Jensen La Vende

Se­nior Re­porter-In­ves­tiga­tive

jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

So­ca artiste Neil “Iw­er” George has sparked con­tro­ver­sy with his in­clu­sion of the Na­tion­al An­them in his Car­ni­val 2024 re­lease, “Hap­py Peo­ple”.

The song, which he co-wrote with Ken Mar­lon Charles (KMC), is three min­utes and 16 sec­onds long and be­gins with a ren­di­tion of the Na­tion­al An­them. It in­cludes a call from the artiste to “send dem Tri­nis hands in the air” as he in­tro­duces the hook.

Since its re­lease the song has re­ceived 43 likes and 3,581 views, in ad­di­tion to at­tract­ing out­rage on so­cial me­dia.

Yes­ter­day George and Charles did not re­spond to calls for com­ments on the an­gry so­cial me­dia re­ac­tions to the song. How­ev­er, re­tired Brigadier Gen­er­al and for­mer na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty min­is­ter Carl Al­fon­so said the use of the lyrics of the Na­tion­al An­them, which was writ­ten by the late Patrick Castagne, was dis­re­spect­ful.

“I can’t say it is il­le­gal, but I can say it is be­ing dis­re­spect­ful. I don’t know if he is go­ing to be ar­rest­ed for singing the An­them like that, but it cer­tain­ly can be deemed dis­re­spect­ful. I haven’t read up on it to see if it is il­le­gal. I know the flag has a flag eti­quette that goes with it,” he said.

Al­fon­so said he sus­pect­ed the lyrics of the Na­tion­al An­them were in­clud­ed in the song to gen­er­ate a buzz amd to pro­mote it.

“This is go­ing to cause some waves. I don’t know if that is the in­ten­tion, but it is go­ing to cause some ex­cite­ment among the pop­u­la­tion,” he said.

“Some young­sters will jump and wave and what­ev­er and us old­er guys, once you’re over 50, I sup­pose, you’d want to re­spect it in a cer­tain way.”

Some com­mem­ta­tors on so­cial me­dia won­dered whether they would be ex­pect­ed to wine or stand still while George’s ver­sion of the An­them played, while al­so chal­lenged the list­ing of KMC and George as writ­ers of the song when the An­them takes up 46 sec­onds on he track.

Pres­i­dent of the Copy­right Mu­sic Or­gan­i­sa­tion of T&T (COTT) Cur­tis Jor­dan said the Na­tion­al An­them is a work com­mis­sioned and owned by the Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go and on­ly the state can raise an is­sue of pos­si­ble copy­right in­fringe­ments.

“Since the copy­right be­longs to the state and is not un­der COTT’s purview, I would not be able to com­ment on that spe­cif­ic mat­ter. There are laws per­tain­ing to the use of na­tion­al sym­bols and em­blems and if there are any in­fringe­ments then the state will deal with it ac­cord­ing­ly,” he said.

Cul­ture Min­is­ter Ran­dall Mitchell said he was not aware of any law that spec­i­fies the pro­to­col re­quired for the play­ing and recit­ing the An­them but point­ed out that it must, by con­ven­tion, be ac­cord­ed the ut­most re­spect at all times.

“The an­them’s “forged from the love of lib­er­ty” is a source of pa­tri­ot­ic pride for cit­i­zens and the long-es­tab­lished pro­to­col should be treat­ed as sacro­sanct. In this in­stance, the place­ment of the words to the Na­tion­al An­them in the song “Hap­py Peo­ple” breaks with the well-es­tab­lished pro­to­col, is in poor taste for which cre­ative li­cence could be no ex­cuse,” Mitchell said.

This is not the first time there has been crit­i­cism over a ren­di­tion of the Na­tion­al An­them.

In 2019, then Pres­i­dent Paula Mae Weekes crit­i­cised the way it was sung sung at the clos­ing of Car­ifes­ta. In a so­cial me­dia post, she said an “un­ac­cept­able ren­di­tion of the an­them was per­formed and that the an­them must be sung with the orig­i­nal mu­sic.”

Weekes al­so said then: “No in­tro­duc­tion or co­da can be added, or oth­er artis­tic li­cence tak­en in its ren­di­tion. The of­fence is com­pound­ed when it oc­curs at an of­fi­cial func­tion. Our na­tion­al an­them, like our flag and coat of arms, iden­ti­fies us as a na­tion and must at all times be ac­cord­ed the ut­most re­spect.”

The of­fi­cial page of the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent (OTP) states:

“The Na­tion­al An­them should be ac­cord­ed the re­spect due to it when played, and on no oc­ca­sion should it be treat­ed with scant cour­tesy. While it must be played in the orig­i­nal mu­sic, the pitch, speed and tone can be changed. When the an­them is be­ing played, all per­sons should pay re­spect to it by stand­ing to at­ten­tion.”

“Men in civil­ian dress should re­move their head­dress. Com­mis­sioned Of­fi­cers of the Armed Forces, Gazetted Of­fi­cers of the Po­lice Ser­vice, Cadet Force Of­fi­cers and Of­fi­cers of the Fire Ser­vices, Pris­ons Ser­vice, St John Am­bu­lance Brigade, Red Cross So­ci­ety, Boy Scouts As­so­ci­a­tion and Girl Guides As­so­ci­a­tion, in uni­form are to salute. All oth­er ranks and all oth­er per­sons are to stand to at­ten­tion.”