Patrons get a lesson in show-taping BET style

Thousands of patrons at the first Tobago International Gospel Festival at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex Saturday evening got a practical lesson in show taping for commercial television American style. They were told where and how to stand and applaud; they were drilled in how to maintain sustained applause; they were ordered to turn off their cell phones, and not chew gum.

‘One, two, three,’ and all of Shaw Park, including THA Chief Secretary Orville London and a large contingent of THA officials, stood up and roared in applause...perhaps at themselves. Firstly, the patrons at the back were ordered to come forward; the first row, and the succeeding maybe ten to 15 rows, had to be completely filled. It was all orchestrated and artificially choreographed; not spontaneous or ‘real,’ an act, actually a ‘performance’‘ more like ‘commercialised’ religion straight off of cable television in the US. Actually it was!

The dress rehearsal and applause preceeded the performance of Dr Bobby Jones, of BET (Black Entertainment cable television network in the US) fame, and the Nashville Super Choir came during the second half of the gospel fest —staged by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) — which was filmed for screening on cable gospel TV in the US by Armon Enterprises, producers. After Dr Jones and his group had completed their second performance, there came an announcement that they had got some ‘bad audio’ in the opening performance, and had to do it all over again. It was back to the ‘five, four, three, two, one,’ applause routine. It was a really dynamic performance from Dr Jones and his group, complete with revolving coloured lights and other stage effects.