LEANN “Lilly” Beausoliel and Alden “Spoiler” Raphael scored high points on Tuesday night to become joint winners in this year’s Inter-Commercial House Calypso Competition held at the National Cultural Centre (NCC).
It was the first time that two calypsonians shared the top spot in the competition’s history. But competition was fierce on the night, especially with the standard of calypsos even higher than last year’s.
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Beausoliel, who won the first-ever St. Lucia Teachers Union Kaiso Monarch dubbed “Kaiso With Class” – in May, performed her emotive and introspective song, “We Taught Them, Too”, written by Jason “Bachelor” Joseph. In the song, she stressed that teachers play a crucial role in the development of students. Should teachers fail to do so, she said, it results in some students going down the wrong path later in life.
Sharing the title with Beausoliel is this year’s Kaiso Headquarters winner, Raphael, who captured that title for the fifth time last Friday evening at Kaiso Headquarters XII. A regular at Inter-Commercial House Calypso Competition, Raphael performed his hard-hitting “National Inspection Kit”, which sought to address what he felt were the injustices police officers sometimes face in the course of carrying out their duties. It’s his second win in five attempts at ‘Inter’.
Miss Tick (SLTU) placed third with “De Whole Loaf” and Analisa (Victoria Hospital) fourth with “Let My People Go”.
This year’s competition featured fourteen calypsonians, including two from the Royal St. Lucia Police Force (Spoiler, and Lady Poxy “No Mistaken Identity”), two from St. Lucia Teachers Union (Lilly, and Miss Tick) Mauree, St. Lucia Fire Service (“Leaking Syndrome”), Analisa, “Let My People Go” (Victoria Hospital), Insurer, “Innocence of Crime” (GTM), Mave, “Kaiso Revolution” (CSA), Ashes, “Your Man Eating” (NIC), Shanro, “I Want A Man” (Kairi FM), Makonnen, “Enjoy We Self” (Massy Stores), Ernie J, “Death of Innocence” (Duty Free Caribbean), Tricia, “We Need A Woman” (Unicomer) and Gyal Dem, “Stand Up Inna Ants Nest” (1st National Bank).
As is customary, the liveliest friendly rivalry of the Carnival season lived up to expectations with a packed house cheering on for their respective calypsonians.
Guest performers on the night included Islah Man, Subance, Ricky T, Mac 11 and Blaze.
