There was only one child entering the controversial bashment category of the National Cultural Foundation’s (NCF) Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition, the finalists of which were announced yesterday.
While there was public outcry over whether children should be allowed to compete in a category that has attracted mainly coarse lyrics, it was in the other categories that the NCF had to sit with some entrants to ensure their lyrics were up to standard.
Chief executive officer Carol Roberts-Reifer, in revealing the finalists, also touched on the issue which had been the source of public debate since it was announced that along with the traditional calypso and soca categories, bashment would also be included for the eight- to 18-year-olds. She was speaking yesterday on Starcom Network’s Fireworks – a Crop Over Festival radio talk show programme on VOB 92.9 FM.
“When all the conversation and all the dust was cleared, we had one entry in bashment, Lil Stathis. The judges felt that given the fact that it was just one entry, he could easily be judged under the category of soca,” she said. (AC)
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