Reigning Carnival Queen Gloria Dallsingh capped off a fantastic season on Wednesday night when she and her son, Marlon Rampersad, completed a hat-trick in the Kings and Queens competition, titled Night of the San Fernando Monarch.
It was also a big win for Dallsingh’s band, Kalicharan Carnival, as Rampersad’s wife, Laura, was third in the Queen of the Bands Competition behind runner-up Lionel Jagessar and Associates’s Kerina Badal, portraying Hialeah, The Mystical Fantasy of a Sundancer.
In the King of the Bands Competition, Lionel Jagessar and Associates’ Howakan, The Eternal Guardian of the Hunt, portrayed by Lionel Jagessar Jr, was second with Legall and Friend’s Fire and Ice, presented by Roney John, in third.
Weary but elated, Dallsingh said after winning the national title, she was always confident she and Rampersad would win their third consecutive titles.
However, she believed it was her ability to manoeuvre her heavy design around the stage that got the judge’s approval.
“Last night (Wednesday) I won as National Queen and it has been 30 years I have been playing queen.
“I’ve always wanted to be the national queen and I made it. I was confident that my son and I were going to take it in South because I told him we were going to make the hat-trick. I told him we were going to make history in San Fernando.”
Rampersad, who stood hugging his mother, said he owed everything up to God and his mother’s talent.
He said it was a fantastic year with Laura finishing sixth on national competition on Wednesday night at the Queen’s Park Savannah and their son coming in fourth in the National Junior King of the Bands.
The Skinner Park stage was a bit sweeter for the masmen as for the first time in years there was a sizeable and vocal audience cheering on their performances.
However, creativity seemed to be lacking by some designers as many of the costumes looked like recycled pieces from years gone by.
Even Queen Gloria and King Marlon’s costume, though dazzling spectators’ eyes, were reminiscent of previous winning pieces.
Dallsingh’s Artemisia, D Warrior Queen, which depicted one of the rulers in the First Persian Empire, was a mix of fuchsia, gold and black expansive design using wire, net, fibreglass, beads and rhinestones. Rampersad’s Drums of War was a similar design to Dallsingh’s, who created both costumes. It depicted a Persian chief beating a drum to signal his troops for war.
Queen Victoria wows ‘em
It was a close race between two of south Trinidad’s powerhouses in the Calypso Monarch competition with Selvon “Mistah Shak” Noel edging out Victoria Cooper, sobriquet Queen Victoria, for the title.
Mistah Shak’s patriotic composition of Generation Next told the story the nation needed to hear in saving T&T from the plague of violence.
With many children already engaged in criminality, Generation Next calls for right-minded adults to show youths the right way to live.
“Teach them about love and prayer, teach them about truth and right,” Shak sang.
Never one to mince words, Queen Victoria targeted the country’s financial crisis in her political commentary, calling for Opposition People’s Partnership (PP) members to be jailed in her song, titled The Aftershock.
Likening the PP’s reign to an earthquake, Queen Victoria said the aftershock was an emptied Treasury. Steve Pascall, stage name Ras Kommanda, was third with She Never Write Me.
Impulse takes soca monarch
It would appear that experience counted for everything in the soca segment of the show as Wayne “Impulse” Modeste won with his somewhat comedic rendition of Matrimoney. Last year’s winner, Kyle Cowie, finished second with Defending It, a song strictly about defending his 2015 title, while Herminey “Myney” Victor with Rollin and Savina “Savi Sav” Hector with Permission tied for third.