Some might find it a little unfair to say that the field for Sunday night’s Calypso Monarch competition is stacked with dark horses. After all, past monarchs, queens, junior royalty and even a Road March winner are in the mix.
But calypso lovers and pundits have been saying, this entire season, short though it might have been, that absent from the fray have been artistes with the needed one-two punch to make people stand at attention.
While we’re not sure about the proclivities of betting men this season, we will continue to say that the safest bet to make is don’t bet on the judges.
The moral of the story is, the race is wide open, and the crown is anyone’s to take.
If you ask Calypso Subcommittee Chairman Fitzroy Quinland, he’ll tell you that the standard this year is, as we say in local parlance, “just dey.”
Actually, what he said was, “The standard is a little better this year than last year but not as high as we want it to be.”
Even so, he has his eyes on five people in particular, but if we told you who they were, that would fuel another round of contrived calypso controversy and cries of committee bias and all kinds of “wring ‘bout ‘tory.”
In any event, Richie Francis, with IMF (In My Face) and The Sufferer’s Psalm is looking really good on paper. But he’s been here before, as recently as last year, but the man will have to shake the habit of falling short on delivering the goods.
Going into the competition, all eyes are on De Bear, who made lemonade out of the sour lemons interests representing Justice Louise Blenman threw at him for De Judgment.
Sanitised after threats of a lawsuit, De Bear, who has since declared, “ah wan pauper me be,” modified the song, to end up with Don’t Sing Bout De Judgment. During the semi-finals, he whetted people’s appetite with a tease using snippets of the original.
Known for show time drama, many will be expecting more defiance on Sunday night from the 2007 monarch, who opens the batting in round one.
People will also be watching to see if Young Destroyer, a calypso king but never a monarch, can fight the demons that usually wreak havoc whenever he takes the big stage. His big stick is the ode to his recent woes, Time and Tears.
Two dark horses among the dark horses are Dr Principle, with Crafty Politicians and This Island, and Lyricsman, who has Rasta Government and Become What You Are.
Of course there is defending champion Zacari, who often manages to come from south, when people are looking towards the north, to claw his way into the winners’ circle.
Other contenders are Calypso Jim, Princess Thalia, Singing Althea and Kaseba.
The All Star Band will be in full swing.
Leave home your rags and flags Sunday night; only Jim jams, in a sample from himself, from his 2000 Road March hit Exercise, with Bring Back De Soca.
Other than that, it’s straight commentary all the way. That fact has been blamed for the diminishing crowd at the competition in recent years and has fuelled the debate that the monarch show should be bounced from the pride of place on the Carnival calendar.
But Quinland is defending the art form, although he has some advice for the competitors.
“Party Monarch has a big crowd because of the young people who gravitate to the soca and the faster beat. But if the calypsonians decide to go back to a jumpy tune – a Road March tune – for the second round, and their political song for the first round, you will find more people coming to the grounds. As it is, we are getting commentary alone and sometimes it bores people,” Quinland said.
Anyway, as we head into the big night, we will leapfrog Calypso Joe’s admonishment to the judges to “judge what you see and hear on de stage that night,” and tell all those who will allow the judges to spoil their J’Ouvert morning a la Onyan, “is foolishness dey chatting; dey don’t study the criteria for judging.”
DWL (Dead Wid Laugh).
Oh yeah, the winner gets a Chevy Optra and $7,800; first runner-up gets $24,000; second runner-up gets $20,000; and the unplaced calypsonians will earn $7,800 for their time.
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