By Monique Washington
Five junior Calypsonians will, on Sunday, try to dethrone the undefeated junior Calypso king Mighty Sookie (Shamari Mitchell) from gaining his fourth consecutive Culturama Peachick Junior Calypso Crown.
Prince Akedo (Akedo Nisbett), Scribble (Joel Henry), Might J (Marques Washington) the reigning national Primary School Jr. calypso monarch INVINCIBLE (Terron Webbe) and the lone female and new to the arena D.V (Divioninque Liburd) will all be competing against the MIghty Sookie.
The junior Calypso competition is open to youthsbetween the ages of 8-17 in the Federation. The competition has been paired with the Talented Youth Pageant where a boys and girls from each primary school enters.
For weeks the Calypsonians have been perfecting the tunes at Jazzings Band House in Gingerland.
Speaking with The Observer on Thursday Chairman of the Junior Calypso Show Keith Glasgow noted that the competition this year, like previous years, will be very competitive.
“(King) Sookie defends well, I see others will look to see if they can dethrone him,” he said.
This year the number of contestants has dropped, officials say exams, the show being staged earlier and contestants being out of the age rangeare some of the causes.
Glasgow said that concerns have been raised that Juniorcontestants are not transitioning into the senior competition.
“We have had concerns that we have quite a number of junior Calypsonians who are not moving to next stage,” continuing he said that future development to mentor them, calypso writing workshop will be added so it would be easier when they are ready to graduateto the senior stage”
The Junior Calypso show will be held on Sunday July 24 at the Cultural Complex at 7 p.m. and will be paired with the talented youth competition with eight primary schools (Charlestown Primary, JoycelynLiburd, St. James, Ivor Walters,Nevis Academy, Elizabeth Pemberton Maude Cross Preparatory, St. Thomas’) will be competing for the Mr. and Mrs. Talented Youth.
