Disorganization Mars Junior Soca Monarch

Staff Article
Posted: January 23, 2006

Gerelle Forbes from St. Francois Girls College performing - Demons of Carnival

The Preliminary round of the National Schools Soca Monarch Competition took place near the Grand Stand, Queen's Park Savannah, next to the Paddocks on Saturday 21st January, 2006. Children from schools all over the country participated in the event to make their schools, their parents and their country proud. Those who move on to the finals will also compete for the $30,000 first prize, half of which would go to the winning school. Contestants were judged based on the melody of their songs, their rendition, their lyrical content, their musical arrangements and their all-round performance.

The advertised time for the programme was 10am, but the show began almost two hours behind the scheduled time. In addition to the tardiness of the event, the space provided proved to be inappropriate. The seating arrangement was inadequate for the people who were there, and the two tents provided (one for the judges, the other supposedly for the media), were not enough to house the crowd in the event of rain, which it did. People were very uncomfortable as a result of the tight squeeze under the small tents. The rain also blew inside the stage (covered by a small tent) and hindered some of the performances.

Moving out of the rain

The show was then taken inside after the rain continued to threaten other performances. Time was once again taken to set the place for judges to be seated and for the performers to perform. Supporters had to find themselves at the sides and to the back of the judges. Some patrons brought the few chairs inside while the bulk of the crowd stood for most of the show, until some grew weary and made the ground their seats. Additionally, the quality of the sound system was substandard as the music tended to overpower the voices of the performers. The children tried under these trying circumstances to give of their best although some remained visibly frustrated. Many parents complained that this sort of thing was unacceptable, and that better should have been done, even in the initial leg of the competition.

If the generation that comes after us are to do things properly and to the best of their ability, then it is our duty to lead by example. Children should be the top priority and should be shown from young the correct way to do things. Punctuality and preparedness should be inculcated into them from young, and the organizers of events should put this into practice. Our artform could never reach to the top if these basic failings are not corrected.

Valton Matthews Speaks about the National Schools Soca Monarch Competition An interview with TriniSoca.com

JNR Soca Monarch Preliminaries in pictures:
www.trinisoca.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=34720

Homepage | Carnival | Features