Several artistes were incorporated into the program Sunday night in rendering their voices to the opposition cause in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The artistes — Gregory Olive, Clem Bailey, Chanique Wright and I-Mad — offered their voices in gospel and calypso at a town hall meeting, at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center in Brooklyn, featuring St. Vincent and the Grenadines Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin Friday, president of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP).
The town hall meeting was organized by the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines Progressive Organization of New York, popularly known as SPOONY, the NDP’s New York affiliate.
Calypsonians Bob MC and Jeffery Providence were also carded to perform but, for some inexplicable reason, did not do so.
Wright, who led the National Anthem of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, at the beginning of the 3 ½- hour program, belched out “Thank You, Lord” from her recently-released CD.
Olive offered “Over Me Last Night,” and Bailey completed a high-octane “Unfinished Task.”
But the artiste, who was unapologetically very political was “I-Mad,” whose real name is Paul Scrubb.
Scrubb, an occasional competitor in the Brooklyn-based Dynamite Calypso Tent, the lone Vincentian calypso tent in North America, is an ardent NDP supporter and constant antagonist of the incumbent Unity Labor Party (ULP) of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves.
As expected, his controversial lyrics and commentaries often take digs at Gonsalves and the ULP.
“Our leader is an honorable and decent man, who’ll take the country forward,” said Scrubb about Dr. Friday before singing, in calypso, “I Want My Country to Win.”
“The NDP will take our country forward,” he added. “Right now, we’re sitting in quicksand. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is going nowhere.
“But, this time, we’re going to get rid of that regime down there (the ULP administration in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Scrubb continued. “Tell them (to) call (general) elections, and they’ll find out.”
Friday’s theme song, the legendary Bob Marley’s universal “One Love”, was played prior to and after the opposition leader’s hour-long address.
The program was broadcast live on radio in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and streamed on the Internet.
