Lyons provides one of finest calypso moments

In terms of message she did not disappoint, for the issue of how language is used to make people of African descent develop a negative mindset about themselves, as in her classic example of the stereotype of “black and ugly,” is as real, relevant and pervasive as any, and would have been telling in its impact on an audience which, if not publicly, would have been quietly nodding their heads in endorsement.

In terms of her style of rendition, it seemed less subtle and more direct due no doubt to the urgency of the message which needed to be told in a language little cluttered by ambiguity and subtlety lest the message be lost and not hit home directly.

And hit home it must have, reinforced by her unmistakable energy and passion of which the flinging off of her wig was ample demonstration, and her finale with the option of black being truly beautiful.

For me the theme could have broadened into using other stereotypes such as the back bird as an evil omen as against the white dove as a symbol of beauty and peace, and Black Friday equally stereotyped as a day of misgivings as against Good Friday as a day of redemption, with each being explored in a stanza to reinforce the main theme of “back and ugly,” and asking the audience in the final stanza to reflect on the original colour of a refined diamond or refined oil (black), as her final retort to the stereotype of “black and ugly” with the tenet, “black is beautiful.” But Lyons could have only done so much in the limited space available.

Still it was a moment to remember, and calypso in this song had achieved one of its finest moments.

At the other end many may commend Chalkdust for his “originality” in conveying his message about the negative of child marriages but for me the calypso seemed flawed in terms of message and style.

As to the first, the central mathematical impossibility of 75 not being able to “go into”14 with its overt sexual overtone seemed an oversimplification of a complex age-old cultural practice to merely its physical/ sexual component.

What of child marriage between children or child marriages entered into for economic considerations, some bordering on sheer survival? Granted this calypso was not a thesis and could not have been as comprehensive, is it not severely myopic in pandering merely to the sexual appetite, albeit in the spirit of Carnival? In terms of rendition, what seemed intended to be sexual innuendo, 75 not being able to “go into” 14, turned out to be much less so in its explicitness, reducing its subtlety, exacerbated further by references to “margarine” and “oil” with their obvious sexual connotations.

This seems in sharp contrast to Sparrow’s highly sexually suggestive calypso Congo Man and “Ah never eat a white meat yet,” which in essence is a sexual pursuit linguistically, but beautifully camouflaged by the authentic metaphor of the Congo Man “cooking his meat” for final consumption/consummation.

At the end of Chalkie’s calypso I got a distinct sense of an explicit conversation on the block in which the participants are salivating over the impossibility of a 75-year-old attempting to “go into” a 14-year-old, “margarine”, “oil” and all, and that was a turn-off.

But maybe the judges liked it so.

Dr Errol Benjamin Chalkie’s former university colleague