I am not surprised that the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of T&T’s World Cup campaign in Germany has pulled the plug on its cultural initiative for this year’s summer World Cup Final in Germany.
I have been amused really by the countless number of willing volunteers who have emerged out of the nation’s cultural cupboards, all armed with World Cup ditties, all eager to be included in the T&T contingent.
Nary a day passes that I am not assailed by some nondescript artistes, urging me to listen to some “big tune” they’ve composed for Germany. The moment the final whistle was sounded in that historic game against Bahrain I anticipated this deluge.
To compound the bacchanal and confusion, a popular Web site this week posted the shocking news that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) had commissioned two musicians from Leeds, England, to compose T&Ts official World Cup song.
The notice named Paul Jepson and Choque Hosein, two lads from Farsley, Leeds, as the chosen ones. It added that they’d been “pitching their idea” to the TTFA, and have named themselves TNT Socaboys to write the track entitled Soca Warriors.
“What ees deese?” we already have more than enough theme and rally songs by our own gifted composers/artistes at home, like Denyse Plummer, plus Maximus Dan’s Soca Warriors, De Fosto’s ditty by the same name, and Kizzy Ruiz’s Germany, not to mention Chris Garcia’s whacky spin on the theme.
The Web site incredulously continues: “The idea is a result of Mr Jepson’s interest in the T&T football team following their visit to Leeds in 1996. After helping at a training camp he became the team’s manager (eh?) for one game against East Fife and has followed their progress ever since.”
The question remains, though, how can you send a pan contingent to Germany without including back-to-back National Panorama champion Phase II Pan Groove and reigning World Steelband Music Festival champion Sagicor Exodus, not forgetting that we’re still supposed to have a National Steel Orchestra?
And then there’s Neal & Massy Trinidad All Star’s Panorama interpretation of Leon “Smooth” Edwards’ arrangement of the De Fosto classic which is definitely worthy of consideration if a pan contingent was being considered.
Following the LOC’s announcement, in true Trini bravado, the government stated that T&T will have a cultural representation in Germany, come hell in the budget allocation to sports or high water in Caparo.
I place the blame for this latest Trini la couray firmly on the shoulders of the administration. If back in the ’60s, upon achieving independence, the government had insisted in forging meaningful and tangible nationhood by instituting fixed national cultural entities, we would not be in today’s predicament.
As in almost everything local, the dirty, sleazy, conniving hand of politics has to be accommodated so the national steel orchestra has apparently not even been considered as the obvious vehicle for taking the national instrument to this prestigious world event. If those in whose hands the power and authority to forge our cultural expressions had been entrusted had done the right thing for the past 43 years, we would have also been able to send our national dance company, as well as our national tassa group, and national folk performing and theatre companies.
But, after 43 years of independence, we can’t even complete a national steelband headquarters, far less think outside the quagmire of political graft and connivance to begin to organise any national cultural body, as serious, developed nations have done, some with far less resources than we do.