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NORS' Calypso Pioneers Prize-Giving
Winners, organizers and sponsors of the NORS' Calypso Pioneers Competition
TriniSoca.com Reporters
Event Date: March 10, 2007
Posted: March 13, 2007
On Saturday 10th March, 2007, the National Organization of Rededicated Students (N.O.R.S.) hosted its award ceremony for the winners of its annual Calypso Pioneers Competition at the Audio-Visual Room of the NALIS Library, Port of Spain. N.O.R.S., in conjunction with CLICO, the main sponsor for the competition, has been hosting the competition since 1990 and has, over the years, provided a critical stage for the development of young Calypsonians and has become one of the premier events on the youth Calypso calendar.
The Calypso Pioneers Competition was developed as the foundation training ground for young Calypsonians from ages five to twelve. As a testament to its success, six persons in the 2007 Calypso Monarch Competition were former competitors in the Calypso Pioneers. The ceremony opened with the National Anthem and opening prayer by Cindy Alleyne, Cultural Officer of N.Y.A.C., and the welcoming address by Akhenaton Daaga, Director of Youth Affairs. Mr. Daaga indicated that N.O.R.S. and N.Y.A.C. saw the Pioneers as a key component of the organization's overall agenda for youth development and exposure to the national art form. He thanked the main sponsor, CLICO, for its involvement over the years and commended the dedication and commitment of the organizing committee, who has watched the competition grow from strength to strength with an increase in audience participation, number of competitors and quality of the material.
Mr. Daaga also noted that there were several improvements that the public and participants can look forward to next year such as greater involvement with music teachers at the schools; assistance with transport for competitors that reside far from competition locations; reassessment of the age grouping to ensure that there is greater parity between contestants; and possible implementation of rules that would ensure that all props, dancers and back-up singers, as well as main artistes, were also within the age groups set by the competitions. These recommendations were greeted with assent and commendations by the parents and teachers in the audience. Feature speaker William Gibbs, representative from CLICO, brought greetings from the main sponsor and reiterated their commitment to the development of young artists.
Performances by guest artistes, Dinessa Nelson, second place Juniors 2007 "Back Ah De Bus" and Victoria Cooper, winner Juniors 2007 "This Unity in Paradise" kicked off the performances of the evening and gave the younger artistes in the Pioneers Competition an idea of the standard they would have to look forward to at the Junior level.
Cash prizes of $450.00 were awarded to consolation prize winners while cash prizes ranging from $500.00 to $1500.00 were awarded to first to tenth place winners. All the winners performed two verses of their winning songs, delighting the audience and some certainly impressing all with their command of the art form and their ability to engage the crowd. Some artistes were quite able, even at their young ages, to direct the band to effectively accompany them impromptu, when they did not have recorded music.
A few highlights were performances by the entertaining Agyei Duncan who sang "Open the Gates for Carnival"; Ferdinand Smith whose "Jump and Wave" highlighted him as one of the real Soca stars of tomorrow; Necoda Francis' "Lose Dem In Jail" and Aneka Audain's "Save Something" who was also awarded the prize for best Road March Song. The top three winners, Whitney Moore of South East Port of Spain Secondary School, Aneka Audain of Sacred Heart Girls RC and Allan Clelland Goddard of St. Xavier's Private School, showed themselves to be real inheritors of the Calypso legacy and are indeed budding stars in the Calypso arena.
The awardees for the Calypso Pioneers Competition were as follows:
Placement / Artiste / School / Song
1st / Allan Clelland Goddard / St. Xavier's Private / "Street Children"
2nd / Aneka Audain / Sacred Heart Girls RC / "Save Something"
3rd / Whitney Moore / South East Port of Spain Sec. / "Parents of Long Ago"
4th / Tenesha Weekes / Melville Memorial A.C. / "School Bag Dilemma"
5th / Necoda Francis / St Theresa Girls RC / "Lose Them In Jail"
6th / Kesi Bennet / St. Xavier's Private / "Choices"
7th / Ferdinand Smith / Valencia South Gov't / "Jump and Wave"
8th / Raegine Lovell / Scarborough RC / "Keep It Clean"
9th / Nailah Khalabi / La Fillete Early Childhood / "Dance My people"
10th / Jerissha Regis / St Rose's Girls' RC / "Don't Want To Go Back There"
Best Road March - Aneka Audain
Consolation Prizes:
Artiste / School / Song
Shanelle Pierre / Holy Saviour Anglican, Curepe / "Mankind's Destructive Attitude"
Agyei Duncan / Scarborough RC / "Open the Gates For Carnival"
Natalia Lewis / Arima Girls RC / "No More Violence"
Adrian Adams / Scarborough RC / "In My Nursery Rhymes"
Flower Khalabi / La Fillete RC / "No Cinderella"
Christian Thomas / Mucurapo Junior Secondary / "They Cyar Take Me Down"
Cheneal Bharat / St. Catherine Girl's Anglian / "It Ain't Safe Again"
Tonya Small / Newtown Girl's RC School / "Soca Princess"
Khalifa Baisden / Guiseppi Preparatory School / "Karate Girl"
Jelissa Thomas / Signal Hill Gov't / "You Could Depend On Us"
Shaquille Howard / Trinity College East / "No Excuse"
NORS Calypso Pioneers Prize Giving 2007 in pictures:
www.trinisoca.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=68114
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