CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – IT was a display of high-quality performance by all contestants of the TDC-sponsored Senior Kaiso Finals last night (Jul. 31) at the Nevis Cultural Complex. However, despite his superb showmanship and excellent props, the judges decided that I-Soursop was no match for Astro upon whose head the crown now sits.
Supported by a very large Kittitian contingent, I-Soursop, the defending Kaiso King, thrilled the capacity crowd with his opening piece – ‘A Mother’s Pain’. He had the necessary props to support his message in that song and had seemed to be on the verge of retaining his crown. However, in the second round, singing ‘Cross Roads’, he faltered and the judges awarded him 813 points and the Second Runner-up position; a decision that many patrons felt was unjustifiable.
On the other hand, Astro made no mistake in his two renditions – ‘Crusade’ and ‘Jungle’- and he also had very good messages in both songs. In addition to his superb stage performance, he displayed a very high degree of consistency, excellent voice control and clarity. These positive attributes seemed to have been the major factor in the judges’ award of 863.5 points for the veteran Nevisian calypsonian to be crowned the 2010 Culturama Senior Kaiso King.
Astro’s closest rival was Dis ‘N’ Dat, who tallied 820 points singing ‘Proud Nevisian’ and Give God the Glory’. Also a veteran of the art form, Dis ‘N’ Dat performed excellently and targeted I-Soursop in an additional verse of his second rendition.
He implied that I-Soursop, a stranger (Kittitian), who won last year’s competition, went to Anguilla to represent Nevis at the Leeward Islands Calypso Monarch competition and made Nevisians looked small, based on his poor performance. He also called on calypsonians to put aside politics and bring back the “cream of the crop and no soursop”.
I-Soursop also included an extra verse in his second song and fired back at Dis ‘N’ Dat. He noted that calypsonians on Nevis are not professionals and he is better than them, especially Dis ‘N’ Dat.
The crowd loved the banter and I-Soursop added that Nevisian calypsonians were crying for sympathy and belonged to a particular political party. He also noted that over the years, many Nevisian calypsonians had won that particular competition but they had never contributed in the art form by giving back to the community as he did during his one-year reign.
I-Soursop had made history in the twin-island Federation in 2009, when for the first time in 35 years a Kittitian was crowned Culturama Senior Kaiso King. Following his success at that competition, I-Soursop had held two Coke Zero-sponsored workshops for junior calypsonians in Nevis, where he guided them on how to compose, arrange and perform calypsos, among other areas of the art form.
The other calypsonians who had made it to the Finals are Hollywood, Baker, Queen Kibby and Pupa Wheeler.
According to some members of the bumper crowd, even though the four calypsonians did not place, their performances were good and last night’s show could be termed as the best in the 36-year history of Culturama.
The 2010 Culturama activities continue tonight with the Miss Cultural Queen Pageant in which Verna Grante, Trevicia Adams, Mary Wangui Ngunjiri, Deslyn Dore, Te-Shell Sutton and Ulinda Warner will be competing for the coveted crown.
