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Crop Over lost its soul

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Crop Over didn’t accidentally morph into being tourism and fete centric. When Jillian Maryshow collaborated with the Barbados Tourism Authority in 1976, it was never meant to be just about heritage; it was designed as a tourist attraction, a spectacle to fill hotels and sell Barbados to the world. From the start, culture was secondary to profit. There is the saying, if you start wrong, you will end wrong.

Fast forward nearly fifty years, and Crop Over dominates our summer time, generates millions in economic value, and draws international attention. However, the blogmaster like many believe it should do more than entertain, it is a priceless opportunity to define and present who we are as Bajans. Crop Over has the influence to shape and affirm who we are as Bajans. A people who do not protect and nurture their identity are doomed to lose it. It seems an appropriate time to constructively evaluate the current state of crop over with all the talk swirling about Carifesta.

So what is Bajan identity? It is reported to be about resilience, creativity, and pride shaped by our history. It is the voice of calypsonians who turn satire into social commentary – Burn Mr. Harding, Sugar made us free. It is Tuk bands and the Landship, reminding us of our African heritage, the tortutois road travelled. It is community, storytelling, and the courage of ancestors who built culture from the ruins of slavery and colonialism. Crop Over should showcase that identity, instead it has become another Caribbean carnival or should we say Big fete..

mia mottley
Prime Minister Mia Mottley

Cookie-cutter fetes peddled by profit seeking private promoters have been prioritised. The government talks a good talk about preserving culture and expanding participation, yet budgets prioritise the commercial above going all in on promoting authentic Bajan expression. If we are seeking to hold players accountable Prime Minister Mottley’s name cannot go unmentioned. Munro-Knight sits in the Prime Minister’s Officer and we should not forget Mottley is a former Minister of Culture. It is interesting to note Mottley was a former minister of education and a former Attorney General to name two more. There is no escaping the conclusion that Mottley has significantly contributed to the challenges we are facing in all spheres of our society. Yet she walks like a colossus among us. Go figure.

Is it too late for Crop Over to rediscover its soul? Crop Over may still be able to reclaim a role as the heartbeat of our culture. When it first started there was social commentary, street fairs; Calvacades and many culture-centric activities, authentic performances that reflected who we were. Crop Over planners must revert to seeing Crop Over as a cultural anchor. Prime Minister Mia Mottley, NCF, Minister Munro-Knight, CEO Carolann Roberts, ‘promoters’, and cultural leaders must decide: if to let heritage remain sidelined while profit dictates the agenda, or make Crop Over the festival that defines and ring fences the Bajan identity.

Crop Over must be the outlet for unbriddled Bajan expression. It is not optional. It is survival.

If the festival cannot teach us, remind us, and celebrate who we truly are, what will remain for the next generation?

A visual of feathers, ‘wutless music’, money money money, a diluted story and an empty?

What are we doing?

Are we there yet?

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17 responses to “Crop Over lost its soul”

  1. Samuel S. Shank Avatar
    Samuel S. Shank

    Barbados crop over is not Bajan culture.
    Barbados never had any culture, crop over is a copy of Trinidad carnival.
    Crop over has become disgraceful and should be censored, as the way people behave is disgusting to many self respecting Bajans.
    Drunk and disorderly behaviour should never be encouraged.

  2. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    The State of a Nation
    Is equal to the State of it’s Mind
    Of it’s Peoples
    And It’s Leaders

    False Leaders
    Roman Emperors

    You can see the dysfuctionalism in USA
    Resentment against Immigrants, Diversity, LBGTQ
    Brainwashed Christian Fascism in full effect
    Copycat pretenders in UK, EU and around the world

    There is resentment against woke intellectuals
    enlightened like Buddhas and Christs

    I would say Mia is the Real Deal and Ralph is Snot
    despite the Bu spin

  3. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “…So what is Bajan identity? It is reported to be about resilience, creativity, and pride shaped by our history. “
    ~~~~~~~~~
    Who exactly ‘reported’ that fallacy Boss…?

    EXCEPT for a brief period between the 1950s and the 1990s, when a SPECIAL SET OF REAL MEN-LEADERS entered the picture, our identity was characterized by the ‘Barbados Slave Code’.
    It was an island owned by rich expatriates, who were exploiting the obvious natural wealth of the place, and it was populated with hoards of brainwashed brass bowls – whose accepted lot in life was to dutifully play the roles of topsies.

    Our ‘Culture’ was to do as Massa said, …and pretend to be happy about it – at the pain of rape, beatings, torture, and death. The most we could muster was to beat some shiite drums in code, and mek laughing sport in code – behind massa’s back.

    Shiite Boss, we were so ‘good’ at this slavery-mentality that the white people PATENTED the system and sold it to the USA – who then applied it to THEIR Blacks – and became the most powerful nation that EVER existed…

    The nostalgia that you recall about crop over coincides with the leadership of men like Barrow, the Adams, Crawford, etc… and lasted UNTIL OUR NATURAL MENDICANCY INSTINCTS retook control – culminating in the current beg, borrow, steal mentality that now prevails… under increasingly misguided (and indebted) leadership.

    …so PLEASE explain…
    Why would you expect Crop Over to be any different to NORMAL life in Barbados?

    The fundamental ROOT ERROR for Barbados was made by Barrow et al, who presumed that ‘education’ was the answer to sustained national development.
    Clearly it is not….. and NEVER was…

    What a place!

  4. David Avatar
    David

    The fundamental ROOT ERROR for Barbados was made by Barrow et al, who presumed that ‘education’ was the answer to sustained national development.
    Clearly it is not….. and NEVER was…”

    Managing people to achieve their best as individuals and as a collective is not an easy undertaking. There is nothing wrong with prioritizing education as part of our national development BUT it must be part of developing the very topic under discussion, culture along with good governance to manage the economy, our health, security etc. it seems like we are challenged to walk and chew gum at the same time.

