BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DESPITE not being as prepared as she would have liked, Queen Kibi snatched the crown at the first Female Calypso Bacchanal to be held in a number of years.
The show, which was held on Wednesday (Dec. 30) evening and formed part of the Sugar Mas 44 celebrations, was discontinued some years ago and was revived this carnival year.
On stage at the 17 Degrees compound, were five confident women, any of whom could have walked away with the crown. Queenie G, Lady Diva, Singing Jenny and Candy were the other competitors.
With the crown being won by Queen Kibi, Lady Diva, who was just one point behild her, was named First Runner-up and Queenie G was named Second Runner-up.
The Best of the Rest copmetition, which was won by Shango, and the Power Soca vs. Groovy Soca competition were also held on that evening.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Queen Kibi explained that both of her songs, one of which is titled ‘Make Those Strings Attach’ are not focused on ‘men’ as some have suggested, but are geared towards the empowerment of women.
“Most of my songs are to encourage women, to empower women. Everybody thinks that my songs are about ‘man’ but if you listen to them, you would see they are to encourage and empower women. So the female show has always been an outlet for me to display my calypso and being a female show you expect that kind of thing.
“…This thing is worldwide. You hear people calling girls ‘side-chick’ and it is ok to be called side-chick and ‘friends with benefits’. People turn off the emotions and it is just about sex and at the end of the day, no one really benefits. Because if you are left with a child, you might not suffer much but the child does. So the song is really saying women need to be stronger than that. For years we have been fighting to be realized as strong and as strong as men, but yet we allow them to say ‘you can be a side-chick’ and it is ok…and we accept that. We have lost a lot of our self-worth.
Around 2004, Queen Kibi won her last crown and 11 years later she has won another. Upon reflection, the calypsonian said winning this crown has done much to boost her level of confidence.
“This is my third female crown. I guess it feels good to be back in that circle again. I think it helped with my confidence; not being able to make it to the semis sometimes or even to the finals kind of made me feel uncomfortable…because I put my all into it.”
Her involvement in Sugar Mas 44 is not limited to the Female Calypso Bacchanal. She was a competitor in the Calypso Monarch competition but was not successful in making it past the semi-final round. She also wrote songs for two of the Sugar Mas 44 Junior calypsonians.
As for the future, the Queen told SKNVibes she would not mind entering a regional female calypso bacchanal.
