Hard Knaxx Undeterred

Details

Carnival

Wednesday, 08 August 2012 21:29

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - The 2011 Party Monarch winner Joel “Hard Knaxx” Lewis said he has no regrets about his performance on Saturday night, though he did not succeed in defending his title.

Hard Knaxx's high energy performance of “I Baba” had the crowd chanting and jumping but fell flat with the judges, who did not place him in the top three.
 

The artiste, whose hit song “Kentucky” also earned him the road march title last year, said he is proud of what he did on competition night.
 
"It was not a fluke. I am really an energetic young person, very confident and pushing Antigua to the world. All my songs are original, I didn't get any songs from Trinidad," he said with pride.
 
Hard Knaxx was outfitted like a zombie with his face painted black and white, while his dancers, some dressed as witches, "flew" onto the stage on a zip line for what he describes as the "Thriller Soca".
 
The song symbolised the rising of young artistes, Hard Knaxx said, despite attempts to keep them down, pointing to his exclusion from major shows in the lead-up to carnival as a prime example.
 
The artiste's decision to verbally hit back at some of his competitors drew strong criticisms from some who suggested questioning the sexuality of one of the contenders was in poor taste.
 
Asked about this, Hard Knaxx said: " It wasn't a low blow, it was a face blow. They were calling up my name."
 
His overall performance has earned him the praise of Minister responsible for Culture Eleston Adams who said, "He gained my respect even more after his performance on Saturday."

The minister informed that he has been made aware of allegations that Hard Knaxx was deliberately left out of the line-up for shows.
 
"I think this thing was brewing because of the situation with the CDC chairman. I have heard that Winter has been able to secure a lot of jobs this year, whether true or not, because O'Marde is his manager, while Hard Knaxx was not able to secure jobs," the minister said.
 
"I personally believe he should have appeared on one of the CDC shows."
 
Adams surmised this could have been due to a combination of good management by the Tian Winter team, and backlash from the Antigua public to Hard Knaxx's performance in Trinidad this year during the International Soca Monarch competition.
 
Meanwhile, the minister has commended the Carnival Development Committee, in particular the sub-committees, on their work during the just-ended festivity that saw most shows starting on time.
 

As attention turns to payment of artistes and service providers, Adams said he is hopeful the Ministry of Finance delivers the prize monies for carnival winners within the agreed period.
 
A three-month payment plan was arranged in April by the CDC and the Working Committee of Carnival Artistes Association amid protest by artistes over the issue of registration.
 
Adams said, "I think from the CDC perspective, it did what it ought to do to guarantee or to ensure that payments are made but the final decision is left with the Ministry of Finance. It will determine what time the monies are paid out."

• < Prev
• Next >