House of Soca off with a bang

By Charmaine Walker

There was hardly any standing room at the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre at Jackman’s St. Michael as kaiso enthusiasts came out in their numbers to witness C.O. Williams House of Soca Calypso Tent’s opening night last weekend.

Opening the gates was SugarRhe who is known for her up-tempo songs but showed the audience a different side with her social commentary entitled Ole Time Kaiso. Following her was Mr. DJ who performed De Solution. Reigning Junior Monarch Quon received the first encore of the night with his song Animal Kingdom. Dressed in a blue and black bee outfit, Quon declared that he would like to be a ‘Bee’ stinging everybody.

He was followed by newcomer A@-lee-aah who gave a passionate performance of This is We Cry. She was followed by Coopa Dan who sang Mad and Willo who performed Behind A Mask.

Raanan was in fine voice as he sang If I was To Win in which he paid homage to his former songwriter Observer who passed away last year.

The audience could not get enough of Malik who performed his amusing piece Ah Coming Back. Using antics similar to those once employed onstage by Georgie Porgie, Malik performed his song armed with his lyrics in hand. The audience thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

He was followed by Kira who is always strong in the tents. This year she has a song Blueprint in which she gives advice to assist with some of the social issues of the day.

She was followed by former Pic-O-De-Crop finalist Billboard who performed Recovery Plan and Jimmy Dan who performed BLP (Bajans Love Partying). Closing out the first half was Sir Ruel who rendered the song Low Budget which highlighted how Barbadians needed to live within their means in these unprecedented times.

In the second half Denisha was a class act as she performed her piece Auntie Mia in which she paid homage to Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

Dynamo also drew some appreciation with Can’t Fit In. Another highlight of the night was Doyenne who looked stunning in her blue dress while performing Love Affair. The annually impressive Amazing Dre was a solid performer as he rendered a piece entitled Climate Change. As usual, his was a thought-provoking selection.

If there was a prize for the most creative calypso of the night then the award would definitely have to go to Jamoo who performed National Hero. Dressed to mimic street character Ninja Man, he explained to the audience why he is fit to be a national hero. He had all of the antics while performing in fine voice.

Also performing on the night were former Pic-O-De-Crop king Popsicle, Lady Essence, Mole and Bruce Lee Almighty. The latter got patrons out of their seats with his popular song Mauby.