Melbourne takes King of the Bands, while Blondie Bird grabs Queen

On the night when veteran mas man Junior ‘Melbourne’ Constance was honored for his 40 years in the art form, his King of the Bands costume also paid him homage by capturing first place at the Dimanche Gras competition.{{more}}

The artisans’ portrayal of “Shaka – warrior king of the Zulu”, which was creatively worn and displayed on stage by another veteran- Gordon ‘Tarya’ Boucher, took top honors ahead of six other contenders.

Highlighting aspects of an African jungle: lions, tigers, elephants and all, the costume showed the warrior king in full control of his surroundings and the stage.

Boucher’s Shaka beat KFC/ Heineken Dragons in association with CK Greaves, Cash Money Investment and the News Newspaper’s “King Arthur at the Court of Camelot”, which was portrayed by Mastus Brewster in Dragon’s presentation of “Warriors, Myths and Legends”.

Coming in third was Kevin Dickson, who portrayed “Shambhalla” in the SVG General Services Players International presentation of “Myths of Eden”.

The Queen of the Bands title was taken this year by Guinness/ Y De Lima HITZ 103.7 Blondie Bird and Friends’ Simone Richardson in her costume entitled “We are the World”, from their presentation of “King of Pop – Tribute to Michael Jackson”.

They relegated into second place Players International’s Queen contender Jenilee Glasgow, with her portrayal of “Midnight Paradise”, while Dawana Balcombe of First Caribbean/ WE FM/ KBB Shipping Singer Lynx Mas Camp placed third with her portrayal of “When yo play with Fire yo get burn”, from the band’s presentation of ‘Ole People Say’.