Queen Shaunelle to battle 10 hopefuls for Calypso crown

Ten female calypsonians will be seeking to dethrone reigning Queen, Shaunelle McKenzie, at tomorrow’s Queen of Calypso show, at the Russel’s Auditorium.

This is one of the early shows on the 2023 calender of activities for Vincy Mas.

President of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Calypsonians Association (SVGCA), Earl “Cabba” Bennett, speaking at a press conference on May, 24, implored the corporate community to support the competition and the Calypso tents.

“I am begging corporate SVG, well intentioned …Vincentians, you don’t have to be a millionaire, you don’t have to have a business, you could be well off enough and love Calypso…[to] contribute to Queen of Calypso and to the tents.”

The 10 who will come up against Shaunelle are: Lornette Nedd, ‘Fya Empress’ Shena Collis; Cecile Murray-King, ‘Little Bit’; and Colette Myers, ‘Coleteshun’- all from the Upstage

Experience Calypso tent. Cleo Hendrickson, ‘Cleopatra’; Denise Stephens, ‘Lady D’; Georgietha Nanton, ‘Selena’; Samantha Martin; and Phylicia Alexander, ‘Nubian Empress’ of the Graduates Calypso tent. Marvo O’brien Morgan, ‘Marvo’ is the lone entrant from the On Tour tent to compete in the show.

At last week Wednesday’s press conference, Bennett also responded to some of the issues which have arisen about Vincy Mas, including the length of shows.

“I always like to deal with reality, and I know there are complaints about time management in tents. The tents have pledged this year to start on time because they understand your complaints and after all, you’re the patrons and we listen to you.”

He said that the members of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), are not lost on themselves and acknowledge that they do not have all the answers.

He added that the members make decisions based on facts, and so feedback is extremely important to guide them in making good decisions.

“We welcome suggestions, recommendations from St Vincent and the Grenadines. In fact, we’re going to put a suggestion box where persons can put their suggestions as to how we … can improve Calypso as a whole, so look forward to that innovation.”

Bennet said the Queen of Calypso competition was reintroduced in 2018 as a form of women’s empowerment. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic disrupted carnival in 2020 and 2021, but it resumed in December, 2022 despite uncertainties.

“…The preferred…[date] for the Queen of Calypso is in June, and the queens … made it clear in 2019 that they want the Queen of Calypso to be held before they face the judges in the national competition, so we are guided as to when we need to have intelligence, not the exact date, but we know that they have desired to have it before preliminaries,” Bennett said.

The Queen of Calypso show is slated to begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.