SAN­DRA L BLOOD

She was the on­ly per­former to earn a stand­ing ova­tion from both the Grand and North Stands dur­ing this year’s Di­manche Gras, and in her win­ning spir­i­tu­al ca­lyp­so, Bless­ings, Ter­ri Lyons re­mind­ed au­di­ences, “We all have his­to­ry here no mat­ter your re­li­gion…”

Now reign­ing as Ca­lyp­so Monarch, Lyons says that his­to­ry in­cludes not on­ly the liv­ing icons shap­ing ca­lyp­so to­day, but al­so the de­ceased leg­ends of all faiths. On Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, at the third stag­ing of the trib­ute show Gone But Not For­got­ten, she will in­ten­si­fy that lega­cy as a spe­cial­ly-in­vit­ed guest, roar­ing in ho­n­our of the an­ces­tors.

The show will open at 6 pm on Sat­ur­day at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) and con­tin­ue at 5 pm on Sun­day at the South­ern Acad­e­my for Per­form­ing Arts (SAPA).

While the pro­duc­tion ho­n­ours the lega­cy of late ca­lyp­so and so­ca greats, this in­stal­ment al­so cel­e­brates In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Week­end and Lyons’ own suc­cess. Pa­trons can ex­pect hits from leg­endary Ca­lyp­so Queens such as Denyse Plum­mer, Singing San­dra, and Singing Francine, as well as male icons in­clud­ing Fun­ny, Shad­ow, Mae­stro, Blaxx, Bri­go, and Ar­row. Lyons will per­form her award-win­ning Bless­ings and pay trib­ute by cov­er­ing one of the late queens’ songs.

Pro­duc­er Spek­taku­la Pro­mo­tions said the first two edi­tions of the show were emo­tion­al­ly charged, sold out, and re­ceived over­whelm­ing­ly pos­i­tive pub­lic feed­back.

“Lyons’ artistry and com­mand­ing pres­ence rep­re­sent the liv­ing con­tin­u­a­tion of the very lega­cy the show ho­n­ours,” Spek­taku­la Pro­mo­tions said. “Her in­clu­sion el­e­vates the pro­duc­tion, sym­bol­i­cal­ly bridg­ing the past, present, and fu­ture of ca­lyp­so.”

Lyons is the fifth woman to win Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch and the sec­ond to do so twice (2020 and 2026). She is al­so Montser­rat’s reign­ing Beaver-Trick Queen of Queens Monarch, an ac­tress, health ad­vo­cate, mod­el, and moth­er, as well as the daugh­ter of mul­ti-road March and mul­ti-so­ca Monarch win­ner Su­perBlue.

“My per­for­mances are not mere­ly per­for­mances—they are ed­u­ca­tion; they are the­atre,” Lyons said.

Spek­taku­la Pro­mo­tions added that Gone But Not For­got­ten has ce­ment­ed it­self as one of the most pow­er­ful and talked-about cul­tur­al pro­duc­tions of the Car­ni­val sea­son. Pa­trons have de­scribed it as “deeply mov­ing,” “flaw­less­ly pro­duced,” and “a nec­es­sary re­minder of who we are as a peo­ple,” prompt­ing an im­me­di­ate re­turn this year.

“The pro­duc­tion mas­ter­ful­ly blends live mu­sic, heart­felt trib­utes, and in­spired per­for­mances by to­day’s lead­ing artistes, all ho­n­our­ing the gi­ants whose mu­sic shaped the soul of T&T. It has been wide­ly praised for its au­then­tic­i­ty, mu­si­cal ex­cel­lence, and emo­tion­al depth—bring­ing laugh­ter, tears, and thun­der­ous ap­plause in equal mea­sure,” Spek­taku­la Pro­mo­tions said.

Tick­ets are priced at $300 re­served and $250 gen­er­al. They are avail­able at Cros­by’s, Jum­bo Foods (Barataria), Mart’s Liquor Palace (Diego Mar­tin), Ken­ny’s Sports (all lo­ca­tions), West­ern Union (Tu­na­puna), Xtra Foods Su­per­mar­ket (all), Atherlys By The Park and Vali­ni Drugs (both San Fer­nan­do), and NA­PA and SAPA Box Of­fices.

Dig­i­tal tick­ets are avail­able at a $10 dis­count via is­landet­ick­ets.com.

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion, call 734-2302.