PM: Protect the music that built Crop Over

Prime Minister Mia Mottley is calling on the music and cultural industry to safeguard the future of traditional calypso and soca, warning that the genres which built the Crop Over festival must not be overshadowed by newer styles of music.

Addressing the St Philip Ideas Forum at the Princess Margaret Secondary School on Monday night, Mottley said while younger artistes were producing innovative music with year-round appeal, the space must still exist for traditional Crop Over songs during the season that have long defined the festival.

She said: “A lot of the music that’s finding itself into the mainstream Crop Over now is really mainstream music for all year round, the youngsters are doing some brilliant innovations, but those innovations do not have to lock themselves into Crop Over alone.”

Many of the newer artistes were already finding success beyond Barbados and could continue producing music throughout the year, she added:

“Many of them I’m told by my young minister [Senator Shane Archer] are receiving a lot of forward outside of Barbados and therefore they do not have to rely only on Crop Over, but we need in Crop Over to keep a space for everyone.”

The prime minister also questioned whether traditional calypso and soca were receiving enough exposure on radio, revealing that she had to turn to Spotify to hear much of this year’s Crop Over music.

“I had to go on Spotify to hear the majority of music out for Crop Over this year. Explain why that should happen.”

She argued that government-owned broadcaster CBC had a responsibility to ensure all genres of Crop Over music were heard during the festival:

“CBC is government-owned and CBC must make space for all genres of calypso during Crop Over and it is not to be determined only by a DJ. The DJ has a lot of influence, but we have to be able to respect the fact that people invest their money. They go and do recordings and that it cannot be only one genre of music playing during Crop Over.”

While younger people were driving the energy of the festival, older audiences also contributed to its success and should not be ignored, she argued.

The festival’s continued success depended on preserving the music that had helped establish Crop Over the past four decades, she added:

“We know that this festival that is ours is special because it has made a niche for itself. Does it need refreshing? Yes, it does, but it is special. Do we now have a platform for music that is all year round? Yes, we do. But don’t let our all year music sacrifice and push aside that which has built this festival for the last 40 years.”

Calypso remained at the heart of Crop Over, said Mottley, as she warned that allowing the genre to fade would ultimately weaken the festival itself.

“It is the music that drives the festival, and if we lose the art of calypso or we lose the art of soca, as we also know we’re going to affect the festival, so we need to keep that but also give the youngsters and the fellas a clear pathway.”

(SM)