Kaiso commess

and now litigation? Will kaiso from now onwards be judged by a new criterion, the quality of one’s legal counsel, some may ask cynically after the strange twist of events to decide placement for the National Calypso Monarch Competition at tonight’s Dimanche Gras show? The fact of five calypsonians threatening lawsuits certainly adds a fresh twist to the local adage, “Carnival is bacchanal.” Lynette “Lady Gypsy” Steele successfully threatened legal action to get a place on the big stage tonight by arguing for the disqualification of Lornette “Fya Empress” Nedd-Reid as not fulfilling TT nationality criteria, while Nedd-Reid in turn successfully counter-argued that her progress through the preliminaries and semi-finals now gave her a legitimate expectation for inclusion in the finals.

In the end, both women hugged up for the cameras as sisters in calypso as they attended the draw for singing spots on Friday, initially delayed by Nedd-Reid’s lawsuit.

We congratulate High Court judge, Justice Frank Seepersad, on delivering a timely judgement at 9 pm last Thursday, even as we acknowledge that in life in general no ruling will ever 100 percent satisfy all contending parties. Otherwise, Brian London in court unsuccessfully questioned the arithmetic of the judges score sheets.

Further, post-Carnival legal action against the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) may come from former monarch Duane O’Connor challenging the scoring at the semi-finals.

Moreso Alana “Lady Watchman” Sinnette-Khan is alleging her songs were judged in a wrong category as social, instead of political calypso, resulting in her exclusion from the semi-finals.

So, what does this all mean for kaiso? “This is new grounds for us in terms of legal space” was the sage and discreet comment of TUCO head, Lutalo “Brother Resistance” Masimba, reacting to Nedd-Reid’s successful legal action. Rather than being a largely semi-professional artform of griots whose passion and dedication exceed the pecuniary rewards on offer, has calypso this year lost its innocence to litigation? TUCO now faces a looming headache, firstly in having to pay two sets of lawyers’ fees in Nedd-Reud’s case alone, and secondly, possibly from more legal liabilities, both from this season and future Carnivals.

Clearly TUCO will have to spend a pretty penny on lawyers to draft fresh regulations and entry forms to govern the Calypso Monarch finals.

This could include a blanket exemption clause that the calypso judges’ decision is final and placements are not open to challenge.

TUCO must set down its criteria for artistes to supply proof of their TT nationality, and place an onus on artistes to sign a specific declaration that they meet this criterion.

TUCO must warn that any misrepresentation as to such status constitutes a criminal offence of fraud, including non-disclosure of any alteration in TT status.

Alternatively, TUCO could follow the lead set by the International Soca Monarch competition and abolish any nationality criterion thus opening the show to contenders from as far away as Japan! At a time when groups like TUCO struggle with limited State subventions and when at least one calypso tent complained of low ticket-sales, the last thing TUCO now needs is to be liable to pay out for lawyers’ fees and legal damages by disgruntled artistes. Yet maybe lawsuits should not have been unexpected as the very fact of $1 million as prize money has long signalled that calypsonians are no longer prepared to proverbially “sing for a drink” but that the artform is now irrevocably a serious business.

Meanwhile with six past monarchs vying for the calypso crown, tonight’s show should be highly competitive and enjoyable and we wish the organisers and all the contestants all the best. They toiled hard to enter whether in the tent or the courtroom and one hopes that it all amounts to betterment of calypso.