Unhappy with song contest

My name is Perry Smith. I am a Caymanian musician and the lead singer for the band Los-Tropicanos. 

I was involved with the Pirates Week song competition last year, 2011, and was the third singer to perform. 

I performed to the best of my ability and my song was well arranged and recorded by my band leader, Burmon Scott. I did not attend a meeting that was held at the Pirates Week office a few days before the competition because I was off the Island at the time and was not aware that I could not leave the background harmony vocals on the chorus of my song. My song was taken to the Pirates Week office prior to the night of performing so that they would have it to prepare for the night of the competition. I could see that the crowd was excited with my song and performance and felt that I was going to be in the first or second place. 

At the end of the competition I realised that I didn’t win any of the positions and was quite discouraged seeing that this was my third year participating in the Pirates Week competition. 

I was informed right after the competition that two of the judges were upset with the results of the competition because they had given high scores and were expecting to hear that I was in the first or second position. 

On the night in question, I also noticed one of the organisers collecting all the documents with the scores from the judges and left the area. The first place position was given to one of his female singers, which in my opinion, is a conflict of interest. 

Several weeks after the competition I heard from friends that the organisers of the Pirates Week had disqualified me because I had background vocals on the chorus of my song, which were done by me. Until this date I have never been informed or received any notice from the Pirates Week office concerning me being disqualified and was never told on the night of the competition that I was disqualified. 

I was made to understand that there were some complaints made about the way in which the competition was handles and it was at this time that I heard that I had been disqualified. 

In the interest of the public, I would say that the director of the Pirates Week should not have allowed the organiser to get involved with collecting the scores from the judges, seeing that his band members were involved in the competition and that on the night in question I should have been informed that I was disqualified and the reason for being disqualified; not to be hearing it on the streets. I fee that if a complaint hadn’t been made I would not have heard anything about being disqualified. In the interest of the public, this person should not have been involved with this area of the Pirates Week and maybe it’s time to put someone else in that position. 

I would like the public to know that I am not pleased with the way in which last year’s Pirates Week song competition was handled. 

Perry Smith