Roger ‘Young Bill Roger’ Hinds has lost his Calypso crown to Lindener, Lester ‘De Professor’ Charles, who left the Demerara Park on Friday evening $600,000 richer.
De Professor, who was contestant number seven, drew the support of the audience with his winning song, “God Don’t Sleep”. He sang about the mishaps of the government and their “wrongdoings” which will be ultimately “judged by God”.
He highlighted ex-commissioner of police Henry Greene (now deceased) and Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Roger Luncheon. While some in the audience gyrated in their seats, a section of the crowd moved to the foot of the stage to dance and frolic while he was performing. He was the only contestant to have this support.
From what began as a rainy evening, the 2013 Mashramani Calypso Competition, sponsored by Banks DIH and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport finally kicked off an hour later than its scheduled starting time of 20:00 hrs. This delay was brought on by lighting faults on the stage, which had the technicians running back and forth as the frustrated audience sat in the drizzling rain complaining that they had all day to set up.
At 21:07hrs the audience of approximately 2,000 people finally saw Master of Ceremonies Malcolm Ferreira walk on stage to open the Calypso Finals. Mingles Sound Machine was the band of the evening and Banks DIH took the advantage of the night to showcase its red and gold Mash Band costumes designed by local designer, Olympia Small-Sonaram and entitled ‘The New Frontier.’
Guyana’s 2013 Junior Calypso Monarch, Niossi Alsopp sang her winning song “Drama School” and there were other performances by Abigail James, the daughter of Guyanese Calypsonian, ‘The Mighty Intruder’ and Trinidadian Calypso Legend, Winston Henry, commonly known by his stage name ‘The Explainer’ who was celebrating his 66th birthday and 40 years as a calypsonian. He also served as a judge on the panel which included Sean Bhola, Cecil Semple, Margaret Lawrence, Andrea Mentore, Basil Bradshaw and Keith Campbell.
As the competition got underway, Queen Dairy emerged with her song “Hammie Seh Don’t Blame Me!” Her costume was a dress made of bits and scraps of garbage and a banner displaying ‘Garbageville: Former Garden City.’ Her song which was highly favoured by the audience spoke of the neglect of the city.
Donna ‘Princess Patricia’ Jones came out dressed as a police officer to sing a song entitled, “De Police”. She greeted the audience with the words, “I solemnly swear to serve and ‘tek’” which caused laughter and served as an introduction to her performance. The song highlighted the abuse and mistreatment suffered by the common citizens by the police and she concluded by stripping off the uniform as she walked off the stage saying, “I don’t want to be a police anymore”. The audience applauded in support.
Estelle Simpson, better known as her stage name ‘Calypso Stella’ walked on stage dressed as a professor to sing “De System is Wrong” which said that the Ministry of Education’s automatic promotion and the no corporal punishment are raising a generation of delinquents which will cause Guyana to be in a poorer state than it is now. The audience sang along and gave hearty applause to show their agreement at the end of the performance.
Seventy-five-year-old Malcolm Corrica better known as ‘Lord Canary’ came out wining and shaking to sing “Now that I’m Alive” which had the crowd laughing to see him gyrate at his age. He sang about the disrespect to and neglect of elders by the young. “Give me what I deserve//Now that I’m still alive//Age is not only a number//It is also an honour,” he sang.
Martin ‘The Mighty Voter’ Burn sang “Let God be the Judge” which was about the wrongdoings of the late Henry Greene. Although Voter’s crisp white suit and sky blue shirt was eye popping, his song seemed to be a bit of a bore. But the message was well taken. The highlight of his performance was a skit showing a ‘fat’ police officer chasing several women.
But no other song was as memorable and hilarious as Queen Makeba’s (Karen Bennett) “Is Man”. Dressed in a shimmering, cream outfit with gold jewellery, Makeba sang about the “eye-pass” to women as more and more men are searching for homosexual relationships. Her charge to the women of the audience was to make sure their men were “truly manly”.
After De Professor’s winning performance, contestant number eight – Linden Thomas came on stage to sing “Hey Bishop”, a commentary on Junior Minister of Finance Juan Edghill’s infamous controversial statement that if Jesus were in Guyana for the 2011 General Elections he would have voted for the PPP. The audience applauded with glee after the performance.
“Wrong Place, Wrong Time” sang by Donna ‘Lady D’ Edwards focused on the ruthless attacks on civilians by the police force and the Guyana Defence Force. Her song made the statement that perhaps everyone was at the “wrong place at the wrong time”. She came on stage wearing an armoured costume and had several skits performed during her performance showing the “inhumane behaviour of the officers”.
Sweet Kendingo (Rudolph Kendall) was attired in all five national colours with written markings displaying the three major political parties: PPP, APNU and AFC. He sang “Let the Country Move On”, which was a charge to the political parties to stop the gimmicks and work towards a more prosperous Guyana. The song did not go down well with the audience who appeared bored but still applauded to show their support.
The final performance of the evening was by Young Bill Rogers who still holds the Chutney Monarchy and National Health Song title. His song, “This Country Was Never Like This” was about the neglect of the governance, social and economic values of Guyana; the mindless killings of civilians, drug trafficking, corruption and rising domestic violence and suicide rates. In a comedic line he mentioned that the Chinese and Brazilians are now having more rights than Guyanese. He addressed the neglect of Georgetown and his pivoting point was the lack of resources and promotion for the Calypso competition because of the criticisms bombarded on the government. The song was definitely a crowd favourite.
At the end of it all, Lady D and Queen Makeba tied for third place. Second place was awarded to Young Bill Rogers and the Calypso Monarchy went to De Professor.
Charles expressed gratitude and praise to God for allowing his angels to guide him to the finals. “I am really thankful to God and I am really proud of myself,” he said. He described the competition as more challenging than the others where he was crowned victor in 2009 and 2011.
“Hats off to my fellow Lindeners for always supporting me, but I mostly felt comforted by the people of Georgetown. The support and encouragement I also got from them were overwhelming. They were really by my side and throughout the competition they tried to keep me motivated some were even praying for me,” Charles said.
He said that on stage, he was very prepared and confident since he knew in his heart his message was true. “The message was clear and I expressed how I felt through the song, although I was given a lot of support and was very confident, I was also a bit timid. But to overcome all of that I said a lot of prayers and I gave it my all,” he added.
Asked how he felt to be dethroned, Young Bill Rogers said: “I think that I performed to the best of my ability. I had a good song. I executed it well. The diction was clear and my fans told me that they had me to win it but of course it was not in my hands. I had the crowd with me and they supported me well, but Professor had good support from Linden. This is his third crown and previously mine too; so it is like we share it every year. I am a champ in my own right. I have been participating for 20 years and will continue to do so because I love Calypso.”
