Sorry for....

... my not letting you know about the fantastic time we( de Rhode Island, Toronto, and Brit crew) had at Soca Royale last Sunday at Bushy park, St. Philip! By now you know that the big big winners are Biggie Irie with his Pankatang and Gorg with Meh Rum in the Sweet Soca and Party Monarch competitions respectively! I had too many domestic issues to deal with this week. Anyway doing an island tour today, and this week is the climax of the Festival starting with Soca Titans tonight at Bushy Park and the Calypso Monarch Finals at Kensington Oval tomorrow night. Will update you on the weekend, so in the meantime continue to enjoy August as much as possible! Oh, and congrats to Kirani James of Grenada for his gold in the 400 metres at Commonwealth Games in Glasgow!

Another Enjoyable Crop Over Weekend!

Last Friday night at Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium it was kaiso fuh so as eighteen calypsonians tried their best to get selected by the judges to compete at the PIC-O-DE CROP CALYPSO MONARCH Finals at Kensington Oval on Friday August 1st!

Here are the finalists in the MQI/BANKS/LIME Pic-O-De-Crop:

TENT	ARTISTES
All Stars Calyso Tent	De Announcer
All Stars Calyso Tent	Kid Site
All Stars Calyso Tent	Miguel
De Bg Show	Biggie Irie
De Bg Show	Classic
De Bg Show	Mikey
Headliners Tent	Adrian Clarke
Headliners Tent	Blood
Headliners Tent	Chrystal Cummins-Beckles
RESERVE
De Big Show	John King
House of Soca	SammyG

On the Saturday night the judges awarded the young calypsonians at the same sports complex. 

The top four of the Junior Calypso Monarch competition and the winners of the Best Soca Song titles are as follows:

8 - 12 CATEGORY
STAGE NAME	NAME	SONG	POINTS
Raanan	Raanan Hackett	No Daddy	453
Dynamo	Asher Murrell	Don't Count Me Out	408
Black Beauty	Liana Ifill	Day by Day	387
Jade	Jade Grant	Tribute to Kerry-Ann Ifill	359
Kiki Boo	Keonai Walker	Don't Behave So	Awarded Best Soca Song

8 - 12 CATEGORY
STAGE NAME	NAME	SONG	POINTS
Sammy G	Samantha Greaves	My Tribute	441
Ah Dee Lah	Adela Payne	De Letter	415
DJ	Daryan Jordan	Rude Boy Anthem	413
Nubian Queen	Moesha Daniel	My Song	411
RJ	Rickardo Reid	School Boy Jam	Awarded Best Soca Song

The prizes awarded to these top juniors are:

- For the Best Soca Song in the 8-12 category Kiki Boo received a cash prize of $1000, and an OBIMAX 7-inch Tablet presented by CEO of the NCF, Mr. Cranston Browne and Mr. Hefe Archer of De Deal Centre respectively;

- 4th place, 3rd runner up, Jade - received $750 and an OBIMAX 7-inch Tablet presented by CEO of the NCF, Mr. Cranston Browne and Mr. Hefe Archer of De Deal Centre respectively;

- 3rd place, 2nd runner up, Black Beauty - received $1000 and a Samsung 7-inch Tablet presented by the Chairman of the Board of the NCF, Mrs. Maureen Graham and Mr. Hefe Archer of De Deal Centre respectively;

- 2nd place, 1st runner up, Dynamo - received $1500 and an OBIMAX 10-inch Tablet presented by Mr. Irvine Griffith of IGM Stage Lighting and Mr. Hefe Archer of De Deal Centre respectively;

- The 2014 Scotiabank Junior Calypso Monarch in the 8-12 category, Raanan - received the coveted trophy, a cash prize of $2000 and a Samsung 10-inch Tablet presented by the Honourable Stephen Lashley, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Mr. Roger Archer of Scotiabank, and Mr. Hefe Archer of De Deal Centre.

The judging panel for the Scotiabank Junior Calypso Monarch in association with IGM Stage Lighting included Liesl Gaye Gajadhar - Chief Judge, Andy Williams, Capt. Alfred Taylor, Sheldon Hope, Jennifer Sealy and Gillian Cadogan. 

