If calypso is the poor man’s newspaper and a reflection of what is happening in the nation, then this year’s calypso season is a red alert that things are not going well in Montserrat.
This year, only saw 21 competitors in the Calypso Eliminations and without many of the calypsonians we have come to know, love, and expect to see not entering, it has not been as competitive or entertaining as previous years.
There was no Cupid, Tabu, De Bear, Khandie, or Maxcine in this year’s competition. Red Ride did not come home to compete, and Ice Man and Baptiste no longer perform for religious reasons.
One man who you could count on to bring his A-game, is the multi-crown monarch Keithroy “De Bear” Morson. However, he chose this year to focus on the soca competition.
“I came back to Montserrat (from competing in Antigua) to try to raise the standard of the calypso. And in my view, instead of the Calypsonians, or let’s say the judges and the organisation try to get themselves up to my standard, they seem to want to bring me down to their standard. I decided to leave them with their fight, you know, and go and enjoy myself and stop worrying myself with the calypso,” Morson told Discover Montserrat.
Performing as De Bear, Morson captured the 2024 Groovy Soca Monarch title with Just Like Dat.
“I just wanted to enter and enjoy the soca and that’s what I did. It’s less competitive and it already has a good standard and I’m just going there to make it a little better if I can. Calypso is my genre and it’s a fight, so I decided to leave it alone with them.”
Tonight, the nine finalists will compete against Garnett “Sylk” Thompson, the man who took the crown from De Bear last year. Will he be able to retain the crown, or will one of the new contenders take it from him.
Showtime is 8pm. Listen on www.zjbradio.com or via pay-per-view on bakanal.tv.
