Caribbean Canadian Artists Upset With 'New' Caribana
By Jasminee Sahoye
HBN Canada
Hardbeatnews, TORONTO, Canada, Tues. July 24, 2007: Several Caribbean-Canadian based artistes, who have been performing in different genres at Caribana for several years, are hopping mad at the new organizers of this year's festival, claiming they are being sidelined for the bigger names on the international scene.
Many say even if they are hired they are paid a "mere pittance" and "just an honorarium" ranging from $50 to $150 per person while the "big names" are being paid "big sums."
Among those voicing dismay are 1991 Juno award winner, Jason Perez; three time Juno nominee, Elsworth James; Calypsonian and cultural icon, Dick Lochan; Fabien Porras, who has three bands and musical arranger and composer, Ossie Gurley.
"This is a Toronto Caribbean festival... it's funded in large part by our tax payers dollars, city, province and federal and it's excluding Canadian-based artistes," said Lochan. "This is really ridiculous ... The Canadian-based artistes are promoting the culture all year round in all various forms all across Canada, international acclaimed in a lot of instances, and we are our prime festival, we are sidelined."
Lochan says he has raised the issue at a committee meeting but is not satisfied with the answer that big names are being used to sell tickets. But he feels that as Caribana is celebrating a major milestone this year, local artists should have been given more recognition.
Juno award winner Jason Perez, who has been singing calypso for many years, says he too was not offered to perform at any of the events.
"They are giving all the local singers an honorarium and all the foreign singers are getting big money, so they wouldn't approach me because they know I wouldn't take anything small," said Perez. "They're very disrespectful; they have no respect for the entertainers here."
For James, a 12-time reggae music award winner and 2004 urban music award winner, the move is also "highly disrespectful."
"I have no problem in having foreign entertainers come in ... but let the local entertainers be able to share that bill with those foreign artistes," said James. "It's the only way to measure them selves to see how far they are in terms of growth."
Forras has three bands and says he is frustrated that none of his bands have been hired. He also referred to a few other bands, which are usually hired for Caribana but are out of the line up this year.
Gurley, is a professional composer, arranger and producer of music with a recording studio, who has worked with some big names in the industry like Johnny McIntosh, Anselm Douglas and Nigel Lewis and he too is out of work for this year's Caribana.
"I know we have the artistes here that got a lot of work to do but there's no support at all. We're feeding on the crumbs of the industry," he added.
Chief Finance Administrative and Officer of the Festival Management Committee, Eddison Doyle insists that they are concerned about the balance and blend of the events, but added that like any other events, they couldn't hire everyone.
"We value the local artistes, we appreciate the local artistes and we are doing everything to have as many individuals as possible engaged and the broader way where we can do that is through the calypso association," insisted Doyle. "We are not blacklisting ... sidetracking anyone...that is not the intent of the festival management committee."
He added that the Arts and Entertainment Committee is responsible for the selection of artistes together with the events managers and that the president of the Calypso Association is part of the festival management committee board.
And Doyle insisted that two events this year that did not exist last year is 100 percent dedicated to local artistes of various art forms. One is the Caribana lime and five consecutive days at Ontario place, starting August 1.
"We have to come as big or even better than other promoters in order to have success with the concerts we're having," Doyle added. "We might as well not have a concert than to have a concert and not to compete .... We have to do it in line with ˜the industry standard' for the weekend otherwise we would be loosing money. We would not be in a position to give them as much money next year."
Caribana has traditionally been a two-week cultural exposition. This year, to mark the 40th anniversary, the festival has added several new events at new venues around the city to make Caribana a 6-week festival this time around.
Among the new events are two massive concerts, one featuring superstar Machel Montano with his HD concert on the night of the parade on August 4, and a major concert at the Molson Amphitheatre featuring Sean Paul and Destra on August 5.
Festival organizers say their aim is to make the events financially viable. But Roger Gibbs, president of the Calypsonian Association, insists the selection of artistes has been a challenge, noting that there has been an increased expectation among the various artistes and "a huge competition for funding."
"We have to get our act together and become more sophisticated and effective as arts organizations to lobby on behalf of the artists through the FMC, so that we can get a hold of that funding, and we can have a bigger say in how the festival program is decided and determined," said Gibbs.
But he is facing a challenge getting artistes to join the Association. "The artistes have to be more politically savvy and start to realize they have a voice and they have understand how to play the system," added Gibbs. – Hardbeatnews.com