PREPARATIONS for Mashramani 2013 was up and running; and last Saturday, the Mash Secretariat, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports, launched auditions to determine whom to shortlist for the competition next year. Judging from interviews conducted with those turning up for the Saturday audition, next year’s competition promises to be extremely riveting. The messages behind the songs coming from the calypso hopefuls are very appropriate.

Present at the Mash Secretariat when we arrived was seasoned campaigner Winfield James, who declared that his song, ‘Money’, is going to arrest the judges’ attention since it deals with the issue of money laundering, stealing, and other conflicts generated by greed.

Edward Perez, aka ‘Young Fyah’, representing the Essequibo Islands, was all excited to be in the competition again, and boasted that he is very determined to reserve a spot amongst the top three finalists. His song, ‘Local Foreigners’, deals with the amusing stigma attached to Guyanese “who have travelled nowhere, but have readily adopted the slangs, dialects, accents and lifestyles of foreigners”.

Eze Baird, aka ‘King Solo’, said he intends to wake up Guyana with his song, ‘Step Down’, which tells a vivid story of corruption and the need for immediate solutions.

Jamie Gordon, aka ‘Boss Stephens’, has this year brought a smooth sounding piece dubbed, ‘Youths of Today’, which compares the technology of yester-years and today.

Coming out of the SIGNAL Promotions (headed by Charmaine Blackman and Bonny Alves) are three selections, which Blackman claims has a “sure spot at the top of the ladder”. First up is Manuel Pereira, aka ‘King Perrai’, with ‘Blame Game; Dawn Edwards comes next with ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’; and Malcolm Corrica, aka ‘Lord Canary’, comes after that with ‘Now that I am Alive’.

Martin Bryne, aka ‘The Mighty Voter’, has a selection that he says “will spark fire in de place”. Entitled ‘Let God Be the Judge’, his song deals with the episode wherein a prominent official was alleged to have raped a young girl and declared, ‘Let God be the Judge’.

Newcomer Daria Barrow, aka ‘Queen Dairy’, brings to the platter ‘Hammie said don’t blame me’, which tells the horrid story of the irresponsible dumping of garbage in the city.

While the following calypsonians were not on spot for interviews, information received from the Mash Secretariat suggests that in the competition, too, are several artistes who are known for ‘hyping up the event’. Those include Sweet Kendingo, Kaiso Kid, Calypso Stella, Bright Colours, Ras Marcus and Queen Maceeba.

Meanwhile, plans are ongoing for the 2013 Chutney Competition, for which a meeting will be hosted tomorrow. That meeting would entail discussions between officials of the Mash Secretariat, the Culture Ministry, band leaders/owners, and persons interested in entering the actual competition.

The winner of next year’s Chutney Competition will automatically be selected to represent Guyana at the National Chutney Competition in Trinidad.