BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FROM a field of 12 competitors, Pink Panther emerged winner of Trinidad and Tobago’s annual National Calypso Monarchy that ended shortly after 2:00 a.m. yesterday morning (Feb. 8) at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
Kurt Allen was adjudged Second Runner-up and was followed by Heather MacIntosh.
Pink Panther, whose real name is Eric Taylor, pocketed the TT$1M cash prize following the two-round contest which saw him doing one anti-government tune and another in the form of a tribute to deceased cultural icons of his homeland.
According to information gleaned from www.trinidadexpress.com, “After the 12 contending artistes had completed their two rounds of competition, many patrons shared the opinion that it was a two-horse race between Kurt Allen and Taylor, with the former to come out on top.”
That media house reported that “there was a smile of contentment” on Pink Panther’s face following his announced win.
Furthermore, it was revealed that Pink Panther’s first song called ‘Travel Woes, “is a tongue-in-cheek ditty aimed at the government in which he accounts the problems he encountered after booking a trip to London via sea but can't see the ship anywhere in sight”.
Some of the lyrics were, “I see the scholarship, I see the sponsorship, I see the dealership, I see the ownership, I find the membership, some underhand relationship all around the partnership, but I can’t find the leadership."
In his second song, ‘Crying in the Chapel’, Pink Panther put “into song the recent deaths of Sonny ‘Mighty Power’ Francois and Seadley ‘Penguin’ Joseph, along with other cultural icons who have passed away, coincidentally, around Carnival time.”
Reportedly, Allen “delivered two solid performances” with his tunes ‘Political Sin Phony’ and ‘Black Stalin Say’.
MacIntosh sang ‘The Old Man’s Lament’ and ‘Invisible’.
The official results, posted by the Trinidadian media outlet, in the order of placement of competitors from fourth to 12th positions are as follow: Roderick ‘Mr Chucky’ Gordo (Bear With Me and The New Addiction); Karene Asche (Meh Pardna Ship and Eat Ah Food); Eunice Peters (None Of The Above and Keshorn D Javelin Champion); Duanne O'Connor (Building A Wall and Seeking Sparrow's Advice); Alana Sinnette Khan (No Moral Authority and Pathological); Dr. Hollis ‘Chalkdust’ Liverpool (Prodigal Son and Virginia's Alzheimer); Kizzie Ruiz (In the Age of Blog and T&T Forever); Marva ‘Marvelous Marva’ Joseph (Come Back To What and Woman's Contribution To Trinidad And Tobago); and Victoria ‘Queen Victoria’ Cooper (D Betrayal and Club 34).
