‘Gypsy’ steals show

In a repeat of what happened in the competition in 2003, John battled 2004 champion Phillip “Black Sage” Murray, in the final round of the witty ad-libbing competition, both facing-off on the theme “Government — then and now.”

Murray declared, “With this Kamla, I am so happy/ I am a councillor for the COP.” John focussed mainly on paying tribute to the late President Sir Ellis Clarke. John won the crown in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. John took home $100,000 while the second place prize of $70,000 went to Murray.

In third place was Leslie-Ann Bristow, also known as Lady Africa, who took home $20,000.

John’s victory was overshadowed by the appearance on stage by Peters who last year won the Extempo crown. During an interval in the show, billed as Kaisorama, at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Peters took to the stage and gave the audience a taste of the magic that saw him wrestle the crown from Joseph “Lingo” Vautor-La Placeliere last year. Lingo came in fifth this year and did not make it to the final. Peters, as minister, was not able to compete but made a point of telling the crowd that notwithstanding his new found status, he remains the same “Gypsy”.

He sang alongside the extempo artistes who competed on the night.

At one stage in the exchange, Peters told all of the participants in the extempo competition that they would not be getting a $2 million prize, because they have not yet graduated from the extempo school. “I am the champion of extempo/They must come to my extempo school,” he sang before declaring, “You have to melt all of them, to make a good one!”

Peters raised eyebrows during a face-off with Lady Africa. In dealing with the topic of the lack of padded seating in the North Stand, he provocatively said Lady Africa “likes it hard”.

Lady Africa, the lone woman competing in the show, fired back, saying some men have “toothpicks” in their tool arsenal. Peters made clear that this was not so in his case and then went on to lament that some “battleships” make even the ocean look small. The crowd loved it. The risque exchange was one of the highlights of a night which otherwise saw politics dominate the proceedings, as it does in the best kaiso shows. In the extempo competition alone, the topics included, “Missing piano at Prime Minister’s Residence”.

The topic, an allusion to the now infamous allegation made by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan who once asked former Prime Minister Patrick Manning for the whereabouts of a “missing” piano, was dealt with expertly by John in the first round who sang, “When they check the scene I am almost certain/The piano was hiding behind the curtain.”

The issue of the piano was also in the spotlight during the political calypso competition. Eric “Pink Panther” Taylor’s brilliant song “Chalkie Say” alluded to it. Even in the social commentary calypso category, Devon Seales’s “Ah Need Meh Carnival”, played on the issue.

In the political category, Karene Asche found favour with the judges, pulling-off an upset by beating crowd favourite, Taylor and veteran Dr Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool who rendered a song called “Manningitis”. Asche won with a song called “Uncle Jack” in which she called a politician with a strong resemblance to Works Minister Jack Warner “the first Black Hindu” and the “Minister of Everything”. Second was Taylor, followed by Liverpool.

The winner of the humorous category was Wilfred “Young Creole” Barker with “Shave Meh Barberman”.

Calypso legend McArtha Lewis (Calypso Rose) performed at the show, as did David Rudder, who became the first calypsonian to date to move into the audience boxes of the Grand Stand while performing at the newly-constructed venue.