Pirates and radio killing local music

THE EDITOR: The real date for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival had to be Emancipation Day, because that was when all the cultures from the backyards of the free slaves exploded on the streets in a blaze of glory. Though roped into the realms of colonialism and Christianity, if it took nearly 150 years to celebrate this liberation as a real holiday, then tell me how long it would take the music of Trinidad and Tobago to get a reasonable amount of airplay, seeing that the CEO of the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago, while addressing a media conference, claimed that 95 percent of the $6 million they collected in revenue has to leave these shores.

With all the negatives that surrounded the Shouter Baptist Liberation Day celebrations, the silver lining behind that dark cloud was the Prime Minister’s address to the movement. He said that “despite the passage of time between emancipation and contemporary life, people in Trinidad and Tobago show signs that they are not completely free.” He also advanced the notion that “a nation cannot be built unless we are willing to be witnesses.” But how free and willing are we if trade liberalisation means stifling our cultural development? The last two market facts and opinion polls have shown that the two leading radio stations in Trinidad and Tobago are Music Radio 97 and 96.1We FM in reverse order.

The programming on these two frequencies is mostly foreign music. It is therefore imperative that the government put on the legislative agenda a proposal for more airplay for local music on our radio stations. Even if it means amending the Constitution with a focus on nation building, instead of letting it look like big business interest is being served under the guise of free trade and commercial viability. Mr Manning in his address to the Commonwealth Journalists Association said, “The media has a responsibility to standards and when they do not meet them, even in the most democratic of countries, governments are forced to impose some level of control.”

In calling for an implementation of some level of control one must understand that the technological advancement within the global environment has thrown the music industry into a tailspin, especially the internet which breeds pirated CDs. Allow me to digress and say the law states that it is illegal to sell pirated CDs, but people are still selling them like hot hops on the streets of Trinidad and Tobago. If we allow them to sell foreign music what do they think will happen to local music? Face reality. It is nonsensical to think that a person running a business for nine months selling foreign stuff, would close down their business for three months because they can’t sell the product made in Trinidad and Tobago, though it is readily available. Yet in that same Shouter Baptist speech Mr Manning said, “irresponsibility must be factored into the national discourse because this is far too much a vain and greedy society.”

Is he talking about the greedy pirates who are licking up the music industry or the vain radio stations who oppress, suppress and ‘seasonalise’ our music? It is within this scenario that artistes have to settle for five percent airplay. Is this a responsible factor in our discourse on nation building in the context of vision 2020? Or is it a “weapon of mass distraction” according to Professor Rex Nettleford? The three components of sustaining our cultural development are the people, the government and corporate sponsorship. In this technologically programmed world only mass media brings mass public appeal. We have a treasure chest of music spanning nearly 100 years; the competition is our music versus all the other musical forms of the world within the context of globalisation and by extension our tourism thrust. The format of WLIB,our number one flag bearer for West Indian music in the USA has changed in favour of building American culture. The perception that our music has a short lifespan is not doing any good for its development on the local and international horizon.

Mr Basdeo Panday did a little thing by developing the special interest groups namely TUCO, Pan Trinbago and NCBA, they even had a vision of building a white elephant in central and naming it The National Cultural Complex. Responsibility, the key word emphasised in this letter, must mean democracy and not communism as exists on our radio stations. The music has reached a stage where it definitely needs an impetus from the government. Brian Lara, who also promotes local music, had national pride etched on our faces... Mr Manning it’s your turn at the crease, remembering that in playing this innings the responsibility is yours to instil national consciousness and teach the youths a sense of belonging, because more airplay would certainly open up the music industry for new releases throughout the year. This would emancipate us from mental slavery and enhance our reputation as the mecca of calypso.

LENNOX SYLVESTER
Port-of-Spain