Local beauty wins 2010 Junior Calypso Monarch

From a line up of 13 contestants, 18-year-old Kuru Kururu resident, Tennisia DeFreitas, of the Kross Kolor Records Studios copped the Junior Calypso monarchy on Saturday at the National Cultural Centre.
Donning a maternity dress and mimicking the attitudes of a pregnant woman hers was an emotion stirring rendition of a baby giving reasons why it did not want to come into the world.
Skilfully penned by veteran musician, Burchmoore Simon, the song tackled topical issues affecting the nation’s youth.

Tennisia Defreitas

Its hook was contagious and Defreitas’ delivery as ‘a sixteen-year- old single parent with child’ was superb. As she sang “I don’t want to be born” many eyes in the audience welled up while others shed tears as did the performer.
The song spoke of a sense of despair of the numbers who graduate from university only to be unable to find employment and of the many dropouts who simply ‘lime’.
It also painted a vivid picture of the gunmen on the roam and those who seem destined to be like the notorious bandit “Fineman” or “a king pin like Roger Khan.”
The baby is adamant that it does not want to be born because of what it has experienced through its mothers eyes.
“Mama I don’t want to be born because you dark they treat you with scorn…”
It also touches on the missing monies from GRA and the pain that many felt when Clico could not account for people’s savings.
“Mama I don’t want to be born all we nurse and teacher they gone mama I don’t want to be born…”.
The song slammed the opposition for being paid to do nothing and shared a dream of a President who “came home to lime and is flying out all the time” and of “drugs passing through Timehri and none of the scanners they don’t see…”
The teary eyed winner is scheduled to perform at the Mash HIV Song Competition on February 13 at Blairmont where she will face off with more senior calypsonians. But based on the audience responses she will be one to contend with.
Her song on that occasion will be ‘Wrap it Up’. She placed third last year when she sang ‘Texting.’
The second and third spots went to Lindeners, Diana Chapman, 18, and 17-year-old Laquita Pryce respectively.
Chapman, a graduate of the Mackenzie High an actress who was among the actors in the “King of the Drums” movie, sang that “Abstinence Makes Sense.”  Pryce, a graduate of the New Silver City Secondary with ten subjects at the CXC, sang “Give me a chance to be a child.”
Backed by the Mingles sound machine the other competitors included Quincy Richmond, Jedidah Wilkinson, Ernesta Nelson, Laurent Pieters, Kelton Jennings, Nickesha London, Keiton Nelson, Yoland Nedd, Derk Simon and Leshauna Valentine.
The show was hosted by Mondale Smith and included performances from the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School Steel orchestra, The National School of dance and rising star ten-year-old Jovinski Thorne who proved that he is not “too young” to be a star.
The other performers included the Shalita Dance Troupe, the Dance Fanatics and the Theatre Guild dramatists as well as Kurt Walcott. There was also some masquerade showcases.
Based on comments from the audience, this year’s show was by far the best in recent years  and according to Sean Bhola who was one of the judges “ these youths proved that   Calypso will live on despite. Some of them were more prepared and could easily put some of the seniors to shame.”