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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, October 28, 2020 (DBSKN) — Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis is once again the platinum sponsor of King Socrates’ Legends Calypso Tent whose rehearsals opened Tuesday evening October 27 at the OOJJ’s Complex in Camps.

“I want to thank the management of Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis for once again partnering with the Legends Calypso Tent where we can host a feature of a carnival, the calypso show, and competition,” said decorated calypsonian and reigning Senior Calypso King, Mr Sylvester Hodge who is better known by his stage name King Socrates.

Reflecting on Legends Calypso Tent’s relationship with the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, the seven times National Calypso Monarch, King Socrates told the Bank’s Marketing and Product Development Officer, Ms Chantelle Rochester, that it has been the only bank that has come on board and supported Legends Calypso Tent as a platinum sponsor now for the last four years.

In presenting the sponsorship cheque of $10,000 to Mr Sylvester Hodge, Ms Rochester, informed him that the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis is cognisant of the fact that the people of St. Kitts and Nevis are proud of their culture and will go to great lengths to preserve it for future generations.

“The Board of Directors, Management and Staff at the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis recognise you as one of our great cultural icons,” noted Ms Rochester. “It is heart-warming to note that at the Legends Calypso Tent you are passing on your calypso skills of writing and performing to persons who will be competing against you for the Senior Monarch crown. The Federation cannot ask for a better cultural icon.”

At OOJJs Complex on Tuesday evening, Band Leader Mr Gavin Charles said the rehearsals will continue for the rest of the week as the calypsonians at the Legends Tent practice for the up-coming season, noting that at the tent they have over the years always felt that calypso needed to be modernised. Also present was Legends Calypso Tent’s M.C. Ms Sandra Byron, better known as Sandra B.

“This year we were given that opportunity, so we came together tonight to start getting prepared for the show that is slated for the 14^th of next month,” said Mr Charles. “So we came to start gelling together, meeting the new calypsonians as we have a lot of new members. A lot of the calypsonians were introduced to us tonight and we basically started scheduling rehearsals for the rest of the week.”

One of the new calypsonians is 20-year-old Ms Nyailah Walters, who is an aspiring local R&B artiste whose music is produced by King Socrates. She explained that she decided to take part because calypso is a part of her heritage, as it speaks a lot about St. Kitts and Nevis.

“In terms of expectations I expect that it will not be an easy road to be honest – there will be some challenges,” said Ms Walters. “I will do it with an open mind, but I know I will be nervous about it especially coming closer to the whole competition, knowing that I have to compete against the legends.”

She added: “The whole other frightening part about it would be the fact that I have to go up and if I make it to the finals I will have to be competing against King Socrates. He is a whole legend by himself to be honest, and I really admire him a lot. So if I will win or lose I will accept the whole experience as a journey that I have taken to become a better person and know more about myself and my whole heritage.”

According to King Socrates, there are two calypso tents, the other being Proud Sounds, and will start on Saturday November 14. He has 17 calypsonians in his tent, and they are hoping to utilise the Carnival City where it can be better managed, and with tickets being sold ahead of time they will know who will attend. That way, if there will be a need for contact tracing thereafter it will be easy to monitor that one location.

Due to the continued threat by the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that Emergency Powers Regulations were extended from October 19 to December 31, 2020, King Socrates noted: “If there is a number set by the NEOC that this is our cut-off limit for persons attending, we will have to be governed by the protocols.”  

He observed: “We will have the calypso tents, then eliminations one and two, from that they select fifteen calypsonians to go up against the reigning monarch, that happens to be myself, So we will have sixteen persons competing on that night doing one song, whereas on the final night normally we just have eight, doing two songs. So they won’t have any semi-finals, from eliminations we go straight to the finals, sixteen calypsonians doing their best to capture the monarch.”