The top regional female calypsonian is once again Chrystal Cummings-Beckles-Holder of Barbados.
The Bajan singer took the Regional Female Calypso crown for the third time on Wednesday, December 29 at the Festival Village in Little Bay.
Eight singers from across the region vied for the title, including local favourite Silvina ‘Kandie’ Malone.
Despite the critics who thought Beckles-Holder was not the top singer this year, the show was one of the best of the Montserrat Festival season, with an above-average crowd for this burgeoning competition.
Upon her return to Barbados, the singer who also composes most of her songs said she wanted to see similar changes to the judging criteria. “Praising the judging system in Montserrat, Chrystal said the criteria, consisting of lyrics – 20 points, melody – 30 points, rendition – 20, and personality – ten points, was broken down even further,” according to Nation News.
The winner took home prize money totalling EC$ 10,000, $6000 for second place and $3000 for the third spot.
The final results for the competition, which was ably MC’d by Radio Personality Basil Chambers are as follows:
Winner – Chrystal Cummins-Beckles-Holder (Barbados)
2nd – Shaunelle McKenzie (St Vincent & the Grenadines)
3rd – Roxanne ‘Roxxy’ Webster (Anguilla)
4th – ‘Queen Kibi’ Willett (St Kitts)
5th – Morenika ‘ Shakiya’ Charles-Arrindell (St Maarten)
6th – Temisha ‘Caribbean Queen’ Libert (USVI)
7th – Silvina ‘Kandie’ Malone (Montserrat)
8th – Menell Deleces (St Lucia)
