~ 10 for Road March Competition ~
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) announced recently that 21 singers have registered to compete in the NAGICO Senior Calypso Competition for Carnival 2016. After competing in the eliminations, 10 of the 21 will move on to the finals to face reigning Calypso Monarch Fish Da Mega Boss.
The Senior Calypso Eliminations are slated for Saturday, April 2, with the finals on Monday, April 25. Both events are sponsored by NAGICO, which has been the main corporate sponsor of this event for almost a decade.
The Senior and Junior Road March competition also is slated to be held on April 2, with the Juniors starting earlier in the day. The Senior Road March Competition will feature 10 singers and the Juniors five.
All events will take place under the tent at Port de Plaisance. However, it is the Calypso show that is expected to be one of the biggest local shows on the Carnival schedule, even after a slight downturn in 2015.
After a 2015 filled with political and social issues, Calypso lovers already have started to express on social media that they expect some “social melee,” not just “social commentary,” in the Calypso competition. In 2015 Fish was really the only singer who “hit” the politicos for their actions with his winning song and play on words “Focus Up.”
“General commentary is nice, but the calypso show needs more melee,” one pundit observed. “There are enough issues.”
Registered for the Senior Calypso Eliminations are (by their stage names) Baker Jr., King Beau Beau, Barrow, Mighty Dando, Mighty Chipman, Mighty Pepper, The Protégé, The Wizard, D. Monitor, Clement Richards, The Fox, X-Rey, Young Dow, Empress Zee, Lady Tiffany, Shakiya, Lady Baker, Ebony Empress, Lady Upsetter and Roxxy.
The singers registered to compete in the Senior Road March Competition are (by their stage names) Apple Jack, Lyrics, Roxxy, Lady Baker, Mighty Chipman, Baker Jr., Mighty Pepper, The Messenger, The Wizard and Barrow.
SCDF and NAGICO also have put a plan in place to devote more resources to marketing the events. In the coming weeks the public will see and hear much more about the shows and the individual singers, through various media.
