TUCO’s new tune

Though there was one request for a recount, Brother Resistance, and all the successful candidates for the various posts in the organisation, are to be congratulated for holding a vibrant, democratic election exercise. It is important that cultural stakeholder organisations be accountable to the people whom they represent, in addition to taxpayers at large. TUCO gets an annual subvention of between $8 million to $10 million.

The newly-minted TUCO executive will have several challenges in the years ahead. The relevance of calypso – once regularly hailed as our national art form – continues to be questioned at a time when soca continues to break new ground.

Still, judging from the PNM’s recent 60th anniversary calypso competition, there continues to be an appetite for traditional calypso.

Also, internationally, our calypsonians continue to be well received.

Calypso Rose is enjoying a stellar year, recently being featured prominently in the UK press and also being reviewed alongside the likes of Lady Gaga in publications down under in Australia. (The Australian called Rose “a feisty performer who has overcome a debilitating stammer, cancer and heart attacks in an eventful life.”) The question is, how can this calypso be revitalised and repurposed? And what is TUCO’s role in this exercise. These are not just academic questions. These issues go to the heart of our diversification project as well as to our cultural values.

TUCO should continue to provide support to artists in terms of copyright matters and consider widening its role to ensure that it becomes a force that promotes and protects.

The organisation must also get behind initiatives that preserve calypso history, be it through archives or private collections. It must become a vital conduit for the wide body of people all over the world who are keeping the tradition alive and who are preserving records of its heyday. TUCO must not be about Carnival alone. It must find ways to have the artists who want to make a contribution do so. The organisation must play a role in training and education. It must be allowed to partner with schools and youth organisations.

TUCO must also further academic work examining the history of the art form as well as its various social permutations.

But beyond elections and political party fetes, the real lifeblood of the art form is the music itself and the people who practise it. TUCO must be praised for its advocacy over the years.

At the same time, we welcome indications that two of the major projects in the 2016 to 2019 period will be bringing to the fore a medical plan and a credit union.

These measures are likely to need the involvement of the corporate community and support from relevant government ministries. They should be balanced with adequate levels of transparency and full accountability.

The efforts to clamp down on payment of membership dues should continue.

In the coming weeks, TUCO will also have to look at the format of its calypso shows, particularly Dimanche Gras. The economic downturn is also an opportunity for TUCO to focus on sustainability and to experiment with creative forms of community engagement.

It is not all doom and gloom after this election.