Sheldon John new extempo champ

Last year’s extempo champion, Phillip “Black Sage” Murray, last Thursday night was dethroned by Sheldon John, who took the 2005 title and the $40,000 first prize. Coming up against a field of eight, John proved that he had the lyrical content needed to rise above the competition. Also in winners row were Leslie Ann “Lady Africa” Bristow in second place, Black Sage in third and Evris “Zano” Mansano in fourth spot.

In an interview with the new champion, John told Newsday that it feels good to know that hard work has paid off. He said he was shocked when he found out that he had made it into the semi-final rounds of the competition, since he thought there were a few others who would get the spot, but “all in all I am happy.” At the start of the competition, the eight contestants, Joseph Vatour Laplacelire “Lingo,” Leslie Ann Bristow “Lady Africa,” Evris Mansano “Zano,” Llewellyn Macintosh “Shortpants,” Orin Richards, Brian London, Sheldon John and Phillip Murray “Black Sage,” were required to select a topic to extempo on, after which four were selected for the semi-final round.

Topics such as “Mas need more costumes,” “Organ transplant to be performed in TT,” “Herbal remedy for impotence,” “Football mas on Ash Wednesday,” “Luck and blithe,” “Addiction,” “Is calypso improving,” and “Cherish we Carnival,” were up for grabs, and while the extempo champ thought the topics were not bad, other contestants were of the view that they were not “extempo material.” One contestant said the “judges and promoters don’t seem to know what they are about or what they want from the show or the performers.” He said the selected topics this year were an example of this, since none of them were “extempo material.”

Even with the challenges posed by the topic, however, some artistes proved that they were in total charge of the competition. Asked about his handling of the topics, John said it was not that difficult for him, as he is always on top of what is happening in the news. He said this was an important part of coming up, since most of the topics are taken from the issues of the day. He notes that extempo is the art of taking any topic and singing on it. He said while it is often challenging to think on your feet, being in charge of relevant information can be a big help.

The semi-final rounds saw Lady Africa coming up against Black Sage on the topic “National award change — the Trinity Cross,” and Sheldon John versus Zano on “Female students better than male.” After the semi-finals, Lady Africa and John won the judges nod for the final extempo war on the topic, “Did you buy any stew dog,” and while Lady Africa put up a good fight, John proved a bit too much to handle. In the limbo individual competition, Sue Ellen St Louis pulled out several difficult routines to take the title from the field of five. Second spot went to Aquisia Frederick, third to Donna Lee Lewis, fourth to Magnita Clement and fifth to Donnette Dickson. In the group category, the Cocorite Ujama Folk Performers took the top spot, with Footprints of Diego Martin in second and Aduke of Tobago in third.