BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IT was a night of singing and performing in true kaiso style but at the end of the show only seven calypsonians advanced out of the 16 to the Calypso Senior Monarch out of the 16 competitors that sang last night.
They will compete against the reigning king, Pungwa on December 28 at Sugar Mill in Warner Park.
Former 4-time Calypso king, Konris Maynard who is back in the arena after a two-year sabbatical scored the highest with 507 points and made his way to the finals with songs ‘Oil and Water’ and ‘20/20’.
Big Lice who is not new to the finals scored 482 points with ‘Ain’t So Kaiso Go’ and ‘Enough is Enough’ while another calypsonian who is not new to the finals, I-Soursop scored 480 points with ‘Rebuild’ and ‘Tek Dat’.
In fourth place was Queen Anastasia who scored 477 points for ‘I Love Calypso’ and ‘A Feel It’, followed by Godfrey with ‘Who’s in Charge’ and ‘New Sheriff’ and in sixth place was Socrates scoring 452 with ‘Saving Grace’ and ‘Tighten your belt’.
The final calypsonian who made the finals with a scoring of 445 points was Takeover who performed ‘Commonsense in recession’ and ‘Ghetto State of Mind’.
The other calypsonians that performed were Ayatollah with ‘Writing on the wall’ and ’40 years’, Lady Diva with ‘Rock it’ and ‘De Good Citizen’, Rudder with ‘Integrity and Prosperity’, Singing Jackie with ‘My toast to you’ and ‘Looking in the mirror’, Zarkie with ‘No not we’ and ‘Am Charging you’.
Dwighty performed ‘Faded Glory’ and ‘40/40’, Ace with ‘Man Greatest Enemy’ and ‘40/40’; ‘Calypso Craig’ performed ‘Ready for the fight’ and ‘Back to Basic’ and Astro with ‘Wine’ and ‘Once Upon A Time’.
Musicians from both calypso tents Grand Masters Proud Sounds and Legends provided musical accompaniment for their respective calypsonians.
The show which was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. began about 6:45 p.m. which was still an early time compared to past shows. However, the intervals and other hiccups between artistes caused the show to run until after 2:00 a.m.
In speaking with some of the persons who attended the show about their feedback on the finalists, many questioned Godfrey’s placement in the finals. Some claim his place should have gone to new comer Rudder who was strong in both rounds.
Others also felt that Konris’ first song ‘Oil and Water’ was a bit week but that he shone during his second song ‘20/20’.
Konris also commented during his performance that he was happy to be back in the arena.
It was no surprise that Queen Jackie did not make it to the finals as her songs appeared to be weak this year.
Ace performed well with ‘Man Greatest Enemy’ which gave a strong message of how human beings are responsible for their own demise.
Ayatollah popularly known as the ‘Bad Boy King’ did not appear as strong as he normally does when competing, especially in his second song ’40 years’, while Socrates who is usually strapped with lyrics had the crowd moving with ‘Tighten your belt’.
I-Soursop performed well during both rounds and his second song ‘Tek Dat’ was well received.
Newcomer to competition in the calypso arena and semi-finals Lady Diva has a very popular song ‘Rock it’ which went down well with the crowd. However, her second song gave her some trouble as she seemed to have forgotten some of the words.
First timer in the finals, Mighty Takeover had a good performance with his first song ‘Commonsense in recession’ while the lone female in the finals, Queen Anastasia, in her song ‘I love Calypso’ touched on her past issues with the competition and calypso committee and said she is still in the arena because she loved calypso.
One of the largest crowds in semi-finals history came out to support the calypsonians and although some left as soon as the show ended some stayed until sometime after 2:00 a.m. for the results.