(These results are taken from www.barbadoscropoverfestival.com)

Next weekend will be another exciting one; so hope to see many of you at the 40th Anniversary of Crop Over Monarchs Concert at the National Stadium on Friday night, Junior Kadooment on Saturday morning and afternoon at the same stadium, the Crop Over Evening of Folk at the Frank Collymore Hall in Bridgetown, and Soca Royale at Bushy Park, St. Phillip!

Pantastic Weekend!

Another most enjoyable Pan Fusion  at Ilaro Court that started  at 8 p.m. on Friday night with a great session by the Royal Barbados Police Force Band and Pan Extreme, followed by the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra from Carolina, then some Banks Soundtech Steel Orchestra, and ended with Earl Brookes Jr. of Trinidad jamming ever so sweetly with Arturo Tappin and band. Relaxing on the grassy slopes under a full moon with several genres of music emanating from talented musicians on two stages is simply put - a beautiful thing! To share this with family and friends is a wonderful feeling! This annual event of the Crop Over Festival just gets better and better every year. The coordinator added Mighty Gryner, Lil Rick, and Red Plastic Bag for the "after party" which I missed since I was rather satiated with the previous outstanding performers after four hours, but was told that the patrons who stayed had a great time on the dance floor in front of the main stage!
For those of you coming down this week you may still catch some of the calypso tents, and you definitely want to take in the Visual Arts Exhibit at three locations in Bridgetown. So far I attended the well presented "Big Show" tent (featuring Mac Fingall, John King, Serenader, Classic, Mr. Dale, TC, Natahlie, Adonijah, R.P. B., Biggie Irie, among others) in the Sea Rocks Dome at Barbados Beach Club, and viewed outstanding pieces of art at the Grande Salle of the Central Bank and at the Spirit Bond Mall near the Wickham Lewis Boardwalk by the Careenage.
Pan Pun De Sand was another beautiful experience earlier this evening! Didn't get to its annual location at Brandon's Beach  until near sunset, but it wasn't too late to be thrilled to the sounds of Olakunde, Mosaic, and Massey Allstars (with about thirty members from its larger Trinidad orchestra). Mikey and R.P.B. was ably backed by Mosaic but only sang one song each. At 8:30 tonight the pleasing sounds of the Allstars were still heard as we walked along Spring Garden Highway back to Bridgetown.
I am looking forward to the  Pic-O-De-Crop Semi-Finals at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium this Friday night and the Junior Calypso Monarch Finals on the Saturday night at the same Wildey venue. Pleasing music, good performances, beautiful works of art mean that it is another Crop Over Festival progressing nicely! Come soon my cosmopolitan friends!

Some Results of the Various Music Competitions in the Caribbean and Canada!

The semi-finalists named in the Barbados MQI/BANKS/LIME Pic-O-De-Crop to be held on Friday July 18 at Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium are as follows:

TENT	ARTISTES
All Stars Calypso Tent	Aziza
All Stars Calypso Tent	Cher
All Stars Calypso Tent	De Announcer
All Stars Calypso Tent	Donella
All Stars Calypso Tent	Kid Site
All Stars Calypso Tent	Miguel
De Big Show	Adonijah
De Big Show	Biggie Irie
De Big Show	Classic
De Big Show	John King
De Big Show	Mikey
De Big Show	Serenader
Headliners Tent	Adrian Clarke
Headliners Tent	Blood
Headliners Tent	Chrystal Cummins-Beckles
House of Soca	Sammy G
The Experience Tent	Apache
The Experience Tent	Billboard
RESERVE
Headliners Tent	Colin Spencer

JUNIOR CALYPSO MONARCH FINALISTS for show at the Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Complex on Saturday July 19,2014!

8 - 12 CATEGORY
STAGE NAME	NAME	SONG
Black Beauty	Liana Ifill	Day-by-Day
Dynamo	Asher Murrell	Don't Count Me Out
Jade	Jade Grant	Tribute to Kerriann Ifill
Jatanya	Trezelle Alleyne	Brand Name
Kiki Boo	Keonai Walker	Don't Behave So
Mighty Makeda	Princess Thomas	Calypso I Am
Ranaan	Ranaan Hackett	No Daddy
Star-Fire	Karia Campbell	Proud To Be Black
RESERVE
Sugar Apple	Asha Hoder	Litter

13 - 18 CATEGORY
STAGE NAME	NAME	SONG
AH-DEE-LAH	Adela Payne	De Letter
De MC	Chad Montplaisir	Get It Out Ya Head
DJ	Daryan Jordan	Rude Boy Anthem
Jamal Slocombe	Jamal Slocombe	Come Together
Mighty KT	Kymorhi Trotman	A Child’s Plea
Nubian Queen	Moesha Daniel	My Song
RJ	Rickardo Reid	School Boy Jam
Sammy G	Samantha Greaves	My Tribute
Sparkle T	Teri Willimas	Sparkle T

FINALISTS of SWEET SOCA and PARTY SOCA COMPETITIONS held at Kensington Oval.

