Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sharon’s sweet taste of success

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She is in love with Crop Over. Each year when the season rolls around you know that come hell or high water Sharon Carew-White will be involved, whether at the tent level as manager of House of Soca, or head of the lobbying body, The Alliance.
This is a love affair that began long ago.
“I did not grow up in a household where we went to calypso tents but I grew up in St Philip where my mother would let me go with a neighbour, and Mr Clarke took me down to the Stadium years ago to watch Red Plastic Bag and I remember when de bag burst and tears came down my face. I said, ‘Oh my God, he is not only handsome, but he forgot his words’, and I thought then I have to be a part of this. I was nine or ten then.”
So after her stint at the Barbados Community College where she pursued performing arts, Crop Over whispered in 1998, full of temptation this time. It was her tutor Yvonne Weekes, who, knowing her skill for organising, introduced her to Merle Niles, who would go on to become her mentor. Along with Ras Iley, Niles would introduce Sharon into Lion’s Den calypso tent.
This was a far cry from being at Bridgetown Market as a child where she had to help in her mum’s stall and would watch the bands passing down Spring Garden on Kadooment Day. But it would open doors to an experience that would be awesomely fulfilling in ways she never imagined.
Sitting in the cool of a huge tree on the Lears playing field, while her friends cheered on a local cricket match on the last lap weekend, Sharon shared her customary big smile. Tent season was over, even if Crop Over was not and she could now sit back and lap her feet for a bit, a luxury the season does not often afford.
“I enjoy this time of the year. This is the best time of the year. Besides Crop Over, what else goes on? Without Crop Over people wouldn’t be here. I have people at my house, at Hilton Barbados, at my mother. I enjoy walking on Bridgetown Market and running into people, with two fish cakes, going and looking for Cou Cou Village and getting the food. I love Crop Over, but I can’t [go everywhere] because as a producer or promoter you don’t get to all the events and that for me is a problem.
“There were days when there were 12 Cavalcades and I hit every one of them with my best friend Jan, and then drop in every fete, Wadadah on Wednesdays and still make it to work on Thursdays.”
Sharon said she believed people were friendlier and even amidst calypso rivalry, there was just something in the air.
“It is a different time of year, even with rain falling people still party. I don’t travel this time of year; I enjoy Crop Over, stay close to home.”
Another reason she stays close to home is that she has so many duties to perform. As tent manager, Crop Over planning actually starts from just after Kadooment Day, with a break for the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts in November. She is a judge there as well. Then, as the new year turns, she begins the Crop Over strategy meetings with her tent team, post mortems on events, workshops, retreats, and looking at marketing and sponsorship opportunities.
She plugged her team extensively for their commitment this season. Two weeks before opening, Sharon had to travel abroad and was dealt a harsh blow with the death of her brother from cancer. Determined to make her brother’s life a legacy they conceptualised a breakfast show with the Barbados Cancer Society as patron. It is an event they now plan to make annual.
The demands of the season are something she is now practised at dealing with and she still recalls when she first took over House of Soca in 2003 and spent the end of that season in tears because only De Hawk had made it through to the finals, placing sixth. Back then she came up with a vision. She brought in Popsicle and Jimmy Dan, and began recruiting young Junior Monarch talent like Sir Ruel, Shaki-K, Sammy G, Aziza.
“2011,” she answered confidently with a broad smile when asked when she had known she had crossed the “female manager” hurdle. “When we walked away with both Junior Monarch and Pic-O-De-Crop monarch crowns that year, people that I did not expect said, I saw what you were doing, your vision, well done, and for me that said you’ve made your mark, you crossed that bridge. From there it’s not been easier, but less of a challenge out there with the male chauvinists.”
“There’s been years like this year where you’ve only had one person in the Pic-O-De-Crop because that’s what you’re looking for. You are working for the recognition from everybody else. You decide yes, I can get it done, but you are waiting for the recognition from the rest of Barbados. So you are working for the Pic-O-De-Crop, you are working for Party, the Junior Monarch, you know, those titles because for me it is not the money. . . For me it is the title, the recognition that Barbados says this lady has marked her name on history’s page.”
What keeps her coming back? “The general love for it.”
But because she loves it does not mean she’s never had doubts. She’s told her right-hand tent mate, Ian Sealy, many times, “I done”. But Crop Over, hot like lava and as addictive as alcohol, keeps drawing her back.
“I will give it up. I can give it up,” she stressed. “There are not enough hours in the day to come here and watch cricket, not enough hours to go to the races [she is secretary treasurer of the Barbados Jockeys Association as well], but you try to be here, there and everywhere and still you have to look at your family life.
“For me, my daughter is part of stage crew, she has to be, but I couldn’t give it up. I can’t see myself without Crop Over. I keep saying as I get closer to 50 I would. I keep saying I’m gonna give it up or take a back seat and do something else, just offer advice.”
She has enough other activities to keep her busy, that’s for certain. Beyond her full-time job as payroll manager at C.O. Williams Construction, she laughed and glanced down almost self-consciously when asked about “spare time”.
“If I tell you, you will say I’m boring. I love to read and play Scrabble. I have a book club with three people, my girlfriend from work, Lisa and my other girlfriend Jan, we would exchange books. I don’t believe in reading on a tablet, I only do that if I’m on a plane. I still believe in a book where I can roll up and read my Eric Jerome Dickey. . . .”
As a cheer went up at the capture of another wicket on the field, the look on Sharon’s face is one of ease. It’s akin to another score for House of Soca, having claimed the 2014 Junior Calypso Monarch title and the Party Monarch title. It has not been an easy year, but it hasn’t been a bad one either. [Green Bananas Media]

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