One Caribbean Music Festival: The Kartel Debate in Trinidad

Trinidadians are being chastised for not learning the lessons of the pandemic. Cultural Studies Lecturer Dr. Kai Barratt says the One Caribbean Music Festival featuring Dancehall artist Adija Palmer aka Vybz Kartel is a type of insecurity that exists in this country for foreign validation.

The organisers say the show which is scheduled for Carnival Friday, 28th February 2025 will feature 80% soca and 20% other Caribbean music. They also clarified that a video circulating online said to be Palmer signing his performance contract for the show is not an official video from them. They advise an official launch is pending.

Dr Barratt is a Trinidadian who lectures at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the University of Technology in Jamaica.

“I wonder if it’s about we don’t have that confidence in ourselves. We’ve created something that is magnificent, that is amazing…a festival that defines who we are, whether good or bad,” she said. “Putting Kartel there, and probably that’s a whole other discussion to assess what does Vybz Kartel represent, and how does that mesh with our own values as Trinbagonians?”

Dr. Barratt said there seems to be a narrative that commercial value is what is important, but she disagrees and suggests perhaps Trinidadians ought to embrace form of gatekeeping to keep the festival for us and by us.

The upcoming show will not be Palmer’s first time performing in Trinidad during Carnival. In 2010, he performed at Licensing Fete drawing huge crowds, many of whom had to be turned away at the gate. The show included performances from Bunji and FayAnn, Ronnis McIntosh and KMC who Palmer joined on stage for a performance of their song “We Going Mad”.

In fact, Palmer has a long history of collaborating with soca artistes, and some of those songs may be considered within the genre of soca. Including 2019 “Super Soca” with Machel Montano and their 2007 song “Hold You Tonight”. His dancehall song Bicycle Wine has a soca remix and features Bunji Garlin.

Commenting on the controversy is Dr Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, the Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Humanities and Education at UWI, Mona. She points out that there was similar consternation in Jamaica when Machel Montano was awarded the keys to the city of Kingston during the 2023 Independence Gala at Jamaica’s National Stadium.

She points out that dancehall is played widely in Trinidad, even during Carnival, but concedes perhaps if she were a Trinidadian, she may have found the Carnival Friday concert concerning.

However, Prof. Donna P. Hope has pointed out to a difference in the way Carnival evolved in Trinidad and was introduced in Jamaica. She explained the friction in Jamaica is rooted in Carnival and soca being seen as an upper-class thing. Even when there are similarities in dress and dance the reception to the dancehall variant can be overly negative, while the soca is tolerated.

As professor of Culture, Gender and Society within the Cultural Studies department at UWI, Mona, Dr. Hope has written extensively on dancehall culture and on the impact of Kartel in particular. She said the issue in Jamaica isn’t that they don’t love soca “We love soca, but its more about the power dynamics, how the power dynamics here in Jamaica and what is shown as more powerful, less powerful and the bashing that dancehall gets generally,” she said.

Guardian Media Limited reached out to the Minister of Culture, Tourism and the Arts Randall Mitchell for comment, but he did not respond. Earlier this year he had announced the return of the Soca Monarch competition to the Carnival Calendar, it is traditionally held on Carnival Friday meaning it would clash with the One Caribbean Music Festival.

The Promoters Association has commented via its advocate Paige de Leon who said “Carnival is about inclusivity, sharing, creativity and innovation. those are the values we espouse routinely as we ply our craft. We operate in a market driven environment, and we believe that stage of the greatest show on earth is big enough for all.”

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