These finalists will face the reigning Sweet Soca and Party Monarchs on the MQI/98.1 Soca Royale stage at Bushy Park, St. Philip on Sunday, July 27.

They finalists are as follows:

SWEET SOCA
ARTIST	NAME OF SONG
Biggie Irie	Pankatang
Ian Webster a.k.a. iWeb	Doin' Me
Brett & Khiomal	Right Now
Lorenzo	Mad or Wha
Mikey	Next To The Rope
Mistah Dale	Stressless
Red Plastic Bag	Rollercoaster
Sanctuary	Mega Monday
RESERVE
Imani & Biggie Irie	Get Over

PARTY MONARCH
ARTIST	NAME OF SONG
Blood	Road
Chrystal Cummins-Beckles	Pantuk
Gorg	Meh Rum
iWeb & Khiomal	Terror
Kirk Brown	Energy
Mikey	No Shame
Mistah Dale	De Dawg
Shaquille	Release
RESERVE
Faith Callender	Lock It

Please see www.barbadoscropoverfestival.com for more results and news!

FINALISTS for CALYPSO COMPETITION of The ORGANIZATION OF CALYPSO PERFORMERS (OCPA) in CANADA! 

The popular Calypso Monarch competition’s preliminary round was held July 4^th, 5^th and 6^th. A panel of judges chose eight singers from the Tropical Rhythms, The Professionals and Kaiso Forum calypso tents. The ‘tents’ are a series of shows that are held every summer and feature the latest songs from many of the top calypso and soca singers in Canada.  The highly-anticipated ‘Kaiso 365’ Calypso Monarch finals takes place this year on Saturday, July 26^th at the P.C. Ho Theatre, Chinese Cultural Centre, 5183 Sheppard Ave E., Toronto, Ontario.

Eight finalists will join last year’s winner Macomere Fifi, each performing two new songs in hope of winning the ‘Kaiso 365’ Calypso Monarch title.

The finalists are:

1. Susan G (Susan Grogan)
2. Yellows (David Morgan)
3. Webb (Hamilton Alexander)
4. Panman Pat (Pat McNeilly)
5. De Carra (Leslie Carrabon)
6. Macomere Fifi (Tara Woods)
7. Guney (Guney Cedeno)
8. King Cosmos (Henry Gomez)
9. Beginner (Michael Moore)

The ninth reserve: Connector (Joel Davis)     

Award-winning arranger Ossie Gurley will lead a 9-piece house band and the host for the evening is storyteller, Itah Sadu. Special guest from Britain is Sheldon Skeete, 2013 U.K. Calypso Monarch.

Tickets for this event can be purchased in advance for $40. (plus service charges) or $45 at the door. Limited seats available so get your tickets early.

Tickets are available at www.ticketgateway.com at select outlets.

 LUCIAN CARNIVAL CALYPSO MONARCH FINALS

These are the calypsonians who will go up against reigning Monarch Menell in the final round  of Lucian Kaiso on Saturday July 19th. Note that Denis James who has been a Calypso Monarch of Canada is in these Finals for the first time! Please see www.luciancarnival.com for more results of St. Lucia's Carnival.

1. Achiever
2. Ashanti
3. Denis James
4. Educator
5. Hitty
6. Herb Black
7. Invader
8. Nintus
9. Walleigh​

​Admission: $30 in Advance | $40 at the Door

Ticket outlets: The Cell outlets and Sunshine Bookstore

Date: 

Saturday, July 19, 2014 - 20:30

Venue: 

Beausejour Cricket Ground, Gros Islet

VINCY MAS RESULTS 2014!

