Skip to main content

Why some young people do not participate in Crop Over

Posted Thu, 2010/06/17 - 1:10pm

WHEN ONE THINKS about Crop Over, the first thing that comes to mind is thousands of people dancing and enjoying themselves at Party Monarch and theCavalcades or revelers doing the same as they  make their way down the Spring Garden Highway on Grand Kadooment Day.

Crop Over runs all summer long, when secondary level and tertiary level students alike are on break from school and cannot wait to take part in the annual events.

However, not all young people get excited this time of year. There is, probably higher than most would think, a number of young people who have no interest in Crop Over at all.

When asked, some young people said they do not participate because it simply does not interest them, while others felt it to be mediocre, expensive, time consuming and gets very old very fast.

A few were of the feeling that all Crop Over is, is simply a time for people to exhibit inappropriatebehaviours, expose themselves in revealing “clothing”and engage in promiscuity without much thought of the consequences, since the general idea for Crop Over is, in essence, “Just Have Fun!” whatever your definition of fun may be.

Concerning their feelings about the costumes, the majority felt that they were too revealing, with one person seeing the only reason for them being so revealing as a means of enticing men, while another posed the question: “Who in their right mind, and respects their body, would jump in a thong?”  The issue mainly centred on the costumes women were expected to wear; no one seems too concerned with the men’s costumes.

There was however, one person who saw nothing wrong with the costumes since they “look like a bikini.”

And, like most other Barbadians, they felt that the costumes were repetitive with the only change being sometimes the colour (and not even always that) and the name of the section it is featured it.

Repetitive was also how they described the music of Crop Over.

Even though the music was described as entertaining and even funny,  (with the humor of some being rooted in their almost elementary lyrical simplicity) the general consensus was that the quality of music has decreased, many of the songs are annoying; three to four minutes of the same five lines being repeated over and over again and that the lyrics say nothing; every other artist is telling you to “jump and wave  “and “roll dat bumpa.”

The songs just aren’t catchy or entertaining enough for these flaws to be overlooked.

Pic of De Crop was singled out as the only event where real music was performed: “…it speaks about issues that affect us as bajans in a smart and lyrically sound way. The songs they [the Calypsonians] sing are actual songs that tell a story from beginning to end.”

In terms of representing our culture, a few thought that Crop Over does not  do that in way, form or fashion and that “it  has strayed tremendously from what our true culture is.” With on critic going so far as to say “If dry-humping in the road is our culture, then Crop Over represents that.”

For the two months that Crop Over lasts, it seems the only time that our culture is actually represented is on the two days of Bridgetown Market; when local crafts are exhibited and sold, stick licking competitions are held, dancers perform and other such events take place, as was the opinion of one young person.

Despite the fact that the majority of participants in Crop Over events are from the younger Barbadian population, not all of them find the festival quite so interesting or exciting. The opinions of these young people seem to reflect that of many other adults; Crop Over just is not working anymore and it is time that we took a step back, took a look at the festival and seriously consider making some changes.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)