Focus on development : 7/21/2009
When will the NCF remove itself from promotion and devote its resources to development of our cultural industries? It may well be time to hand the management of the Pic'o'de crop competition to the calypsonians and other stakeholders such as BATMAN to resolve some of these avoidable controversies.

: 7/21/2009
I have been in calypso for years and I have lost confidence in the system ever since. In 1982, I heard an official from the ministry of culture, at the time,stating on radio in a radio interview that Red Plastic Bag had to go to Finals despite all questions that were raised about him. Ask Adonijah about 1985 and what was said by the said 'Official'

Kill The Goose : 7/21/2009
I believe it is pure nonsense when law suits can arise out of a competition. You didn't buy anything to have a complaint about a bad product or you did not have an accident resulting in damage to personal property and self. Damages? Where the money coming from to pay any compensation? Out of taxpayers pocket? If so please put an end to the nonsense as not all taxpayers celebrate cropover. In competition, fair is fair and rules are rules but, there are no logical or moral grounds for a law suit involving compensation for damages. The only winners here are the lawyers and those persons who wish to see the death of a national festival. The losers would include all the the said calysonians who claim that they are the aggrieved parties. There would be no more "golden eggs".

SOUR GRAPES : 7/21/2009
For those "several people in calypso circles" who said that they had "heard the names in the exact order, days before they were announced" my question is why didn't they say or do something prior to the announcement of the 18 Pic-O-De-Crop semi-finalists. It would seem to me that if indeed these people are in "calypso circles' then they would have have acted beforehand to maintain the integrity of the institution rather than wait to now level these dubious charges.

NCF DEADLINE : 7/21/2009
If the allegations are true aboutthe following points then there is a dilemma: 1 persons knowing the exact order of the semifinalists before the last tent was judged. 2 Ronnie "the Announcer" Clarke being among the 18 and subsequently identified as "the reserve" Someone closely associated with the NCF is guilty. Nonetheless, if the chosen 18 decide to go ahead with semifinals then The Announcer must be allowed to participate.

Dissapointed Audience Member : 7/21/2009
I am so happy that this information has finally come to the limelight - it has been happening for years. Of course nothing will come of it for at the end of the day, my fellow bajans will say once their favorite artiste get a pick dem aint bothered. However, this just goes to show Barbados and Beyond that Crop Over is NOT about we the people but about the share-holders and who would draw a crowd to help fatten the pockets of these said share-holders.

NCF : 7/21/2009
Ridiculous. That is all I can say. How is it that at a national festival, this level of foolishness can occur? This whole thing is coincidentally coming right after the Minister of Culture talked about shutting down some of the tents next year. I always wondered what was the criteria but I guess now we know. If the general public wants to believe that the NCF doesn't know who leaked the scores by now they got cobwebs in the window of their brains. How do I know this? Simple: the results didn't fall from the sky. Somebody had to tell somebody. All that needs to be done is for the NCF to interrogate the calypsonians who got the news and find out who told them, but as we all know, the NCF is going to want to save face so we might never find out. The problem with that is that new and upcoming calypsonians (like myself) will lose faith in a system that seems to cater mainly to "big tents" and "big names".

NCF Deadline : 7/21/2009
All of this Controversy year after year with this festival. Soon it would be dead. So I wondering if Kadooment Day is still August 3rd, 2009.