by FAY ROE
I know my ‘olde school’ upbringing in the calypso medium colours my views and actions so I tried to suck up the aberrations that confronted me before taking my seat at south NAPA, in San Fernando, to be part of a cultural experience.
I put aside the run around just to get tickets before the show having tried WACK, Seon Bar and, finally, Atherly’s Bar. I simply grumbled to myself when patrons were only allowed to enter the theatre eight minutes before the advertised show time which obviously guaranteed a late start.
So let me put the experience in perspective. On a scale from one to ten I put Kaiso House opening night on Sunday 11th January at six with a good bit of points going to MC Tommy Joseph; the chorus group – Kaiso Jewels and the eleven member band – Cummings and the Wailers. The 24 singers presented seemed like castaways. In days of old most of them would have been heckled off the stage. Here is how it went.
Replies
Calyp ain't so again, it so, so. lol.
That is the major problem with kaiso in the tent.
Long ago, on any given night, if FOUR (4) KAISONIANS get an encore for the night, that was plenty. And the crowd used to determine who get encore, by a sustained loud applause.
Now is the MC that calls back these mediocre singers for an encore. Some of them does sing three verses, knowing that the MC calling them back for an encore. Then they would sing the 4th verse.
Compared to long ago, where you had to come really good to get an encore, calypso is real crap.