10-y-o confident her voice will take her to calypso finals

Divyne “Skye” Hackshaw, 10, the youngest person in the semi-finals in this year’s National Calypso Monarch competition, says she is confident that her voice will take her to the finals.

Skye was selected among 22 semi-finalists to take the stage at Victoria Park tonight (Friday).

She has made it to the semi-finals in her second year of singing calypso. She placed second in the Junior Calypso Monarch competition when she first sang last year.

This year, her song, “Answer My Prayer”, is her plea for a better St. Vincent and the Grenadines as it relates to getting rid of crime.

The song was written by Barbadian Crystal Cummins-Beckles.

“I am feeling proud of myself,” the Argyle Roman Catholic Primary School student told iWitness News about her selection to the semi-finals.

“I am feeling very ecstatic and elated to be the youngest to be in the semi-finals,” said Skye who sings with Upstage Experience Calypso Tent.

She told iWitness News that she did not expect to be in the semi-finals, “being the youngest” in the preliminaries.

The young artiste said patrons at tonight’s show can expect “excellence”, adding that she is confident that her “voice” would separate her from the other competitors.

Skype is in a race that includes former monarchs Maxwell “Tajoe” Francs and Elvis “Abijah” Abbey, among other veteran bards trying to secure a place among the 11 finalists who will try to unseat Lornette “Fire Empress” Nedd on July 7.

On Tour Calypso Tent secured eight of the 22 picks.  Upstage secured seven spots, while Graduates had six. The New York-based Dynamites Calypso Tents took two spots.

Also notable among this year’s semi-finalists is the “Badjohn Calypsonian” Alvin “Zion-I” Dennie who created some controversy with his song “Kill, Politically” but is competing with “Negations”. Last year, Zion-I’s tent, On Tour pulled the plug on him over “Raperman”, another controversial rendition.

The full slate of semi-finalists, their songs and their tents are as follows:

• Johnny Rebel — “Message from the Children” (Graduates)
• Alvin “Zion-I” Dennie — “Negations” (On Tour)
• Delahanty Isles — “Go Back and Sing” (Dynamites)
• Divyne “Skye” Hackshaw — “Answer My Prayer” (Upstage)
• Tajoe — “Travel Horrors” (Graduates)
• Marvo Morgan –“Nobody Listening” (On Tour)
• Robert “Patches” Knights — “Kingdom Bound to Come Down”
• Elvis “Abijah” Abbey — “Dem Pirates” (On Tour)
• Omani Cupid — “Are We Raising Kings” (On Tour)
• Shena Collis — “Would You Give” (Upstage)
• Cecile “Lil Bit” King — “Seniors Have Rights Too” (Upstage)
• Raeon “Maddzart” Primus — “Contours” (Upstage)
• Kingsley “Hero” Roberts — “Thank God It’s Friday” (Upstage)
• Glenroy “Homey” Delpesche –“Stand Up for Your Country” (Graduates)
• Kirk “Ninjah” Knights — “Dey Want It Dead” (On Tour)
• Michael “Lord Have Mercy” Ollivierre — “Listen, Comrade” (Upstage)
• Glenford “Azarah” Charles — “Weird Characters” (On Tour)
• Hilton Duncan — “Live as One” (On Tour)
• Gosnel “GC” Cupid — “Only Judges” (Upstage)
• Nubian Empress — “Warrior Queen (Graduates)
• Dennis Bowman — “Where’s The Culture” (Dynamites)
• Abuza — “One Ting After the Other” (Graduates)

Reserves

• Earl “Exposer” Isle — “Woman Does Bad Talk Woman” (On Tour)
• Kosinski “Busta Ski” Adams –“If I Were The PM” (Graduates)