Artistes call for greater emphasis on extempo music

Shas­tri Boodan

Free­lance Con­trib­u­tor

Ex­tem­po artistes lit up the stage in Ch­agua­nas on Mon­day night, de­liv­er­ing not on­ly sharp wit and lyri­cal bril­liance but al­so a pas­sion­ate call for the art­form to reach even greater heights.

Na­tion­al Ex­tem­po cham­pi­on Bri­an Lon­don used the spot­light to urge NCC Chair­man Pe­ter Kan­hai to ex­pand op­por­tu­ni­ties for ex­tem­po artistes, call­ing for in­creased prize mon­ey in the fi­nal, a per­ma­nent place at Fla­va Vil­lage and the host­ing of an Ex­tem­po dis­play in Ch­agua­nas.

Black Sage praised Kan­hai for the “good work” he has been do­ing as chair­man, while Lon­don pressed for en­hanced fi­nan­cial re­wards and broad­er ex­po­sure for the spon­ta­neous art­form. Kan­hai, in turn, con­grat­u­lat­ed Lon­don on his achieve­ment as na­tion­al Ex­tem­po cham­pi­on, sig­nalling sup­port for the con­tin­ued growth of the genre.

Ear­li­er, Kan­hai re­vealed that more than 300,000 pa­trons had vis­it­ed Fla­va Vil­lage this sea­son, de­scrib­ing the Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions as en­joy­ing in­creased spec­ta­tor par­tic­i­pa­tion. He not­ed that the de­ci­sion to open the North Stand free of charge had proven high­ly suc­cess­ful and said he has been vis­it­ing re­gion­al cel­e­bra­tions as part of the NCC’s wider push.

“The NCC Board took a de­ci­sion to help build re­gion­al car­ni­val across the coun­try be­cause it is not just about Port of Spain.”

Ch­agua­nas Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee Chair­man Melis­sa Jadoo­nanan de­clared the cel­e­bra­tions in Ch­agua­nas an over­whelm­ing suc­cess. She ex­pressed grat­i­tude for the use of the stage, stat­ing, “We have had so much of our com­pe­ti­tions on our mas­sive stage in Ch­agua­nas.” She added that the CCC would con­tin­ue to lob­by the NCC and pri­vate sec­tor part­ners for even greater sup­port in the years ahead.

The vi­brant show opened with spir­it­ed per­for­mances from Ex­tem­po stal­warts Win­ston “Gyp­sy” Pe­ters, Con­tender, Bri­an Lon­don, Lin­go and Black Sage. Pa­trons were al­so treat­ed to a colour­ful pa­rade of tra­di­tion­al mas char­ac­ters and the pul­sat­ing rhythms of tas­sa drum­ming, adding to an evening rich in cul­ture and Car­ni­val en­er­gy.