Innis Francis
Young Xhaiden Darius and Kai Anthony Salazar are the 2023 South Primary and Secondary School Calypso Competition champions.
Darius took a winning streak from his 2023 Calypso Queen mother Tamieka Darius and secured the primary school title in the competition, which was at the San Fernando City Hall Auditorium on Wednesday.
The six-year-old Point Fortin Roman Catholic pupil, clad in his school uniform, performed Mr Gunman, a song composed by calypsonian and former extempo champ Brian London.
The second-year pupil’s melodious rendition kept the judges mused and the audience singing each hook; as the song evolved and rehashed a real-life situation in a classroom and gunmen at play outside of a school recently.
The youngster, after performing, exited the stage with a winning smile and joined his school friends and his mother, saying, “I am hungry.”
Following closely behind Darius was St Gabriel’s Girls’ RC School’s Azariah Franklin, who sang Positive Improvement, and Emma Roberts, who delivered It is Alleged, in second and third respectively.
Bringing an A-game in the Secondary School’s category, Salazar, of St Benedict’s College, La Romain, retained his title, again with a Londo composition titled My Future Plans.
With this calypso, Salazar, a Form Two pupil, made an earnest plea of a self-proclamation to be an honest man and a good father when he reaches of age.
Salazar, 13, won the competition in 2020 and said he felt “ecstatic” about the back-to-back victory.
