Dear Editor,
I get so excited every Mash when the different song competitions are launched, I look forward to hearing all the new lyrics created by various artistes in soca, chutney and calypso. Being a lover of calypso I am more hyped in that direction; it is amazing how those calypsonians can put together words so craftily to express the negatives and positives and be suggestive. It’s a unique art that should be more appreciated, preserved and sponsored with a passion.
Being one to recognize this I must express my disappointment at the behaviour of some announcers and television hosts. DJ Casual is an exception; he has been promoting the new songs every day, but I listen to some of the programmes aired and all I am hearing is songs from previous Mash celebrations, or a song by one particular artiste.
This is disgusting; we the members of the general public deserve to hear and see the songs that were chosen to compete for the 2012 Mash competitions. Once they have been recorded by the artiste, they should be aired every day, so that we can become familiar with them leading up to the competitions.
Radio Roraima was one station which was doing this last year, but that isn’t the case this year. Why is this? Every day ‘January Girl’ is being aired by some announcers, but ‘January Girl’ is not in any of the competitions.
We must stop this insult to our artistes; they are just as competent as those out there and they have sacrificed and spent large sums of money both to record CDs and DVDs taking the competition to another level. We need to hear all the songs recorded for 2012 Mashramani competitions on Radio Roraima, 98.1 and Voice of Guyana and all television stations once they have been given the green light at auditions. It is a national festival.
Let‘s throw out those old weary excuses of the songs being too long. If all the songs cannot be aired on one programme let‘s have at least two of the songs on various programmes. Every day we found air time for the calypso ‘In Time To come’ previously, and that is a very long calypso.
Everyone should be showcased equally to the general public. Let good sense, respect and justice prevail for all the competitors now and not let the competitions be one-sided affairs.
Yours faithfully,
J A Anderson
