Cro Cro delivering ‘Compare and Contrast’ at Calypso Fiesta 2011 in Skinner Park
Encore for Cro Cro at yesterday’s Calypso Fiesta
By David Cuffy
February 27, 2011
Skinner Park in San Fernando was sparsely populated when Calypso Fiesta, the semifinal round of the National Calypso Monarch Competition kicked off in broiling hot sun at 12.20 pm yesterday. The National Anthem was played by house band Errol Ince Music Makers before a crowd comprised mainly of “posses,” with members making colourful statements in hues of green, yellow, tangerine, red, blue and pink. Show host Wendell Etienne called on Brother D’Abreau to offer prayers before introducing guest artiste, veteran calypsonian Power (Sonny Francois) who offered Culture of Trinidad and Tobago and Ah Coming for which he received genuine applause.
Full Article : guardian.co.tt
A great song by Cro Cro but it does not matter who is the head of Trinbago is always going to be about Race.
Cro Cro sure got it right. Those who were suckered into believing the “all awee ah wan” and cast their vote for the PPP are finding out that swan song has a short shelf life. Kamla went to Queens not Brooklyn, making it plain that the wooing for your votes was strategic, and now that you have given it brought Sat Maharaj into power you will see what many of us have always known.
Cro Cro right. Our ancestors were sold into slavery by many of their own. Unwittingly, some of our own in T&T might have repeated the past
Mr. Weston “Cro Cro” Rawlins is a four-time Calypso Monarch: one of our national Griots, a voice of authority in his own right, and the bard of the PNM party that has ruled this land for all but 12 of the last 55 years. His carefully considered opinion on the African-Trinidadian and African-Tobagonian members of the People’s Partnership government has implications for the status of those East Indians (and indeed non-Africans ) who have supported the PNM over the years. Jerry Narace, Christine Kangaloo, Faris al Rawi and Colm Imbert are but a few examples. Licks for the goose is licks for the gander.
cro croaking for his supper–he’s missing the Gravy train–no more pnm freeness & handouts!
Cro Cro exhibited an ancient tradition of social commentary in melody and rythm. It goes back into infinity, and manifests itself in musical genres like rap that has seeped into every culture and created a fallange of imitators. So when he characterizes those who behaved like plaint and obsequious house slaves as exactly that, he was walking in the footsteps of the street preachers and teachers in our community, chastizing those infected with the “massa we sick syndrome”.
One may or may not agree with Cro Cro’s political views as is their right, and the calypso soca chutney artforms provide a level playing field for othere to present alternative views.
I gues I am going to go against the grain; as far as I’m concerned Cro Cro is a disgrace to the art form. And I was a huge fan of him for a long long time.
It’s one thing to declare your loyalty to the PNM (or whatever party, it doesn’t matter), but when you use your influence to pander to that narrow tribalism and play on very old insecurities and ideas of political entitlement, it’s a totally different matter. And that is what Cro Cro and Aloes have been doing for a long time.
I’m not saying that the Panday administgration did not deserve to be hauled over the coals for their actions, they deserved much more than what they got. But Cro Cro’s calypsoes showed a profound blindness to the excesses and corruption within the PNM; all he did was “attack dem Indian” When the UNC was voted out and PNM regsined office, what did Cro Cro do? continue to sing on UNC and the fact that “dey too greedy”. Which of his songs dealt with Calder Hart, Pena, the Guanapo Church, the smelter plants, wanton PNM spending? Compare his style to, say Chalkdust, Luta or better yet, Kurt Allen, who hitting everybody. If indeed he is supposed to be a voice to the voiceless, then it doesn’t matter who is in office, once they screwing up, he is to deal with them. But no, he himself showed his hand when he pointed out that it is not about any fairness, he doing a wuk for he party. Disgrace.