Women of Divas Tent vie for Calypso Monarch spot

Calypso women of the Divas Tent showed off their musical talent on Sunday at Kafe Blue, Wrightson Road in Port of Spain, as they brought to the forefront, social commentaries on a host of issues and topics affecting society.

The women came out strong, sweet and hard with songs that touched on topics from nation-building mentality, sexual harassment in the workplace to being patriotic about simple aspects of Trinidad and Tobago's culture such as food and music. They performed for a packed house and 13 judges as they vied for a spot in the National Calypso Monarch competition.

Some of the crowd's favorites were Karen Eccles Thomas, Empress Natty, Sharon Phillips and Queen Voice. Thomas and Natty whose calypsos dealt with issues such as a lack of love, sense of community in society and national pride in Trinidad's food and partying abilities respectively, had the crowd listening attentively and even calling for an encore of Natty.

Phillips delivered a hard hitting commentary on how negative music influenced violence and criminality in the society. She called for musicians to "Bring back some hope in this aimless, shameless society." and urged that it was their "moral responsibility to use your talents for good."

Also notable was Maria Bhola who highlighted the dark issue of sexual harassment by asking in her song "What's the use to say if you sure he'll get away."