BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ONCE again Konris Maynard has demonstrated that not only is he the best calypsonian in St. Kitts and Nevis but also in the Leeward Islands, when for the second consecutive year he was crowned the Leeward Islands Calypso Monarch.
The event took place last night (Aug. 7) at the Landsome Bowl in Anguilla with SKNVibes’ Leslie ‘Sugarbowl’ Morton was the Master of Ceremonies, where Maynard made history by being the first calypsonian to win the title ‘back-to-back’ in the 14-year history of the competition.
Maynard scored a total of 818 points, singing ‘Mommy and Daddy’ and ‘Sleeping Tiger’, beating Anguilla’s recently-crowned Carnival Queen and National Calypso Monarch Singing Vinnie into second place; her first appearance at this level of competition.
Singing Vinnie gained 783 points for her two songs – ‘A Caribbean Unity’ and ‘Freedom’ – while third place winner King Socrates, St. Kitts-Nevis five-time and defending Calypso Monarch, tallied 739 singing ‘The Real Health Scare’ and a new composition called ‘No Reason At All’; the latter in which he addressed domestic abusers.
Maynard, who was crowned the Federation’s Calypso Monarch four times in a row, told SKNVibes “it is awesome…and to do it in a regional competition is indeed a humbling accomplishment”, when asked how he felt about his consecutive wins.
Although the recently-crowned Culturama Kaiso King, Astro represented Nevis well at the competition, he was beaten into seventh place. Other calypsonians who participated are Anitgua’s Da Bear, who scored 726 points and was awarded fourth place; BVI’s Luther B; Montserrat’s Kandie; USVI’s Kanfu Plentae; and French St. Martin’s Baker Junior.
In the first round, Maynard sang ‘Mommy and Daddy’ in which he addressed a situation where a beautiful young girl was sexually and physically abused by her father and whose mother refused to believe after seeing all the signs. Maynard said he chose to perform this song because it was a good social commentary and appropriate for this type of competition.
He sang ‘Sleeping Tiger’ in the second round; a song that he performed at the 2007/08 National Calypso Monarch Competition, which he said is about not judging a book by its cover.
“It implores people not to provoke others because we do not know for sure what their reactions will be,” he said.
He said over the past week and during competition certain calypsonians were issuing threats that he would lose his crown.
Maynard said he changed the chorus for ‘Sleeping Tiger’, which he refers to himself, and dealt with the threats as situations had arisen where people were taunting the tiger.
“I warned them that it is dangerous to mess with a sleeping tiger, an unassuming character who can at any moment lash out,” he said.
When asked if he was competing in the National Calypso Monarch Competition this year, Maynard said it was too early to say.
According to Winn FM’s Toni Frederick, who was at the venue providing live broadcast for her media house, most performers did very well in the first round but fell back considerably in the second.
She also said Maynard and Socrates “actually tied in that round [first] with 398 points, but Socrates, in the second round, was not as strong with a second new song”.
SKNVibes learned that King Konris Maynard will be returning tomorrow evening (Aug. 9) to St. Kitts and will be welcomed by senior government officials at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport, from where a motorcade will proceed in his honour.
