Published 11 January 2018
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Soca Monarch in jeopardy—Scoon
The promoter of the International Soca Monarch (ISM) said yesterday the Carnival Friday landmark event could be cancelled if the organisation does not get enough funding.
Chairman of Caribbean Prestige Peter Scoon said he was still in negotiation with its main sponsors, the main one being the National Control Lotteries Board.
He was commenting hours after the promoter of Chutney Soca Monarch George Singh Jr announced that after 23 years running, there is no money for the event, therefore it was cancelled.
Scoon said that it was possible that the event could be cancelled if they cannot get enough funding.
“We are in negotiation for funding and there is no decision yet on what we will get from the NCLB as well as other sponsors. Initially, we were looking at scaling the event back to suit our cloth, but if it cannot be done, the last resort would be to cancel,” Scoon said.
Singh said that in the past three years, Government had slashed the investments into the further development of the chutney soca artform by more than 90 per cent. With the bulk of government sponsorship going towards prize money, the CSM was able to pay out $2 million to the winner from 2011 to 2013, in 2014, it was reduced to $1 million and last year’s top prize was $500,000.
Big blow to culture— artistes
There was speculation in the chutney soca fraternity that support was pulled from the CSM after Nermal Gosine, soubriquet Massive Gosine’s controversial song, Rowlee Mudda Count, was accepted into the competition.
There was, however, agreement that the cancellation was a big blow to culture. Gosine declined to comment yesterday.
Nine-time CSM winner Samraj “Rikki Jai” Jaimungal said the cancellation will have a ripple effect on the entertainment industry.
“Many artistes would have created music geared towards the event. The other part is so many people will be affected: The dance groups, costume makers, choreographer and service providers of stage lights and sound systems,” Jaimungal said.
Former title-holder Kris “KI” Persad said he was hoping to wake up today to the cancellation being a prank. He said it was important to have the CSM as a platform for artistes.
“I know it’s a lot of money to run a competition, but to take away all the funding, I was saddened by that. I was not entering this year but I wanted to be part of the show as a guest artiste,” Persad said.
President of the National Chutney Foundation (NCFTT) Vijay Ramlal made a call to ensure that no aspect of the chutney artform was suppressed.
