The Grenada Professional Association of Calypsonians (GPACT) and Tents is going ahead with its preparations to stage the 2007 Groovy Calypso Soca Monarch Competition.

Word of this has come from the association's president,  Adrian "Persuader" Thomas. Two preliminary shows are due to be held at Natural Works in St. David's and at Fond Pasture in St. Patrick's on July 20 and 22, respectively. The semi finals will take place on August 1, with the finals on August 8.

The GPACT President is urging his members to prepare themselves for the 2007 Carnival season. He said the island is currently experiencing a major problem in sourcing musicians to play for the various tents.

According to Thomas, because of this problem calypsonians have little or no time in receiving adequate practice,  resulting in the tents not being able to stage shows."It becomes a frustrating process where it stifles the whole calypso artform. I would have thought that Cabinet would have taken some time to discuss that and see how they can help, rather than sitting down and discuss who should be judging," he said.

Thomas spoke of quite a number of calypsonians becoming frustrated due to scant courtesy being shown to them by  government. He said it is difficult for someone to produce effectively when he is doing something voluntarily for the development of the artform.

Thomas disclosed that a subvention of $10,000.00 was given for administrative purposes by government, in addition to $7,000.00 for each tent. Only three calypso tents are associated with GPACT. He called for the support of every Grenadian at this point in time to not only show their appreciation to the calypso artform but to let the outside world know how Carnival is being handled in Grenada with late preparation.

He also took issue with those people in charge who were lacking  in merit and were trying to control through the Grenada Carnival Committee (GCC)."It is time that we stand up and say enough is enough and that Carnival cannot be organised on a spontaneous basis," he remarked.

The GPACT boss cited the need for the year-round functioning of the Carnival Secretariat to plan the August festival. He feared that given the current state of planning Carnival is a recipe for its downfall, pointing out that mas, pan and every other activity relating to Carnival will all crumble soon enough..

"We can measure our downfall by the development of Carnival in St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, Trinidad, and how far we are at," Thomas said.