BY: Laura Dowrich-Phillips -- Loop
Legends of Calypso will be among those who will be taking centre stage at the Borders Festival next year
The three-day festival, the brainchild of former Trinidad and Tobago athlete Sheldon Monderoy, will take place from May 26 to 28 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
At a media launch on Wednesday, Monderoy spoke about his desire to bring festivals back to Trinidad and Tobago and the need for Trinidad to have a main festival that could be a tourism draw akin to the Jazz festival in Tobago.
Monderoy, who lived in Finland for 16 years, said the name Borders was influenced by the idea that while our music, food and other aspects of our culture have their own identity, we need to break down the borders and unify the cultures.
The three-day festival will see a myriad of events taking place. There will be four stages featuring calypso, jazz, soca, pop, gospel and R&B and a backyard stage where local and international DJS will play for nightly after parties. International acts will be announced on March 1.
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Hopefully NCC and Pan Trinbago can learn some things about Event management and planning from them.
MRK Management
We are an experienced group of event managers and organisers with a history of successful events including concerts, parties and restaurants. Our concert profiles include multiple international acts in Scandinavia. We aim to create events which bring together people from all cultures through music, food and art.
The event is set to be a highly technological one with RFID wristbands for smooth and efficient entry as well as cashless transactions. Checkout their website...http://www.bordersfestival.com
odw: I am always crying about a LACK OF ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS down in LAX when it comes to producing and promoting PAN and CALYPSO MUSIC in Trinidad. I hope that MRK Management pulls off a successful FESTIVAL and sets a NEW BALL ROLLING for the culture to cross UNLIMITED BORDERS.
I am happy about this even though I am a little concerned that this initial project might just be a bit over ambitious.
Now here is a man who I could admire!!! He lived in Finland for 16 years so he passes the EXPAT litmus test. And what is he doing? He is going back to Trinidad to implement his ideas. He is not sitting in FOREIGN and trying to tell everybody what to do from a keyboard.
He enduring the hot sun and facing the crime and working to implement his vision for CALYPSO, JAZZ, POP, GOSPEL and R&B -- on the ground in the MECCA. Ironically, there is NO MENTION of PAN!!! This might be a man after my own heart!
(XL4PAN should run and hook up with this man administratively and also ride his coat-tails to get at least ONE STEELBAND on the show.)
So when will the PAN EQUIVALENT EXPAT of Mr. Monderoy pack up and go home and start implementing THEIR VISION for PAN/STEELBAND/STEELPAN/STEELDRUM MUSIC?
As everybody knows, I sincerely believe that EXPATS hold the key to MOVING TRINIDAD MUSIC beyond its NARROW BORDERS. So I am more than thrilled to see Mr. Monderoy leading the way.
(Come on Mr. Bertel Gittens!!! You have a 20-man committee filled with EXPATS and LOCALS but I cannot read anything about your organization in ANY of the TRINIDAD MEDIA.)