Calypso Sound Splash at Juliana Sports Field

Calypso Sound Splash will take place at Princess Juliana Sports Field in The Bottom on Saturday, June 30. The show, organized by Mor­gan Entertainment Foun­dation, headed by Saba’s reigning Calypso King, Bob “The Man” Morgan. is not a competition but a display of local and regional Calyp­so talents.

Calypso Sound Splash in­cludes six local artistes and three from the region. Lady Els is the Junior Calypso Queen who has been out of the scene for a while. New­comers are Lady Sisla and Soca B, who will share the stage with veteran Singing Lorna.

“1 have to take my hat off to Singing Lorna, who has been a consistent partici­pant of the Calypso compe­titions, and her dedication to the art form is an exam­ple to all,” said Morgan. Daddy Slim — the reigning Road March King, who is also a veteran, is also sup­porting the show. Veteran “The Man Bob” is no new­comer to the arena and has won the Calypso Competi­tion on at least six occa­sions.

The show will be com­pleted by performances of Junior Lion, Teapot, and Baker Junior, who are all from St. Maarten. DJ Zan­derzone from Saba and DJ Lil R from St. Maarten will be the disc jockeys that night, rocking the house from 9:00pm.

According to Morgan, the word on social media is that the reason there is no Ca­lypso competition during the 2018 Carnival celebra­tions in Saba is because such a show does not gen­erate an income.

“Carnival without Calypso does not make much sense as Calypso opens the Car­nival Parade traditionally,” Morgan stated. Calypso has been part of the Saba Car­nival from the beginning, and according to Morgan, to use money to do away with the cultural part of Carnival is unfair.

“By doing away with part of our culture you are blocking the continua­tion of a tradition and are actually damaging your culture,” says Morgan. Ac­cording to him, the excuse of shows of this nature not generating an income holds no ground as foreign bands come to Saba to play dur­ing Carnival and leave the island with the earnings, which are not spent on the island.

He questions why local bands and talents do not deserve to be paid but pay­ing foreign bands is not questioned. “I hope this mindset will be eradicated as it looks like we are retir­ing from our own culture. “I found it important to put a Calypso Show together as it is imperative that we pass the baton to the next gen­eration and keep this art form alive. I also hope that people get to realize that it is unfair to complain about the gate charge when there are local artistes, while they do not mind paying airfare and higher prices to attend a show in St. Maarten. We still have high costs here in Saba and at the moment Calypso Sound Splash is not being sponsored by the big companies that normal­ly sponsor such events.”

In conclusion, Morgan ex­pressed hope that people would work towards pre­serving the local culture and not allow negativity to take over.

“We need an atmosphere of togetherness and not division. I am looking for­ward to a big turnout, for everyone to enjoy them­selves, and show a big sup­port for this local art form,” Morgan concluded.

The Daily Herald.