KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – On Tour Calypso Tent has secured the most picks among the 22 bards selected to vie for a pick for this year’s National Calypso Monarch Competition during Demanche Gras on July 8.
On Tour’s seven bards include Zion I, whose song “Brave” is already fuelling controversy about potentially libellous content.
Announcers at the state-owned National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) spoke over the lyrics of the song during the station’s live coverage of the Preliminary Judging of On Tour Calypso Tent last Thursday.
Station manager Corletha Ollivierre has told I-Witness News that NBC is awaiting a legal opinion on whether the composition could expose the media house to litigation.
Star FM, owned by the ruling Unity Labour Party, has also said it will not air the song, for similar reasons.
The other On Tour bards selected are Abijah, Reality, Azara, Queen B, Ipa, and Vibrating Scakes, the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) announced Monday.
The other semi-finalists down to face the judges during “Fantastic Friday” are:
Dynamites Calypso Tent:
- Ras X
- I-madd
- Rejector
Graduates Calypso Tent
- Man Zangie
- Hero
- Sunny Banks
- Bump I
P/tani Calypso Tent
- Dia
- Mystery
- Parry
Upstage Xperience
- Skarpyon
- Brother Ebony
- Joy C
- Poorsah
- Fya Empress
Two reserves, Defoe and Sulle, have been selected. It is the first time in many years that Sulle has failed to make it to the semi-finals.
The calypsonians, who are slated to meet with the CDC Tuesday afternoon, are vying for the opportunity to defeat defending monarch Tajoe.
The internationally renowned Alston “Becket” Cyrus, the “ABC of Calypso”, will be the featured artiste at Fantastic Friday.
Read also: Controversy as ‘Bad John’ calypsonian goes ‘Brave’