BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Green Valley festive mood was in high gear last night (May 22) as the eliminations for the annual Calypso Finals was held at Upper Cayon.
Ten calypsonians competed for a place on the final night May 30, but only eight made the cut to advance.
The eight finalists include Queen Angie, Mighty Shotgun, King Godfrey, Mighty Floser, De Provoker, Mighty Piggy, Godfrey, De Priest and Mighty History.
Whether it was about crime, President Obama, or what their girlfriend told them, the calypsonians brought their wit and pleased the crowd of supporters as they are known to do.
The event commenced two hours after the scheduled 8:00 p.m. start, but the crowd was still eager for the ‘kaiso’ and cheered on a guest appearance by a junior calypsonian Calypso Leo who sang ‘I don’t want to grow up so’.
There were three newcomers to the competition: Shotgun, who sang ‘Festive Mood’; Mighty Various, who made everyone laugh with ‘De Donkey’, where the first line in the hook says “If you can’t ride a donkey then you can’t run this country”.
The other newcomer was the Mighty Piggy, who sang a calypso titled ‘Miss Trini’.
The reigning Green Valley Female Calypso Queen, Singing Angie, told everyone last night that she is the ‘Queen of Green’ while the Mighty History said he wanted a ‘Piece of the cake’.
De Provoker moved away from his usual witty tunes to speak of a serious issue that is affecting society in his song titled ‘Another Homicide’, while the Mighty Floser said he heard ‘Gun Shooting’.
De Priest told everyone what his girlfriend said in ‘Me girlfriend tell me’ while the Mighty Babu, one of the regular favorites from Green Valley, went ‘crazy’ onstage as usual with his song ‘President Obama’.
Rounding out the list of performers was four-time Green Valley Calypso King, Godfrey, who performed a song titled ‘Singing for me supper’.
Godfrey told SKNVibes that he did not defend his crown last year because of lack of rehearsal for the finals but he was coming back for what belongs to him this year.
“I come to take up what I put down, which is the crown…de crown is mine,” he said.
The reigning Green Valley Calypso King, Bra Bread, said that he sees this year’s competition an easy walk through as it was last year.
He told all the calypsonians last night that he was not going to back down, and he made a special guest performance singing ‘I am not a running king’.
Bra Bread has won the crown on two occasions.
The eliminations were judged by Chris Roberts, Troy ‘Biff’ Mills and Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett.
Nisbett told SKNVibes that he felt the calypsonians did a great job but needed more stage performance.
“I also thought that the band played a bit too hard and almost overpowered the calypsonians, but the music was superb and the singers still managed to do a good job,” he said. “The crowd was also good as well.”
This year’s committee for the calypso show is chaired by a former junior calypsonian Dominic Stevens, known in the calypso arena as ‘Chico’.
Stevens said this is his first time chairing of the committee and he was very pleased with the eliminations.
“I think the eliminations were of a very high standard and that the judges have their work cut out for them. For the finals, everyone can expect a high standard show. We have also lowered the price to attend the show and the new price is $25, while it was $30 last year,” he said.
Four of the six Miss Green Valley contestants made their appearance during the show, while the musical accompaniment for the night was provided by The Grand Masters Band.
