The Muffin Post

By Clement Ogarro

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts. An exciting set of Eliminations culminated with the selection of the long awaited sixteen (16) semi finalists for the LIME Sponsored St Kitts – Nevis National Carnival Calypso Monarch. The Eliminations produced the following Calypsonians who will be taking part in this year’s Semi Finals at Carnival City on Saturday December 19th, 2009: King Astro, Baker, Big Lice, King Dis N Dat, Godfrey, Hollywood, King I Sour Sop, Queen Kibbie, King Dwighty, Lord Kut, Mighty J, Quantash, Singing Angie, Singing Jackie, King Socrates, and Take Over, with Blazer, as a possible alternate Semi-finalist.

The Calypso Monarch round of competitions started on Sunday December 6th, 2009 with twenty (20) Calypsonians from the Tent of the Legends Band and continued with 24 Calypsonians from The Proud Sounds Calypso Tent, which were backed by the Grandmasters Band on Thursday, December 10th 2009.

The evening of December 6th started off with the nights’ MC Sandra B introducing Queen Kibie to sing Job Vacancy, a tune that really hit us “SMACK In The Middle” and included King Socrates, who needs no introduction and Calypsonians like Blazer, Turkey Killer, Provoker, King Dwightie, Big Edwards formally Slim Edwards, reigning Best of the Rest winner Queen Singing Angie, King Astro and Baker out of Nevis, much improved and crowd favorite Singing Pearline, Magoo, Lord Kut with another hard hitting composition, Zackie who as a first timer impressed the large audience with his tune “It’s My People”, then youngest Calypsonian participating in the Eliminations process – young Mighty J, and much more. There were simultaneous blessings, when King Socrates who operates the Legends Band (along with Nigel “Numpy” Williams) sang his piece called “Let Justice Rain”.

St. Kitts SE Peninsula

The Eliminations then moved to the legendary venue of De House, which was home of arguably St. Kitts top band of the eighties (80’s) and early nineties (90’), the GI’s Brass International. De House is home again to arguably St. Kitts top band of the late 1990’s to present, the Nu Vybes Band International.

The night of Monday, December 7th was delayed a bit by rain, leaving the crowd to wonder if it was a sign of something magical but, it was not to be. Some fifteen (15) Calypsonians was scheduled to perform and at the end only eleven (11) Calypsonians took part. The MC of the Proud Sounds Calypso Tent, Calypso Reggie, explained that, last minute rescheduling was the cause of the mix up that led to some Calypsonians’ no show.

Monday’s Eliminations was rescheduled from Tuesday 8th, to Wednesday, December 9th. Lord Matt opened the trial with his timely tune called “Badness Out Of Style” and Jungle Lion followed with “Same Old Slave” – a song that seems to utter we will always be slaves no matter what we accomplish. Honesty was followed by newcomer Sha Angel who paved the way for what turned out to be a blistering composition from Queen Singing Jackie called “Scares To Stars”. We then had Shango followed by Mr. Various – another newcomer with “O Land of Beauty”. The penultimate Calypsonian was Unexpected who did what was expected of Unexpected, when he brought the evening to an anti climax. Before Unexpected we had Big Lice with another hard hitter of the Eliminations called “No Apology”. RockaFella then brought down the curtain on the night’s segment of the Eliminations with “Wuk E A Wuk”.

Golf course near the St. Kitts Marriott

The evening of Thursday December 10th, 2006 was this year’s last Eliminations and saw Abba Lively taking the first pass with his tune “Half A Hug Head” and then Hollywood paid tribute to many of the Calypsonians who have hung up their Calypso Jersey”. Quantash with Murder Cry, Godfrey who was “Singing For His Supper”, Ayatollah followed him with “Save The Youths” and King Dis N Dat came on with “A Want A Bail Out”. Culturama King, King I-Sour Sop performed “Time Tell It” and the night ended with our very own Diego with “Wha You Day Pon”. Other Calypsonians on the night were LALA, Take Over, Pa-ULA, and Rollensha, yet another newcomer who impressed the lively audience, with a song entitled “Crime Rate.”
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See Christophe Harbour Development (St. Kitts) here.