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Nicole: Raw deal for local artistes
Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Monday, October 29th 2007
Congress of the People's (COP) Diego Martin Central candidate, Nicole Dyer-Griffith, says one of the two other parties it is fighting against in the general election spent US$40,000 (TT$240,000) to hire a Jamaican artiste to perform at a youth rally.
"And to make matters worse, I understand they were serving alcohol at that youth concert. Is this the type of political party you would want to represent you?" Dyer-Griffith said.
Although, Dyer-Griffith did not identify the party by name, she was making reference to the youth rally held by the United National Congress (UNC) Alliance at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya on October 21.
She did so at the COP's public meeting in Maraval on Saturday, where she announced the party's plans to establishment an independent endowment for the performing arts if it wins office, to ensure local artistes and performers get the kind of support they need.
Jamaican reggae artiste Richie Spice performed at the event and later re-recorded his hit song "World is a cycle", to be used as a campaign song by the UNC Alliance.
"Imagine a political party spending millions of dollars to hold a concert to uplift youth and the highlight is a foreign artiste who I understand was paid US$40,000 to perform at this concert; US$40,000 for one person. Why we couldn't have highlighted our own people? What, our performers are not good enough?" Dyer-Griffith said.
Dyer-Griffith also criticised the People's National Movement (PNM) youth rally, which had taken place earlier in the day at the Queen's Park Savannah, where bottles or coolers were banned.
"Today, another political party hosted another youth concert called Youth Vibes or Beyond or whatever and a next foreign artiste was the highlight. What about our pan men? Are they not good enough? What about our soca artistes, our chutney artistes? Are they not good enough to carry their own?" Dyer-Griffith said.
While there were local artistes such as Iwer George, Peter C, Ziggy Ranking and the Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Co at the event, the star performer was Jamaican dancehall artiste Sizzla.
"And in a walkabout sometime ago, a young man ask meh 'Nicole, who the COP bringing, Jah Cure? I told the young man 'fella, it would really take Jah to cure the mess this Government leave for us in Trinidad and Tobago,'" Dyer-Griffith said.
Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Monday, October 29th 2007
Congress of the People's (COP) Diego Martin Central candidate, Nicole Dyer-Griffith, says one of the two other parties it is fighting against in the general election spent US$40,000 (TT$240,000) to hire a Jamaican artiste to perform at a youth rally. "And to make matters worse, I understand they were serving alcohol at that youth concert. Is this the type of political party you would want to represent you?" Dyer-Griffith said.
Although, Dyer-Griffith did not identify the party by name, she was making reference to the youth rally held by the United National Congress (UNC) Alliance at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya on October 21.
She did so at the COP's public meeting in Maraval on Saturday, where she announced the party's plans to establishment an independent endowment for the performing arts if it wins office, to ensure local artistes and performers get the kind of support they need.
Jamaican reggae artiste Richie Spice performed at the event and later re-recorded his hit song "World is a cycle", to be used as a campaign song by the UNC Alliance.
"Imagine a political party spending millions of dollars to hold a concert to uplift youth and the highlight is a foreign artiste who I understand was paid US$40,000 to perform at this concert; US$40,000 for one person. Why we couldn't have highlighted our own people? What, our performers are not good enough?" Dyer-Griffith said.
Dyer-Griffith also criticised the People's National Movement (PNM) youth rally, which had taken place earlier in the day at the Queen's Park Savannah, where bottles or coolers were banned.
"Today, another political party hosted another youth concert called Youth Vibes or Beyond or whatever and a next foreign artiste was the highlight. What about our pan men? Are they not good enough? What about our soca artistes, our chutney artistes? Are they not good enough to carry their own?" Dyer-Griffith said.
While there were local artistes such as Iwer George, Peter C, Ziggy Ranking and the Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Co at the event, the star performer was Jamaican dancehall artiste Sizzla.
"And in a walkabout sometime ago, a young man ask meh 'Nicole, who the COP bringing, Jah Cure? I told the young man 'fella, it would really take Jah to cure the mess this Government leave for us in Trinidad and Tobago,'" Dyer-Griffith said.
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