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Brown Sugar Too Sweet For The Rest
Written by : Natasha Ofosu
Location : London
Photographer : Stephen Spark
Posted : Aug 29, 2007 : 8:20:59 AM |
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For the second year running, Beverly Browne, known in the calypso arena as Brown Sugar, has won the UK calypso monarch competition.
The Cascade-born singer retained her crown with a commanding performance of her social commentary Free Your Mind, in which she implored Africans to love themselves. Dressed regally in a blue African suit and with her head wrapped in silver cloth, Browne moved comfortably on stage and delivered her lines with a confidence that made her hard to beat.
Her dominance of the contest, held on Thursday 23 August at the Yaa Asantewaa Centre, west London, was highlighted by the fact that 27 points separated her from second-placed singer Wen D.
Speaking after her victory was announced, Browne attributed her success to the authenticity of her performance. “I am in touch with the words that I’m singing,” she explained. “I don’t sing without feeling the vibes and telling a story to the audience. Connecting with the audience is the main thing.”
Browne topped the table of ten finalists who performed on a night of calypso excellence at the tent. The calypsonians’deliveries were shaky and stiff in parts and some suffered poor diction. But on the whole, the standard of music, both lyrically and melodically, was high. Wen D (Wendy Lewis) who placed second with 234 points, sang Give Thanks. In it she praised God for her life’s blessings and really worked the crowd with African drumming and a capella chanting.
Cleopatra and Helena B rounded off the complement of women dominating the top five, placing third and fifth respectively. Cleopatra delivered a love song for calypso called One More Dance which oozed with the feel-good-factor. She and veteran bard Lord Cloak (Errol Brown) tied for third place which upset many of Cloak’s fans in the audience.
Always a crowd favourite, Cloak didn’t disappoint as he opened the show with his humorous ditty Me, Myself and I. The singer, whose brother Brown Boy was a guest performer, declared he was talented enough to win the monarch’s crown without having to resort to underhand tactics.
Relative newcomer Helena B, showed she has lots of potential for growth, with her commentary Clean Up The Mess in which she advises on weeding out negative people from our lives.
One of the big upsets of the night was the omission of Alexander D Great (Alexander Lowenthal) from the top five. His song, Remembering Slavery, had crisp lyrics and an outstanding melody, which can best be described as a lavway lament.
But neither he, nor Rev B, another strong performer who ridiculed western governments in Make Poverty History, found favour with the judges.
A number of guest performers held sway in the second half of the show. Among them was T&T Junior Calypso Monarch, Tenisha Weekes, whose lisp made her performance of the comic I Ain’t Eating Dat all the more adorable.
Roger George added a pores-raising sobriety to proceedings with the prophetic spiritual, These Are The Days. Brown Boy (Knolly Brown) brought a touch of raw kaiso with Cat Race, Too Much Tattoo and the controversial anti-homosexuality song Ah Dreaming, before David Rudder brought the house down with an invigorating set.
Rudder, who called London his “old stomping ground”, clearly enjoyed the warmth and love he received from the audience as they joined him in belting out perennial favourites Calypso, The Hammer, High Mas and Trini To The Bone.
So moved was T&T High Commissioner to London, Glenda Morean-Phillip, (under whose patronage the London Calypso Tent is held) that she got on stage and instructed audience members that when Rudder performs they are obliged to get up and dance. And Morean-Phillip took her own advice.
Rudder will go down in history as the first international artiste to perform at the tent when it opened in 1991 and he will be the last in 2007, as it prepares to move to a bigger, better venue.
The tent has outgrown the cramped, poorly-ventilated conditions of the Yaa Asantewaa Centre. In 2008, it will move into the heart of the Notting Hill Carnival area to The Tabernacle, Powis Square, to begin a new chapter in its evolution. |
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