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Top soca acts blank Soca Warriors
- at Wednesday’s farewell game at Hasely
Crawford Stadium |
| By
SHARMAIN BABOOLAL |
SOCA
stalwart Maximus Dan -- who composed the official Soca Warriors
anthem blanked the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF)
and refused to perform at Wednesday’s farewell to the Germany-bound
national team, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
Dan, whose mega hit, Fighter, was included on the coveted soundtrack
for the million-dollar seller game FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 for
X-Box 360 and PlayStation 2 was joined by soca queen Destra Garcia,
Rikki Jai and 3Canal, all of whom were scheduled to perform prior
to the friendly international against Peru.
But as a mark of protest against the “disrespect” from
the TTFF’s liaison officers, the top billed soca acts failed
to show under the terms of a hastily made arrangement that was finalised
at the Exodus Panyard on the night before the game.
Soca bard Iwer George, who, on the day of the game pledged his solidarity
with the protesting artistes also changed like chameleon and strutted
his stuff along with Shurwayne Winchester and newly-crowned chutney
king, Falco, on Wednesday afternoon.
Apart from a drastic reduction in fees that were paid during the
qualifying round of the 2006 World Cup Campaign, Maximus and the
others complained they were treated with utter disrespect.
It is all tied in to the decision by the local football federation
to sell the bulk of tickets for the farewell game to Corporate sponsors
who, in turn, were expected to sponsor artistes.
However, even while the others stayed away, Dan, whose real name
is Edghill Thomas, went to the Stadium, “despite what took
place between me and the organisers”.
Speaking with TnT Mirror on Thursday evening, the hugely popular
soca star insisted that “money is not an issue with me, I
want to make that clear.
“But, I am contending that even though they decided to drop
the price that they were paying us to perform, the least they could
have done was to ensure that we were comfortable,” he thundered.
“I definitely wasn’t comfortable with the arrangement
and my managers wanted to pull out.
“I had no intention for the others to pull out as well.
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Hurt
soca star
MAXIMUS DAN:
Total disrespect
from TTFF.
RIKKI JAI ...
joined in mark
of protest.
DESTRA GARCIA ...
was scheduled to
perform.
SHURWAYNE
WINCHESTER ...
didn’t support
protest action.
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“Be that as it may, they made their own decisions.
“In the qualifying rounds I usually worked for a fee of TT
$4,000 with an arrangement that the price would increase, especially
out of respect for the fact that I was on board for the long haul.
“Imagine for all the pre-qualification games we had no big
stress and those were times when we performed in the Stadium before
sparse crowds. We were indeed the drawing card for some of the games,”
Maximus added.
“In the beginning, which is just about two and a half years
ago, I was working with Jeffrey Wharton Lake and Peter O’Connor
and my management team had absolutely no problems.
“They were clearly more professional in their approach in
that we had our passes, fees and even the time of performing tied
up; even it was on the last day before the performance.”
“Destra Garcia, Shurwayne Winchester, Denise Belfon, Bunji
Garlin and I were no strangers to that line of work and we never
had problems with the TTFF or their liaison staff.
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“However
in the week prior to Wednesday’s farewell game against
Peru I was not too sure about whether I was performing; if
so, at what time and all the other arrangements that go with
that,” Dan pointed out further.
“In fact, there was no information forthcoming and I
called a couple of people who told me that things were being
organised and that we will get to know the details as the
time grew closer to the game.
“Well, we were invited to a meeting at the Exodus Panyard
on the night before the game (Tuesday) when they eventually
said that I would get one pass; which is really a ticket for
the uncovered stand and a pass for the carpark.
“In the past couple of years I have been moving with
my management at different venues, for many professional reasons,
as an artiste.
“I do not know the price that was negotiated by my management
and it was never about price, but about respect.
“Indeed, you must make it clear that I will perform
for free,” he emphasised.
“For example, I would like to state that when the TTFF
asked for me to call a price for this song Fighter which is
the Soca Warriors anthem -- I said zero dollars and zero cents,”
the soca star explained.
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3
CANAL, like MAXIMUS DAN ... stood up for
principle.
Chutney
bard FALCO with back-up artistes
CRYSTAL and CRISTIN with IWER GEORGE,
all whom switched sides.
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“This is not about being bigger than the game, however, I
have to stand up for my rights, first as a person, and more importantly
as an artiste who wants to keep up a standard in the industry.
“If it is that when I worked for the TTFF in the pre-qualification
time when they needed to make money there was never a problem with
our performance fees and passes, why then now that we have qualified
and the sponsors are pouring in, the TTFF is slighting us?
“It is kinda weird to me,” he said.
“They also explained that they asked Corporate TnT to buy
tickets for artistes and hence they had to give out sparingly.
“Well, I don’t try to make things complicated, so I
opted not to perform. I got a couple of complimentary tickets from
bmobile so I sat in the stands and watched the game.
“I would have even stayed at home and looked at it, because
nobody will doubt my support for the Warriors and TnT. It’s
not who’s more important than who.
“I made a contribution to be part of history but the way they
dealt with us it makes me feel that they do not care anymore.
“It’s like they are saying ‘okay’ we qualify,
so it is not important to deal with the issues like organising things
properly and showing respect.
“The artistes have been a significant part of the pre game
show: they are Soca Warriors anyway,” Maximus noted. Meantime,
in the light of government’s tardiness in putting together
a cultural contingent for Germany, Angostura -- a subsidiary of
CL Financial -- has snap-ped up the island’s best performers
for it’s show in Germany.
Destra Garcia and Atlantik as well as Maximus will be under that
umbrella.
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