Gypsy, George Singh: Carnival competitions still necessary

NATIONAL Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters and Southex CEO George Singh said competitions are still necessary for artiste development in Trinidad and Tobago.

During the Chutney Soca Monarch (CSM) launch at the Queen’s Park Savannah (QPS), Port of Spain on January 15, Singh and Gypsy said artistes like reigning Calypso Monarch Machel Montano have benefited from competitions.

Last year, at the launch of the Pineapple Riddim, Montano said there was no need for a new soca competition and said greater investment was needed in arts and culture.

Gypsy said on January 15, “I want to say to you, and this goes to the whole spectrum of entertainment in TT, if we did not have competitions in TT, we would not have millionaire entertainers in this country.

“Whenever we, all the artistes in here, whether is the chutney soca artistes or soca, as big as they are, and the biggest one in TT is Machel Montano, if he did not need a competition to launch his career, he would not be where he is today.

“TT is a competitive country and we must understand our culture,” Gypsy said.

While he respected Montano’s views, Gypsy said he did not agree with it.

He said winning the calypso monarch competition elevated Montano’s status a little more and added to his accolades.

“Competition is what we do in TT and nothing is wrong with it. Competition is what people do all over the world. That is how all artistes break out…”

Singh said, interestingly, Montano was a five-time power soca monarch and a two-time groovy soca monarch.

“Saying that time for competition was over, even though he himself, came back, in 2024 to win the calypso monarch, a competition..it had to have been important, and it still is important and very relevant. Competitions are very important.”

Singh said the CSM remained the most important Indo-Caribbean event in the world and affected the livelihood of artistes, producers, bands, dancers and others in a very “special way.”

The CSM will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year with 30 artistes at the semifinals on February 8 at La Tropical, San Fernando. There will be ten artistes in the finals with Rick Ramoutar defending his title.

The finals will be held on March 1 at Skinner Park, San Fernando.

Gypsy has supported the event from inception and was happy to see its growth.

“A lot of people look at the CSM as an Indo event. For the life of me, I can’t understand why. It is Indo-based but it is an innovation of the talented people of TT, who have innovated many aspects of our music.”

Singh said this year, the CSM has a new agreement with US-based company, International Film Group (IFG) to distribute the show internationally.

“Louis Eloy and Debra Lyons of IFG specialise in the finance and distribution of filmed entertainment worldwide. Together with its partner David Copeland of Global Media Digital TV, IFG reaches around the globe in television distribution syndication on both digital and liner platforms.

“This show will be available through Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Google Play, Amazon Firestick and more.”

He said international journalists are expected to cover the event including a top UK-based Bollywood Entertainment reporter.

Questioned on the significance of this to the industry and genre, Singh said, “The plans, following the signing of this agreement, will see the CSM brand and the chutney soca genre make significant inroads on the international music scene over the next 12 months.”

Singh said content agreements had the potential to generate income not previously seen.

“These international groups that are now interested in CSM and soca competitions, I am not surprised by it. I knew it was coming.”

Singh said IFG told him two things jumped out at them about the event: it was a competition and, on TV, internationally, competitions were trending.

“Secondly, when they looked at the show, the costuming and the production involved was so phenomenal and that was something that jumped out at them.”

The genre’s infusion of Afro- and Indo- rhythms were also attractions for them, Singh said.

“Chutney soca is a sleeping giant and we want to get that exposed.”

Singh believes this could become TT’s next major foreign exchange (forex) earner.

“I definitely think it is going to start earning foreign exchange and take the shows to levels where we don’t have to be dependent on government.”

This year’s show is expected to cost an estimated $3.5 million. Gypsy agreed Carnival was TT’s next major forex earner outside of oil and gas.

He said the commission had been trying to organise content-sharing agreements but was not given enough money to do the required promotion.

“If three American artistes come here, that is what they work for here (the Carnival budget). The fact remains that we have to continuously try to see how best we can do it and work with what we have to promote our Carnival.

“But Carnival needs some more promotion because we have carnivals all over the world now… So we have to be innovative and continuously work to get people in here.”

NCC has an estimated budget of $150 million for Carnival, Gypsy said but wished it could get another $25 million to do more promotion. He said, however, NCC understood the country’s economic challenges.

 

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