THE battle for the Calypso Monarch title is on as the names of 11 finalists seeking to dethrone reigning monarch Terri Lyons, have been announced.
Lyons was in the audience at the history-making Calypso Fiesta competition on Saturday. Four women and seven men have advanced to the finals. Aaron Duncan has also been named as the reserve.
[caption id="attachment_1000868" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Reigning Calypso Monarch Terri Lyons enjoys some of the performances at Saturday's Calypso Fiesta at Skinner Park San Fernando. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]
Among Lyon’s competitors are two former Monarchs, Karene Asche and Roderick Gordon, as well as the NWAC 2023 Queen, Tameika Darius.
The return to the newly refurbished Skinner Park after two years was historic in many ways.
History was made as Calypso Fiesta 2023 set the stage for the first resident of YTC, Romel Lezama, known as Papa Mel, to debut with a powerful testimony of his journey as a young man who was “bad like crab” obsessed with “badness” but turned his life around behind the Walls of Renovation, his offering.
The nine-time YTC Calypso Monarch did not make it to the finals but secured a place in the hearts of many calypso lovers as he urged others to live well and not allow time to run out on them and do nothing.
[caption id="attachment_1000869" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Machel Montano pose for photos with fans at Calypso Fiesta at Skinner Park San Fernando. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]
Duane O’Connor and Ta’zyah O’Connor were cemented in Skinner Park history as the first father and son to compete in a Calypso Fiesta competition.
Ta’zyah, one of the debutants and youths making the transition from the junior calypso platform to the senior category, has advanced to the finals.
Calypso Fiesta over the years has become associated with nation-building songs, social and political commentaries usually sung in a slow beat. Under the leadership of the Ainsley King-led Trinbago Unified Calypso Organisation (TUCO) which managed the show, the park created the platform for a variety of up-tempo lyrically potent offerings.
The inclusion of soca artistes Olatunji Yearwood, an X Factor contestant and past Groovy Soca winner and Hall of Fame singer and writer Mical Williams (Mical Teja), brought a certain amount of energy to the crowd in the late stage of the competition.
[caption id="attachment_1000870" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Austin "SuperBlue" Lyons performed at Calypso Fiesta as a guest artiste at Skinner Park San Fernando. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]
Ezekiel Yorke, another newcomer advanced an interesting view on being human as opposed to being a human being with a lyrically strong composition also titled Being Human, to secure one of the final spots.
So did veteran Maria Bhola who grabbed the attention of the audience and the judges with a thought-provoking take on the “outside woman.”
A lyricist, Bhola strongly executed her advice to the outside woman to bring a little donation when they “borrowin
