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New ‘Vizion’ for Kurt
By Laura Dowrich, Guardian 02.11.04

In January 2001, it seemed as though everything that could go wrong in Kurt Allen’s life did, all at once. His grandmother, whom he had grown up with, died; he had the threat of a lawsuit hanging over his head; and his reputation took a public beating. Then he disappeared and rumours swirled that he had retreated to another Caribbean island to lick his wounds. Now, two Carnivals later, Allen is back in the spotlight, happy, smiling and
willing to put that fateful Carnival behind him.

“I was upset, very upset,” he said in a recent interview, recalling allegations that he had demanded 50 per cent of Denyse Plummer’s earnings for the calypso “Heroes.” Allen penned the patriotic song, which scored Plummer victories at the National Calypso Finals and the Calypso Queen Finals. Soon after,
media reports surfaced that Allen was demanding half of all Plummer’s bounty. While the monarch’s side of the story was reported at length, Allen, except for one radio interview, kept silent. “I didn’t see any reason to say anything. I knew the truth, COTT knew the truth. I really didn’t want to contribute to the bacchanal,” he said.

The truth, said Allen, is that he has never charged anyone for a song he wrote. It’s just not something he believes in doing. “I do not believe that as a writer or composer I should charge someone 50 per cent of anything. When I started singing, no one charged me for a song,” he said. It was Plummer’s attorneys, he claimed, who suggested the payment for her use of the song. The matter was eventually settled with Allen receiving an
undisclosed portion of Plummer’s winnings.

Today he insists he has no bitter feelings towards Plummer. But when those stormy waters calmed, more bacchanal ensued as Calypso Rose threatened to sue Allen for a line in the “Heroes” calypso that said she had breast cancer. “Rose has contributed so much to this industry. If I could do it all over again, I would find a different way to say what I said, but I was responding to something I saw in the newspaper,” said Allen. While the experiences were eye-openers, he stressed they weren’t responsible for his disappearance off the Carnival radar.

Allen said a year before the controversy, he decided to take a rest because he was having a lot of vocal problems. He parted ways with Roy Cape Kaiso All Stars, the band he sang with in 1999 when he won the soca monarch title with “Dus Dem.” He had a six-month stint with Atlantik, then went solo in 2001.

Since then Allen has been touring the Caribbean and performing with Caribbean Vizion, a group of musicians whose aim is to foster regional unity through the arts. This they do by working through the education system in each island, going to schools and educating children about issues affecting the region, such as AIDS and tourism. Allen’s 10-year-old daughter Chocolate is usually the feature act.

Vizion, a volunteer organisation, is Allen’s brainchild and was formed in 1994. Things really got off the ground in 2001, though, and now, while the band, a group of 12, is the core of the organisation, there are hundreds of members registered,
he said. Among these members are St Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony and St Kitts Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

Both men are staunch supporters of Caribbean Vizion, said Allen, to the extent that Anthony is petitioning Caricom for funding for the group. Displaying a folder with letters of endorsements from various Caribbean ministers of government, Allen said the group has been operating without funding but receives support from Caribbean Star and sustains its trips by selling educational
CDs which it makes.

Allen said personally the 2001 controversy hasn’t affected him, but has even helped him professionally. He said since then he has had calls to write for calypsonians throughout the Caribbean. And with local curiosity rife about his whereabouts — some people going so far as to claim he had joined a cult, Allen said laughingly — he decided to get back into the calypso arena.

He is one of the more entertaining acts at Calypso Spektakula this year with a social commentary entitled “Crime Stoppers.”
His other selection is a political commentary called “No Co-operation,” Whether or not he is selected to compete for a calypso title is of no importance to Allen, who said he has grown artistically over the years to the point that he is even writing plays.

In fact, he said, Caribbean Vizion is working on a regional sitcom featuring among others, Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose and Kenny Anthony. It will be funded by the St Lucian government and regional distribution is being sought.