Dean Roberts of Ambassadors took a direct swipe at the government with his song “Time to Go!”

During the hosting of  “Kaiso 30” event at Pigeon Island in February, which was held to commemorate Saint Lucia’s thirtieth Independence Anniversary, calypsonian Morgie who typically sang pro UWP songs, heaped fire and brimstone on the ruling UWP administration. The crowd loved it, and called for several encores. Later that evening, a prominent member of the UWP told me that this would be a sign of what is to come, for the carnival season. And so far he could be right.
The Calypso tents opened up on Wednesday May 27, with the South Calypso tent being the first to take the stage at the National Cultural Centre. And whilst there was nothing great coming out of the tent, Calypsonian Nintus who sings mainly positive social commentary and Gospel-Lypso, stole the spotlight. Not only did he receive four encores for the energetic “Escape” but the crowd insisted that the Calypsonian be brought back on to close the show. In his songs Nintus declared to his audience that no government could save us only God.
But it would take Friday and Saturday to really make my UWP friend prediction come true. On Friday evening, during Take Over Tent’s opening night whilst the big guns Walliegh, Herb Black and Ashanti missed the mark, a former inter-commercial house monarch Double C, stole the spotlight. Doing a song called, “Gimme de Ting” which bore similar vocal patterns to that of former Calypso Monarch Bachelor and borrowed heavily from an old Kitchener song, the young Calypsonian received an unprecedented five encores from the audience and they still wanted more. The song was a clarion call for the Prime Minister to do the right thing and “pay up.”
And then there was Saturday, Ambassadors opening night. Again the shareholders in the tent did not move the crowd much leaving once again another youngster to do the trick. This time it was Calypsonian Dean Roberts who begged the government to listen to the people and “just go.” Doing a song entitled “Time to Go” Roberts who made his debut at the Groovy Soca monarch last year received three encores for his performance.
So will this be the trend for the 2009 Calypso season, only time will tell. But despite another season which has started off quite slow, the calypso fans are expecting the Calypsonians to deal with the “issues,” and seem hungry for some good social and political commentary.