ST. VINCENT:- At 11 years old, Otis “Fliiper” Caine hardly stands 4 feet. It seemed a feat for the lad to push from the stage a trolley of books that was a prop during his rendition of “Books First” at the Junior Calypso and Soca monarch show on Tuesday.
But what Flipper lacks in stature, he makes up for in accomplishments.
He told the crowd of mainly students at the Victoria Park that he will be heading to the Grammar School in September, having placed 28th for males and 65th overall in this year’s Common Entrance Examinations.
Flipper wanted to impress upon the students the importance of putting books first, saying “is books put me there”.
His rendition so impressed the judges that they gave him the 2010 Primary School Calypso Monarch title.
Results at a Glance — Primary School Calypso
- Ottis “Flipper” Caine (Fair Hall Gov’t) – “Books First”
- Teishanna “Mighty Alicia” Franklyn (K’town Anglican) – “Teacher Doh Touch Me Deh”
- Alexia “The Messenger” Alenxander (Fancy Gov’t) – “Message From Overseas”
Flipper was joined in winner row by Secondary School Calypso Monarch Shadè “Shadè B” Barker who sang “Rise Up”, forcing defending monarch Cassian Lavia into third place. (Go to the homepage to subscribe to I Witness-News)
Tieshanna “Mighty Alicia” Frankyn, who also bagged the second place in the Primary School Calypso competition, was judged Junior Soca Monarch. She sang “Line Up” in the soca competition and “Teacher Doh Touch Me Deh” in the calypso category.
Results at a Glance — Secondary School Calypso
- Shadè “Shadè B” Barker (St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown) – “Rise Up”
- Phylicia “Nubian Empress” Alexander (Intermediate High) – “Positive Reasoning”
- Cassian Lavia (Sandy Bay Secondary) – “Proud Vincy Woman”
Results at a Glance — Junior Soca
- Teishanna “Mighty Alicia” Franklyn (Kingstown Anglican) – “Line Up”
- Giovannie “Super D” Collins (Greggs Primary) – “More Fire”
- Cacheley Yorke (Campden Park Secondary) – “Put Dem Up Dey”
In the calypso competition, the students this year sang on a multiplicity of topics, including politics and infrastructural development, education, and social degradation. (More Photos)
Many of the songs in the calypso segment of the competition so echoed the style of the older calyposonian who had written then that it was possible to tell, just by listening, who some of the writers were.
The soca segment of the competition was much of the jump and wave that characterizes the artfrom here, devoid of the vulgarity that punctuated some of the performances last year.
A sour note in this year’s competition was a brief vulgar appearance by senior calyposonian “Ranking Bash”, whose performance was accompanied by some movements of the waist that was better left for the National Soca Monarch competition on Saturday.
Among the persons making guest performances at the show on Tuesday were the contestants for this year’s Miss Carival competition. (See contestants)