TUCO breaks ranks with SFCC

The move shocked the Carnival fraternity yesterday as the countdown to Monday/Tuesday’s show kicked off with zest and zeal never before witnessed in South mas.

However, TUCO described Wednesday’s pre-Dimanche Gras competition at Skinner Park as a "fiasco," stressing that its members would never again appear at an SFCC competition.

In a media briefing at Wack 90.1 FM radio station on Coffee Street, San Fernando yesterday, TUCO’s South/Central zone chairman, Ras Kommanda (Steve Pascall), said that a fresh pre-Dimanche competition will be held in April.

He said the new competition would be titled: "TUCO South/Central Zonal Calypso Monarch competition." It will have a total prize money of $105,000.

A visibly upset Ras Kommanda said that last Wednesday’s competition was the final act in a long list of "total disrespect" to the nation’s artistes. "The great Skinner Park is doomed to go out in a blaze of destruction because of the total disrespect shown to calypsonians," he said.

At the Skinner Park show, calypsonians were forced to wait under a makeshift tent for the start of the competition. The show began one hour late. Kommanda said, "There were no mirrors, no toilet facilities. And when the bulbs exploded in the tent, people were running scared and dusting bits of bulb from their hair. It was total confusion," he said.

To add insult to injury, Kommanda said the sound system engineers were unaware that a Calypso competition was being held. Only two microphones were made available to the back-up vocalists.

It was pointed out at the TUCO press briefing that calypsonian Lady Adana’s (Marsha Charles) 19-year-old daughter was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital for bulb particles in her eyes.

Kommanda said, "The SFCC competition was getting worse from year to year."