{"id":3998,"date":"2017-07-08T19:36:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-08T23:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=3998"},"modified":"2017-07-23T17:34:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T17:34:45","slug":"controversy-as-performances-in-soca-quarterfinals-cut-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/controversy-as-performances-in-soca-quarterfinals-cut-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy as performances in soca quarterfinals cut short"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A former chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Festivals Commission today said he supports a do-over of the Party Monarch quarter-finals.<\/p>

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The names of the semifinalists were announced last night after two days of competition on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.<\/p>\n

But Cliff Williams who ran the festivals commission between 2014-2015 says a last-minute decision to cut the performing time to just 90 seconds is unacceptable.<\/p>

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\u201cIt is almost impossible for anybody to make a fair judgement listening to, especially a new song for 1min30sec.\u201d<\/p>

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Williams says he was talking as a \u201cvery experienced\u201d judge with over 12 years experience.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s impossible to listen to the first verse alone since, at that point, you are still getting into the various elements of the song.<\/p>

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Cliff Williams (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Writing on Facebook Williams said, “I hope that one day we can go back to judging than selecting. And go back to publishing exactly what the judges score than adjusting it to create what they want the show to be.”<\/p>\n

Close to seventy performers competed in the groovy and jumpy sections of the quarter-finals respectively.<\/p>

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Purist who didn\u2019t advance wrote on his Facebook \u201cat the meeting for quarter finals we were told me have 3.mins grace period of 10 seconds, now today on the day we get told we only have 1min 30secs, like seriously how can you judge by just 1min 30secs.<\/p>

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He added, \u201cthe competition done rigged before it starts they done pic their dam 20 to semis and who to finals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many other competitors also took to social media to voice their frustration over the reduced performing time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Festivals Commission today said he supports a do-over of the Party Monarch quarter-finals. The names of the semifinalists were announced last night after two days of competition on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. But Cliff Williams who ran the festivals commission between 2014-2015 says a last-minute decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nControversy as performances in soca quarterfinals cut short - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/controversy-as-performances-in-soca-quarterfinals-cut-short\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversy as performances in soca quarterfinals cut short\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Festivals Commission today said he supports a do-over of the Party Monarch quarter-finals. 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