Mashramani Calypso Show a Colossal Waste of Time

JOHN Milton wrote a famous line which, for a Christian (particularly for a seventeenth century Puritan) is an unambiguous straightforward statement about servitude to the Lord:

“They also serve who only stand and wait.” But for others, it calls for some interpretation.

It should be interesting, for instance, to think how it should be interpreted for the commuters who have to stand and wait for several unproductive hours, morning and evening each day, in vain for public transportation. How do you apply it to the audience who waited hours for the Mashramani calypso show at the National Park last Saturday evening?

In several Countries, politicians, it seems, take it as given that people must expect to stand for several hours listening to several lengthy speeches whenever there is a rally or some national event. Schoolchildren and others are expected to stand along the streets and wait for hours to wave at visiting dignitaries.

It seems the norm, then, that mass events must be colossal in everything, including mass waste of time

And true to form, the grand opening of the Mashramani Calypso series last weekend was a colossal waste of time.

Fortunately, only a handful of people turned out to suffer, as the stands were deservedly deserted. The show was advertised for 5.00 p.m. but never got going until around 9.00 p.m. (!) It was not worth waiting for.

Some calypsonians seemed serious enough to come prepared to perform, including some with rehearsed choruses, who could not properly use them because they were given only one microphone. Continuously the microphones did not work.

Other performers were far too casual and not ready for a public appearance while the many deficiencies frustrated the better ones. The stage setting was untidy and disordered, bands spent several minutes tuning-up and warming-up, there were long gaps between items and the whole picture was more like a practice jam-session in the studio than a public performance.

The M.C., who talked too much, kept saying this was not the real thing, this was a warm-up, and he promised the audience a long night. He cannot be accused of not delivering up his promises.

If it was only a rehearsal, why charge patrons $20 and $30? And the M.C. assured us that “the real thing” will’ cost much more!!

The trouble is that I have seen other Mashramani shows in the past that started hours late and were badly stage-managed. The organisers of last Saturday’s farce must understand that they owe the public a decent production and they cannot expect to throw them any ragged fiasco and claim to be celebrating a national event which they will expect visitors to look at.

Just across the channel the Trinidadians are celebrating carnival. They take their shows much more seriously and even though they, too, start notoriously late, they always attempt to put in some artistry and polish.

Does Mashramani intend to earn a place as an event worth the national effort?