International judges to be part of judging panel for finals
The organizers of the 2009 Calypso finals will have to include international judges in the panel for this Monday’s local competition. This was necessary following a poorly attended workshop and the ongoing disrespect for the local judges. "We are nearing a catch 22 position where it concerns judging of calypso on St Maarten. After every competition members of the public is overly critical and antagonistic towards those who volunteer to be judging and with the same breathe we are now having potential judges not wanting to officiate because of this; stated Toontje Buncamper of the Sky is the Limit Foundation. The incident that took place last Tuesday only exacerbated an already difficult situation. We could only manage to convince three persons to attend the second judging workshop held this past week; Buncamper stated.
After serious deliberation, the organizing committee decided to have half the panel of judges for Monday evening consisting of international judges. "There is a lot riding on this local production; major sponsors have contributed significant finances, a live regional broadcast will be done via Caribvision throughout the Caribbean and the calypsonians have gone all out to ensure that they put on a quality performance. We cannot afford not to have a strong judging panel in place; the organizers explained. As such the chief judge from Grenada, the Chief judge from Trinidad and a judge from Anguilla will be brought in over the weekend to assist with the adjudication of Monday’s competition. A total of seven judges will form the panel with one functioning as backup along with the Head judge. "It is obvious that judging calypso is a difficult process and it will take time for us to have a large pool of well trained judges; stated event coordinator Rolando Tobias. He explained that the intention is to continue educating persons on the judging dynamics and emphasized that future workshops will also focus on making the public and calypsonians more aware of the calypso judging criteria.
Billed as the biggest local calypso show in St Maarten’s history The 2009 Senior Calypso finals will be held at the festival village on Monday starting at 8.00pm with live broadcast on caribvision and Cable TV channel 20.