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‘Time for reparations’ – Chalkdust
Chalkdust was one of the many entertainers of last night’s August 2, 2014 International soca/calypso explosion held at the Iris Freeman Festiville in Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands. The night saw a reasonably-sized crowd of persons, dominated by Vincentians who were not going to let the threat of a tropical storm hold them hostage in their homes.
As several of the artistes got on stage they did a roll call to get a feel of their audience. From Guyana to St Vincent hands were going up in numbers but when called on the Virgin Islands' hands were in microscopic quantities.
Given the clearance from the relevant departments and authorities the BVI Festival and Fairs Committee Public Relations Officer Ms Lynette L. Harrigan late yesterday afternoon had issued a call for persons to come out to the show as only one international artiste was stranded and couldn’t make it into the Territory to perform. She also had announced that the committee had significantly reduced the entrance fee from $25 to $15.
It was evident that the heavy downpours of rain from Tropical Storm Bertha did not have much effect on the inner circle of the ground, the area that is central to the show. It was just a slight hop and skip to dodge messy puddles of mud at the entrance.
Just one stall was observed not opened for the night however most of the stallholders who only had a tent as a cover in the ground did not show up either. Along the street side vending was also minimal. This news site did not observe any children city rolling for the night either.
The show was kick-started by VI’s own cultural band the Lashing Dogs, followed by the A-Team band out of Trinidad and Tobago, then there was Poora and then the man with the message Chalkdust.
After singing a few of his calypsos from back in the days he acknowledged the fact that for this year’s emancipation celebrations, many Caribbean countries through CARICOM have been voicing the call for reparations which led him to singing one of his 1990s calypsos ‘Back Pay – deh owe meh father back pay’. Of his typical self Chalkdust didn’t leave the stage without dishing out one of his impromptu lyrics.
This time he said it was world of a letter from ‘Ms Brown’ a fictitious Tortolian friend who had to hit on the politicians among them was Minister for Communications and Works Honourable Mark H. Vanterpool who according to Chalkdust “Got the whole of Road Town in a mess.”
Coming back with a strong message in her cries about the ills of society was Ms Arliene T. Penn who has been off the scene for about ten years. Her stage name is now Glama Gurl and her messages dealt with the ills of society especially those affecting the youth population and these were brought out in the lyrics of her songs ‘Emancipate yourself’ ‘Caribbean Woman’ and ‘No Time for Nobody’.
The night continued storm fee with performances by Soca 2014 Power Monarch Martino ‘Tino’ Marks who did among others his popular song ‘Facebook’ and Calypso Queen Sistah Joyce how had the crowd grooving to her original compositions especially ‘Love Portion’.
The cream of the night’s performances took place with the microphone in the hands of soca sensation out of St Vincent and the Grenadines Skinny Fabulous. And with the knowledge that the masses in the ground were his country people the picture was clear. He entertained to the maximum not restricting his performance to the confines of the stage as he was on the ground going up north, down south, to the left and to the right and in a circle.
The show ended in the early morning hours of about 5:00am August 3, 2014.
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7 Responses to “‘Time for reparations’ – Chalkdust ”
I will take the 40 acres and a mule as was promised by the USA to its ex-slaves.