By Carlena Knight
The 10 artistes who will vie for the inaugural Virtual Calypso crown have been named.
They are Destroyer Senior, King Young Destroyer, Drastic, Supa D, Epic Byke, Richie Francis, Island Prince, Sahara Redding, and Peetron.
Using a process of elimination, a panel of judges made the selection from among 18 registered participants after they listened to the arrangements made by the calypsonians.
The calypsonians were tasked with taking a melody from a previous calypso song and rewriting lyrics which would resonate with today’s time and Antigua and Barbuda’s 39th anniversary of Independence.
Destroyer Senior will be performing Two Islands One Nation; Drastic, Sweet Antigua; Peetron, Paradise, Redding, Cherish your Independence; Sahara, Antiguan to my Fist; Island Prince, If Papa Bird Statue Coulda Talk; Supa D, Happy Independence; Richie Francis, Defend we Independence; King Young Destroyer, All Hands on Deck; and Epic Byke, National Pride.
The finalists will take the stage at the Dean William Lake Cultural Centre on Monday from 8pm.
The Virtual Calypso Competition, which is the first of its kind, was added to the line-up of events for the nation’s 39th Independence anniversary after a scaled down version of the celebrations had to be implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The winner will earn a cash prize of $10,000, the first runner-up $7,500, second runner-up $5,000 and the other seven participants will each receive $3,500.