By Raffique Shah
February 14, 2026

I don’t know why the average person who gets drawn into conversation or argument withdraws into the safety net of the age-old boundaries of song and dance, and revelry and scholarly epistles. The educated among us are the first to shelter behind banality as they pretend to know much about art forms that, in truth, they know little of.

This withdrawal behind battle lines is commonplace when one pretends to be an expert several notches higher than the person they are in discussion with. In my years of roaming the world, I have found this to be true of every ethnic manifestation.

If you should be there when such alcohol-fuelled discourse takes place, you will be treated to some terms, movements, and lyrics that their ancestors—had they been present—had their offspring learn as the truth. The higher their consumption of alcohol, the more outrageous their putative cultural display will become. What had started earlier as a lime on such days with a few friends and bottles of alcohol expanded during the course of the day into recital benedictions.

Everyone present is absolutely drunk and convinced that his usually well-connected political friends never lost focus on business deals that could be contracted in such environments, and may even enjoy signed contracts. Now, you may think that such forays into cultural freak-shows are the exception more than the rule. Surely our people have advanced beyond such boundaries and must now conduct such affairs in expensive upscale rum-shops? Wrong, on both counts.

Last week we saw a display of buffoonery by one minister, who took the people’s fete for a backyard bram, got on the mic and, in true “follow the leader” style, he began singing off chord, out of timing, screaming at his colleague, and pretending to be tone-deaf to the chorus of boos emanating from ­fete-goers.

What the minister does or does not do in public or in private should not really be our business, but he is a minister, handling millions of taxpayers’ dollars and public servants’ jobs. To add insult to injury, he claims he was not drunk, and there is a part of me—and I’m sure others, too—who hoped he was, which would be the only excusable reason for his asinine display.

A few years ago, another minister was caught on the outside on a Carnival Tuesday so drunk that he was staggering. I am a man with Parkinson’s and even I don’t stagger that much.

I don’t know how often I can continue to draw to the attention of the nation the deviant behaviour of a large number of public figures, especially politicians and others who hold high positions in public office. They seem to be not concerned with their ability to speak and write proper English. Whatever is said, and however it comes out, they are contented as long as they believe they have gotten their point across. Not so?

Besides their inadequacies in the English language, they do not recognise their duties towards their constituents, especially the young, vulnerable, and easily impressionable ones. Not only do they not feel any responsibility towards the education of the children living in their constituencies, but here we have a disaster in the making, increasing numbers of young people who neither know nor care about the language.

No wonder at this time of the year—Carnival—so many calypsonians have to focus on social and political commentary, constantly having to harp on the ills of society and being unable to inject some good humour into their renditions. And, when they do, they appear to be taking political sides and somehow never end up making it to the finals.

This year’s debacle with TUCO and the results of the recently concluded semi-finals of the Calypso Fiesta competition shows that public perception of political interference in competition remains intact. They denied us good comedy, which was a hallmark of calypso in years gone by.

In other competitions there were allegations of interference with the results, which have since been strongly denied by the promoters and organisers. Things have escalated to the point that even some soca stars have dropped out of competing or competition altogether. All this resulting from what they have termed blatant bias and unfair treatment.

The bottom line is: you cannot legislate culture. The British, French and Spanish colonisers all tried to censor and even ban calypso and mas. Our costumes lampooned them. A people are born with culture and ours is no different. Our art form rivals that of any other nation, and Trinidad will forever be the Mecca of Carnival as we know it.