Sobers is Calypso Queen

UPDATED:

It has been 16 years in the making. It is little wonder then why Stacey Sobers became emotional when she spoke about the win. Sobers won the National Women’s Action Committee’s (NWAC) National Calypso Queen Competition last Monday.

The competition was held at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s Road, Port of Spain.

The soon to be 41-year-old told Newsday, “Anything is possible once you pursue your dreams (pause...emotional), passionately. The goal and the reward is the happiest point of life.”

Allison “Warrior Empress” Bernard came second with Ease She Up and Terri Lyons, who placed fourth last year, came third with Unnatural Causes. Sobers’ winning piece, Queens and Kings spoke about people addressing each other as kings and queens whose actions did not fit the title. She sang , “True royalty don’t do certain things.” Her calypso named people such as Calypso Rose and Martin Luther King Jr as ‘true’ kings and queens.

When contacted, Sobers said, “I feel elated and totally humbled by the win.” Gervon Abraham, Sobers’ husband and manager, came up with the idea for the song.

While Sobers was confident about her performance, she was not certain about the crown. “I was confident about the performance because I know I was going out there to do what I have been working towards, which is winning the competition. I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.”

Sobers entered the competition five times before winning. “I placed fourth in 2015 and was a finalist for the last four that I did,” she said.

“I started singing reggae, actually. I entered Party Time in 1994 with a group called Black by Nature, they used to call me the Local Patra then because I had this quick tongue, so to speak.”

Sobers sings all other genres and in the latter part of her career did soca. Some might know her best for her hit Let Me Know. She is currently at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTATT) pursuing an associate’s degree in music and the arts.

Ultimately, she wants to spread messages of love, togetherness and unity and hopes to be like “the Singing Sandra’s and Ella Andalls, leaving a mark on the industry.” Sobers is a semi-finalist for the National Calypso Monarch semi-final on Saturday at Skinner Park, San Fernando.

Last Monday’s show began exactly at 7.30 pm. Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts brought greetings as well as NWAC’s executive member, Melissa Dennis.

Dennis said this year was hard for the organisation as financial cutbacks resulted in reduced prizes. She called for further assistance from either the public or private sectors. She appealed to the nation not to let the calypso queen competition not die a second death as had happened in 1982.

Different topics were addressed by the queens, with some addressing popular social movements (Genisa St Hillaire’s Life in Leggings), and social ills like “dead beat” parents (Alana “Lady Watchman” Sinnette-Khan’s Dead Beat) and even issues surrounding the death penalty and crime (Morisha Ransome’s Messrs Pratt and Morgan.) The show ended at about 11.30 pm.