JUNIOR CALYPSO – PRIMARY SCHOOL

NAME OF STUDENT	SCHOOL	TITLE OF SONG	POSITION
Tia ‘Singing Tia’ Wyllie	New Prospect Primary	Save the environment	1st
Kristian ‘Lil Kris’ Christopher	Layou Government	You are my hero	2nd
Cha-chanie Morgan	New Prospect Primary	Let’s work together to build this country	3rd

JUNIOR CALYPSO – SECONDARY SCHOOL

NAME OF STUDENT	SCHOOL	TITLE OF SONG	POSITION
Roshard ‘Mighty Kel’ Tittle	North Union Secondary	Let’s join hands	1st
Norrisa ‘ Ms. G’ Gerald	Sandy Bay Secondary	Party band wagon	2nd
Kristiana ‘Singing Kristy’ Christopher	Thomas Saunders Secondary	Change	3rd

JUNIOR SOCA MONARCH

NAME OF STUDENT	SCHOOL	TITLE OF SONG	POSITION
Neisha’Mighty Spice’ Richards	West St. George Secondary	Skinny Gal	1st
Kristiana ‘Singing Kristy’ Christopher	Thomas Saunders Secondary	SVG go rise again	2nd
Giovonne ‘Super D’ Collins	St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua	Ah drink ah the wine	3rd

JUNIOR PAN FEST
School Based Bands

PAN SIDE	RENDITION	POINTS	POSITION
Girl’s High School	Kangaroo – Touch	246	1st
C W Prescod Primary	Tamika – Touch	242	2nd
St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown	Disco Ivy - Astericks	214	3rd

Community

PAN SIDE	RENDITION	POINTS	POSITION
Sea Operations Starlift Steel Orchestra	Mouth in me mooma – Poorsah	1st	265
Sion Hill Euphonium Steel Orchestra	Watch de ride – X-A-Dus	2nd	253
Symphonix Steel Orchestra	Carnival fever – Blacksand	3rd	242

MISS CARIVAL 2014

CATEGORY	COUNTRY	CONTESTANT
Best in Swimwear	Dominica	Francine Baron
Best Talent	St. Kitts  & Nevis	Kaeve Armstrong
Best in Evening Gown	Antigua & Barbuda	Raynel Caroll
Best Interview	St. Kitts & Nevis	Kaeve Armstrong
2nd Runner-up	Antigua & Barbuda	Raynel Caroll
1st Runner-up	St. Kitts & Nevis	Kaeve Armstrong
Miss Carival 2013	Dominica	Francine Baron

PANORAMA

PAN SIDE	RENDITION	POSITION
Sion Hill Euphonium Steel Orchestra	Ah Bussing It – Ron Pompey	1st
Scotia Bank South East Steel Orchestra	Ooh La La – Becket	2nd
Sea Operations Starlift Steel Orchestra	Carnival Time - Rebels	3rd

RAGGA SOCA MONARCH

NAME OF COMPETITOR	SONG	POSITION
Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper	Rum Meeting	1st
Travis ‘Wiz Skid’ Lynch	Fettologist	2nd
Lornette ‘Fire Empress’ Nedd - Reid	Fire Meet Ice	3rd

SOCA MONARCH

NAME OF COMPETITOR	SONG	POSITION
Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper	Unruly	1st
Gamal ‘Skinny Fabulos’ Doyle	Made For This/Red Button	2nd
Shertz ‘Problem Child’ James	No Discipline	3rd

CALYPSO MONARCH

NAME OF COMPETITOR	POSITION
Zamfir ‘Man Zangie’ Adams	1st
Robert ‘Patches’ Knights	2nd
Shernelle ‘Skarpyon’ Williams	3rd

ROAD MARCH

NAME OF ARTISTE	Song	POINTS	Position
Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper	Unruly	79	1st
Delroy ‘Fireman’ Hooper	Rum Meeting	66	2nd
Lancelot ‘Mad Skull’ Gloster – Scott	Family	42	3rd

Please see www.carnivalsvg.com for more results , news and fab photos!

Sweet to be back in Bim for the CROP OVER Festival!

