Several students put on exceptional performances that wowed the audience when the Calypso and Dramatic Poetry final of the Children’s Mashramani Competition was held yesterday at the National Cultural Centre.
Though it got off to a slow start, the day saw enthusiastic performances from students from all ten administrative regions in four age categories: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13 and 14-17and in the areas of Calypso and dramatic poetry. The morning hours saw the 5-7 and 8-10 age groups taking the stage with great determination to please.
The day started with remarks from former minister of education Shaik Baksh, then the little ones aged 5-7 took to the stage to display their skill in dramatic poetry. There were no participants from Region One in this segment, but Bibi Hakim of Huis’t Dieren Primary paved the way for all the other regions with her piece “What Do You Think?”
Next the young stars took to the calypso segment. Sarah Fredricks of Mainstay Lake Primary wowed the judges and the crowd with “Let’s Unite”, which won her the first place trophy. She outdid the second and third place winners Erenilda De Souza and Grace Charles respectively who both showed the audience that they were more than capable of being calypsonians.
As the 8-10 Calypso category began the audience began to feel the excitement as the category’s first place winner Andre Thomas of Tapakuma Lake Primary presented his admonishing piece called “Pay We Teachers”. At this point many of the teachers stood up and joined the line which said “Pay We Teachers”. His performance beat out “Teenage Pregnancy” by Zaman Collins of Latchmansingh Primary and Maria De Souza of Santa Rosa Primary with “My Advice To Drivers”.
Concluding the morning session was first place winner Aaliyah Moore of Tucville Primary with an attention grabbing performance of “Children See, Children Feel” as her dramatic piece. It was followed by second and third place winners Onifa Pedro of La Retraite Primary with “Overseas Chat” and Jasmine Lall of Vryheid’s Lust Primary with “Dem Teacha” respectively.
Commencing the afternoon session, Juliza La Rose of Wauna Primary presented herself as a stuffed-up old woman resembling the masquerade woman ‘Mother Sally’ to do her piece entitled “Granny Discovery”. However, Marcia Saul of Tucville Secondary with her performance “ A Guyanese Thing” had the audience join her in her poem by responding with the phrase “It’s a Guyanese Thing”. The day could not close without someone targeting the teachers present. Third place winner, Julianna Gordon of Diamond Secondary did her thing on stage and warned the teachers of their sometimes lackadaisical attitude in her piece entitled “Abi Dese Teacha”. Deochand Bridgemohan’s performance of “Yuh Tink It Easy” won over the judges for second place in his category.
The final category for the day, the Calypso 14-17 had members of the audience on their feet gyrating to the performance of the final participant who didn’t hold anything back. However, no results were presented for this category. They are expected to be announced at the Choir Presentation ‘Salute To Guyana’ today at the National Cultural Centre.
After the day’s proceedings, participants, particularly those who left with trophies in hand, and their teachers both felt that the day was a productive one and are looking forward to the upcoming Mashramani events.
Convener of the Children’s Mashramani Competition Desiree Wiles Ogle said she thinks there is some amount of unfamiliarity with these forms of Guyanese culture. “I think the way in which the numbers decreased from the dance segment yesterday shows that persons prefer the dance to the calypso.” But she said the numbers are increasing and more interest is being shown now, when asked what she thinks of this year’s competition when compared to last year’s.
Simone Dowding, judge number two in the dramatic poetry segment expressed her love for the arts and said she feels happy to be a judge of such a competition.
During the course of the day, the audience was treated to a soca rendition from Travis Chase, a local actor who also doubled as a commentator for the afternoon half of the programme. Chase also had the crowd on their feet when he did a rendition of Charmaine Blackman’s latest release “Gi Dem Mo Fi Talk.”
