accept that while there are many of us who will know our limits to “having a good time,” we must be aware of those who cannot and must be influenced, both directly and through systems.
Thank you.
Regards,
Kalesh Ramsaroop
