This is incredible... I called WACK radio tonight to ask a simple question regarding the fact the When Steel Talks gets all the Panorama songs before the songs are heard in Trinidad and Tobago and got dumbed down by the host. I never expected the radio show host to defend TUCO management the way he did. Instead of putting Tuco's management on the spot and let them fend for themselves he decided to be Tuco's lawyer tonight... incredible!
For those who don't know let me make it clear. Soca is available all over the Internet and on YouTube in particular. Many of us are on mailing lists that enable us to receive music blasts from record producers/distribution houses. That is not the case for Calypso songs; there are a few exceptions. However, the vast majority of songs of the pan aka Panorama songs are released on 'When Steel Talks'. It is very difficult to get these songs elsewhere. Search every web link call the people you know but those songs are unavailable.
Tuco is dragging their feet and they are supposedly the body representing all the Calypsonians. Let me give you an example of Tuco's ineptitude. The 50th anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago's Independence featured the Lord Bryner's Independence Calypso Competition. There were over 100 calypsos entered in that competition and to date there isn't a compilation of those songs available for sale anywhere. If you are a collector and want to get those songs in your collection then you better know someone who can send you the mp3's. That is ridiculous that such gems are unavailable for the people to disseminate.
Another year and the problem remains the same. These guys in charge of the system talk a good talk but their actions are stuck in mud. Calypsos are sung and people yearn to hear them and many wish to collect them. There was a time when records and even digital media (Compact discs) were available for purchase. I have records by Duke, Lord Shorty, Kitch and Sparrow to name a few at home. However, the new crop of calypsonians will be known by name and a music collection of Calypsos in nothing but a passing memory. Some radio stations have mp3 files on their system but they too don't have the music. What is TUCO (the body representing the Calypsonians) doing to resolve this issue... not a damn thing.
No excuses... no damn excuse because Soca is available for sale and download (for free in many cases) online. This is a shame and when you talk about it they like to put COTT in the middle of it all as the body that is preventing the publication of the music. If COTT is the problem then why is it not an issue for the Soca artists?
Shame, shame and more shame for this travesty. Shame of WACK DJ Mr. Desmond for not ensuring that TUCO president Lutalo Masimba answer the questions. Trinidad and Tobago should always release the music first and if the artist takes the music to a distributor in NYC or sends the music to When Steel Talks then TUCO should always encourage its members to make the music available to the people who really love the music. TUCO should act as a distribution center for Calypso music.
I am upset, I have said enough tonight!