The decision by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) to have three separate categories judged in the 2022 Junior Monarch Competition meets with approval from Head of the Barbados Association of Creatives and Artistes (BACA) …

The gospel artiste, under his NGO hat, described the move to add soca and bashment soca to the traditional calypso category as a progressive step, despite criticism in some quarters that children should not be encouraged to sing bashment soca because of the lewdness usually associated with it.

“I think that if you start bashment at that young level, you have an opportunity now to develop it and take it in the direction that you want to take it in,” Carter noted…

He also pointed out that it made no sense for the NCF or any other stakeholders to bury their heads in the sand and ignore that the youth are involved in bashment soca.

However, he was not in agreement with the decision to eliminate the age categories when the competition returns next month after a two-year break, and instead judge by genre only. (Read the rest of that story )