  5. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “Managing people to achieve their best as individuals and as a collective is not an easy undertaking.”

    AMEN!!
    There is no greater challenge ANYWHERE.
    Getting it right calls for WISDOM… (for which there is only one source).

    Education is but one of the MANY key requirements…..
    while ‘eddykashun’ is what you get when you THINK that this is the key…

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    AI.

    ” The 2025 Barbados Crop Over Festival took place from July 5 to August 5, culminating in Grand Kadooment on August 4, 2025. This vibrant festival celebrates Barbadian culture and heritage through music, art, food, and street fairs, celebrating the end of the sugar cane harvest with the iconic Grand Kadooment.”

  7. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster has no issue with promoters and entertainment having a seat at the culture discussion table, BUT, theirs must not be allowed to be the dominant rh voice.

  8. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    When it first started there was social commentary, street fairs; Cavalcades and many culture-centric activities, authentic performances that reflected who we were.”

    @ David

    You’ve only NOW realised Crop Over “has become another Caribbean carnival or should we say Big fete,” and do you believe it’s fair to blame Mottley, without any consideration given to the stakeholders as well?

    To be fair, it is a bit unreasonable for anyone to believe Crop Over would maintain its original format from the 1970s…… into the year 2025.

    The festival has gone pass ‘street fairs,’ which were eventually banned because of violence, and ‘cavalcades.’

    ‘Social commentary’ calypsos are overshadowed by the ‘wuk up nonsense’ that often win its performers ‘people’s monarch’ crowns.
    Bear in mind, many of the radio DJs are also fete DJs, who prefer to play the latter genre, which targets a YOUNGER AUDIENCE, than the former.

    We also have to consider the concept of ‘cultural eclecticism’ as well, which some sources define as ‘the act of choosing and blending elements from various cultural traditions to form a new cultural expression.’

    Barbadians seem to readily embrace other cultures. DJs at our FM stations, for example, are more focused on playing Jamaican dub music, confining Bajan calypso to the few weeks of Crop Over, while Bajan music is reserved for November only.

    Music played at fetes, fairs and any other social events, even the stalls on the Mighty Gryner Highway during our NATIONAL FESTIVAL, is predominately Jamaican dub/reggae.

    Additionally, you mentioned, “a visual of feathers and wutless music.”

    For years people have been complaining that Kadooment costumes were ‘too skimpy.’ Former Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Stephen Lashley, disagreed, as long as those costumes DO NOT VIOLATE the LAWS of Barbados, it’s really not a problem.

    Some people would argue wearing skimpy costumes and wukking up to wutless music, “unbridled Bajan expression.”

    We have to accept that Crop Over will change to accommodate a younger demographic who, according to some sources, “often have DISTINCTIVE cultural trends, lifestyles, and consumption patterns, and are a key focus in sociological, economic, and marketing discussions because of their ROLE in SHAPING future norms and trends.”

  9. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Pretty in pink.lol

  10. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Wow! The comments here are truly mindblowing. Makes me wonder why I don’t wake up every morning wishing I were any place other than here. A quick glance at the world news answers that question.

    Every culture is a blend of other cultures. Why? Because the people of the world have never ever stayed in one place.

    To say that Barbados never had any culture is ridiculous! And to say that our culture was to bend to massa’s will without resistance is equally absurd.

    A glance into the history books would reveal that conquest and colonisation has been experienced by most of the world’s peoples. The problem with our African ancestors was that by the time Europeans got around to us, their weaponry and warfare had advanced beyond hand to hand combat. They could kill us en mass and from afar. Our ancestors were literally bringing knives to a gunfight. A fight to the death would have wiped us all out.

    So it was for the most part, retreat and plan for a more opportune time. Haiti was the first of us to make life difficult enough for the colonisers to convince them that it wasn’t worth it. And look how they made them pay! Still, they did make European colonisers rethink the sustainability of the system.

    Alas! The story of Barbados, and in fact, the story of humanity, is not a simple one, but we are still here and the struggle continues – EVERYWHERE, even among the populace of the colonisers, who are poor and misersble except in Scandanavia.

    I have had a pretty good life in Barbados. I have lived our culture, a blend of African, British and yes, the Spanish stuff borrowed from Trinidad. And until recently, I enjoyed it all. Wutlessness has always existed in most cultures. The problems began when the wutlessness here went mainstream, which it has in many countries.

    To quote my combattant The OG:

    “We have taken a turn for the worse.” But as long as we live there is hope. If we want it.

  11. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    En massE – the French connection corrected.

  12. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    https://nationnews.com/2025/08/27/caribbeans-stories-must-be-told-says-pm/

  13. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  14. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Carifesta.

    https://nationnews.com/2025/08/28/carifesta-xv-already-paying-off-says-pm/

  15. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Soul Providers
    Notting Hill Carnival is a black celebration of culture,
    but crowds have slowly become majority white / diverse
    same with floats artist performers and music
    Human souls are all about making connections
    It is revealed that humans are the only being in the universe known to have souls.
    A soul is described as “immaterial consciousness with quantum correlation that gains it eternal life.”
    Since animals and plants are living things, they have souls, but not in the sense in which human beings have souls. Our souls are rational–theirs aren’t–and ours are rational because they’re spiritual, not material. Animals and plants can’t do anything which transcends the limitations of matter.

  16. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    PM of Carifesta

  17. Crop Over Festival Loses Authenticity: A Threat to Barbadian Culture – E2E4.NEWS

    […] Source […]

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