Nice and hot, with a cooling breeze, last night at Kensignton Oval for "Sweet and Spicy" presented by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and Brewster's Road Crew featuring the semi-finalists of the Sweet Soca and Party Monarch competitions! The judges chose sixteen finalists of the thirty six semi-finalists to perform at SOCA ROYALE at Bushy Park on Sunday July 27th!
The audience seemed to enjoy the Sweet (Groovy)session a lot more than the Party Monarch one that followed it. My group of six certainly appreciated the performers of the first half of the competitions that started around 10:20 p.m. and ended just after 3 a.m. The only performer in the Party Monarch part that moved the patrons was Gorg with his "Meh Rum"! With its meagre offerings I felt that Edwin's Unarrested would've been a finalist, and I would have preferred his "How I Like It" rather than "Pole" for the Sweet Soca Monarch. Anyhow, here are the judges' results:

Sweet Soca
 Biggie Irie - Pankatang; Iweb - Doing Me; Khiomal & Brett - Right Now; Lorenzo - Mad or Wha; Mikey - Next To De Rope; Mr Dale - Stressless; RPB - Rollercoaster; Sanctuary - Mega Monday with Biggie & Imani - Get Over as the reserve.

Party Monarch

Blood - Road; Chrystal - Pantuk; Gorg - Meh Rum; Iweb & Khiomal -Terror; Kirk Brown - Energy; Mikey - No Shame; Mr Dale - De Dawg and Fresh - 100 Proof Bajan. The reserve is Faith “Fate” Callender with Lock It.

Check for other events on the callendar of the NCF at www.ncf.bb. 

Off to the beach to play my usual Saturday afternoon cricket, but not before I eat some puddin' and souse, and have a little nap! Only got about four hours sleep since I got up to do the first of my annual Crop Over reports to  "Kaiso Rising" on CHRY 105.5FM/ www.chry.fm broadcasting from studios at York University!

Be cool! Oh, please check these charts for tunes that I think you'll enjoy!

A.W./KAISO RISING TOP TUNES ending July 5, 2014! – compiled by Alex Waithe

1.  SOCA TRAIN – MIGHTY GRYNNER

2.  THAT IS WHY/ROLLER COASTER – RED PLASTIC BAG

3.  FINE ANTS ON DE PORK – SERENADER

4.  HOW AH LIKE IT – EDWIN/ HOLD YUH – EDWIN & LUTA

5.  PANKATANG – BIGGIE IRIE

6.  STEELBAND COMING DOWN – MEXICAN

7.  GET OVER – IMANI & BIGGIE IRIE

8.  SOCA MAN – FIREMAN HOOPER/ JERK MEAT - MADD

9.  CAN’T KILL MY VIBE/LAST MAN TO LEAVE/I LIKE UM – LIL RICK

10. DOING ME – IAN WEBSTER

11. NAH SUCCUMB – MADZART/ ONE ON ONE - SKARPYON

12. COME OUT TO PARTY/COME OVA - STATEMENT

13. CERTIFIED FETER – BLOOD/ TAKE YOUR CHANCES - AJAMU (NEW)

14. PULL THAT STRING – AJAMU / FIRE ONE – SMOKEY BURKE (NEW)

15. DOWN IN DEY – JAMESEY P/ J.A.M. – KHIOMAL

16. WUKKIN UP – SKUNG YUNG/ AH LITTLE FLING – DELEE (NEW)

17. THE TORTOISE – DE CROONER/ GOD IS A BAJAN – SMOKEY BURKE

18. ISLAND JAM - THE RB QUARTET /MEH RUM – GORG (NEW)

19.  STRESSLESS – MR. DALE/ FEELING – DELEE (NEW)

20. GREAT DAY- LIL RICK/ FLAWLESS – LIL RICK (NEW)

21. OUTA WUK – SERENADER/ SOCA ANIMAL – ALISON HINDS 

22. UPSIDE DOWN – R3CKA/ OBSESSION – PROBLEM CHILD

23. PLAYING FOR TEAM GRENADA – SMALLIES

24. FIESTA – TONY “REBEL” BAILEY & CRYSTAL/ IS A VIBE – FOREIGNER FRANK & LIL RICK (NEW)

25. DE DAWG – MR. DALE/UNGRATEFUL ALCOHOL - CONTONE (NEW)

26. BACHANAL ROAD – IMANI

27. FREE UP YASELF – D2/ START IT – ICON

28. NO STRESS - JENIQUE

29. DE MAS – MIGUEL

30. I’M NOT YOUR WOMAN – VASHTI