As I read this article in today's TNT Guardian, I wonder if there is a concern about the apparent lack of attendance of Afo- Trinbagonians at the Chutney events?
Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco) president Michael Legerton has raised the issue of the declining attendance of Indo-Trinidadians at calypso tents during the Carnival season.
Legerton, speaking during the first day’s review of Carnival 2007 in St Mary’s Centenary Hall, Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain, said efforts were made to get Indo-Trinidadians back into the tents.
“Kaiso House started a pilot project to bring back these people into the calypso tent. Invitations were sent. Buses were sent if they did not have transport.
“About six buses came back filled with people on the first night. On other nights, they came back with new faces.
“We wanted to show these people they would not be insulted,” he said.
Asked by participant Richard Law to explain the term “these people,” Legerton fell silent.
Law said there was no proper groundwork in place to woo Indo-Trinidadians back to the tents.
“There should be some real policy in place, since this impacts on patriotism and nationalism. It is disrespectful,” he said.
At the end of the session, Legerton said: “We are working on it. We are taking the time to embrace everybody.”
Culture Minister Joan Yuille-Williams, who also spoke during the session, said there was “no room for discrimination.”
She pointed to the Ana culture tents and the assistance given to the chutney tents as examples of the Culture Ministry’s commitment to inclusion.
“Right now, Massive Gosein has an Indian Arrival Day tent going around the country. There have been ten Ana concerts for Indian Arrival Day.
“We have given prizes of dholaks and dhantals. We have honoured outstanding people in sports and culture in the communities,” she said.
Yuille-Williams also boasted that the ministry provided funding for William Munro’s Soca Monarch competition,
“We will be paying the $1.5 million on June 8,” she said.
Meanwhile, conveyor of San Fernando Carnival, Junia Regrello, admitted to some “grey areas” in the staging of Panorama at Skinner Park, San Fernando.
Should Panorama finals be held in South again, major improvements in its infrastructure would happen, he promised.
— with reporting by M Loubon
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