CALYPSONIANS BLANK THE GRANDMASTER

For the first time in its 11-year history, Normandie Under The Trees Carnival programme had to refund patrons following the non-appearance of performers at Monday night’s show.

Billed as a “Tribute to Kitchener”, several entertainers were carded to perform songs made famous by the Grandmaster. As usual it was a dinner and show, with the latter portion kicking off at 8.30 pm. First up was a Kitchener protege, Pink Panther, who performed a few songs. Up next was Funny, who had a very hard time singing in the right key. He stopped the band (Roots) on three occasions. However, he did go on to sing several songs to the amusement of his audience. The performance revealed a lack of rehearsal between performer and the band. After these two performers MC Terry Joseph announced that they would take an intermission because several of the entertainers billed for the show had not yet turned up. Sugar Aloes, Roger George, Scrunter and Kernal Roberts were nowhere to be found.

It was then patrons started making “noise” (very subtly of course, after all, this is Normandie) demanding  a refund as they converged on the ladies at the entrance. Despite this demand for a refund, at the entrance, people were still collecting money from patrons who were just arriving for the show. Organisers Fred Chin Lee and his son Chris tried their best to appease “angered” patrons. During this time several patrons collected their tickets to get a refund or to return to the Normandie for another show. After a 35-minute intermission, MC Joseph announced to the faithful Under The Trees patrons that the show was about to re-start. He introduced the band Roots with vocalist Natalie Yorke and Adrian Philbert who performed two songs to the amusement of the audience.  At the end of the second song you could not guess there was a problem.

Kernal Roberts then came on stage and performed several of his father’s songs including his very own “Wavers” in which he used the melody from “Pan In A Minor”.  His rendition of “12 Bar Joan” also went down well with the audience. Up next was a man who imitates the Grandmaster with style and grace, and from the word go Scrunter had his audience going. His performance of “The Will”, “Pan On The Moon” and “Woman On The Bass”created waves, but it was when the band struck up “Jumbies” people started dancing and singing. Scrunter brought a troubled show to a fitting climax with patrons smiling as they left. Organiser Fred Chin Lee gave them something more to smile about when Joseph announced that every patron who stayed to the end should collect a ticket to come back to any show at the Normandie. Chin Lee explained to Newsday, “This is our way of apoligising to our patrons. We did not know that the artistes would not show.  I understand that Roger George left a message that he did not rehearse with the band and we have not heard from Sugar Aloes.” Chin Lee went on, “This will not deter me from continuing what I started, I intend to continue to ‘break new ground’ with shows at the Normandie Under The Trees”.