Joy-C gives opponents a calypso whipping

by Kenton X. Chance

Having returned to take the national calypso crown in 2009 after battling cancer for four years, a few stitches in her right foot were not enough to keep Bridgette “Joy-C” Creese from retaining her title last Sunday evening.{{more}}

The wheelchair and walking cane used during parts of her rendition of “Cries of the Grand” and “Think” during Dimanche Gras at Victoria Park were more than props.

“I got a cut behind my heel from a tin sheet, which has a couple of stitches,” Joy-C told SEARCHLIGHT shortly after she was crowned National Calypso Monarch for a second consecutive year.

The artiste used a cane during that show and moved with an obvious limp, including during her guest appearance at the Miss Carival pageant on Friday. A bandage on her right foot was visible during both shows.

Joy-C said while the injury was painful, she used it to her advantage and also fast forwarded an act that she had in mind for a future calypso appearance.

“I’m a granny; a lot of grannies have sugar, pressure (diabetes and hypertension), have little sores and so forth. And when you are getting down in age, you expect a little limp. So, it was just in the right timing. But not to say that I love it, because it is painful; but it just worked,” she said of the song written by Trinidadian Larry Yearwood.

“I always said to myself that one day I have to sit in a wheelchair and deal with the men them case. I always promised I have to get some respect in a wheelchair,” said the sole female contender for the calypso crown.

Joy-C’s songs were a refreshing break from the political commentaries that dominated the competition, which President of the Calyposonians Association Hassan Kennedy told SEARCHLIGHT was “on a very high level lyrically and musically.”

And with the claim that there are more Vincentians living in the diaspora than in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Joy-C’s “Cries from the Grand” undoubtedly struck a chord with many Vincentians at home and abroad.

The composition recorded the self-questioning of children whose parents leave them in the care of grandparents as the parents migrate in pursuit of an improved standard of living.

The children wonder if their families only constitute their grandparents and about the possibilities of finding their rightful places in society.

“I’m a grandmother. My grandmother had problems in the sense of my mom leaving her children with her,” Joy-C who, has two daughters and two grandchildren, told SEARCHLIGHT.

“And I came and encountered the same thing. My mom came and encountered it, because I left my kids with my mom for some time. And I end up in the same position as my mom. So, like it is heredity then. So, I wanted to know who’s next, if one of my daughters is going to have the same thing like me,” she said.

In Joy-C’s second song “Think”, which she co-wrote with Trinidadian Michael Andrews, she admonished listeners to think before risking HIV/AIDS and others diseases by engaging in unprotected sex.

“When you on the brink/ You better take time out to think,” she sang, while members of her entourage handed out male and female condoms to patrons.

However, while Joy-C trumped the ten male contenders for the crown, she was among several artistes who, at the beginning of and during their presentation, used dramatizations and other props, whose contribution to their performance remains in question.

For the rendition of “Cries of the Grand”, 37 seconds passed between the time Joy-C was announced and when she spoke the first words of her dramatization. Two minutes and 12 seconds had passed by the time the band struck up the first notes of her song.

First time finalist, Maxwell “Tajoe” Francis, arguably demonstrated the best use of props during his rendition of “Tribute to Haiti”.

A dust covered man, bearing a Haitian flag, was used to represent a Haitian earthquake victim. Other bearers of other nations’ flags were used to depict the international assistance given to the French-speaking nation after the January 12 earthquake which killed 300,000.

Robert “Patches” Knights placed second in the competition that started 52 minutes late because of the tardy arrival of a stage technician, according to Coordinator of Shows Anthony Dennie.

Knights sang “Wey the Good People Gone” and “The Predator” to secure his best results to date.

Third went to former monarch Kenneth “The Vibrating Scakes” Alleyne, who sang “Tremors” and “Amnesia”.

The other contenders for the crown were Fitzroy “Brother Ebony” Joseph, Glenroy “Sulle” Ceasar, Maxwell “Tajoe” Francis, Alexis “Lexi” Joseph, Grantley “Ipa” Constance, Ralph “Struggler” Richards, Robby “Saharo” Hackshaw, and, Michael “Bosalt” Daniel.

This is the third time that Creese, a veteran calypsonian, has won the national monarchy. Her first win was in 2001. She is also a three-time Queen of Calypso here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.