Groovy Soca Monarch semi-finals last Thursday. Power Soca Monarch semi-finals on the Friday after that. Hosting the Piton Soca Starz finals last Saturday and then performing at the Calypso semi finals on Sunday. In the end Melissa Moses aka Q-Pid made history this week by qualifying for the Calypso Monarch final as well as the Power and Groovy Soca Monarch finals. And she may even go for a four-play with a shot at the Road March title too.
So with the demise of the self proclaimed Superman of Carnival, Q-pid may very well be Saint Lucia’s carnival queen of steel this year.
“I am very happy to be making history and it was a big sacrifice that paid off in the end,” a very bubbly Q-Pid told the STAR this week. “As a woman I feel so blessed and with the women in particular rallying behind me at the shows and at the tents, this really took my breath away.”
Q-Pid has been making her mark on the Soca arena here for ten years with a number of popular Groovy and Power Soca songs. When asked why she decided to get into Calypso this year, she responded: “I always wanted to try my hand at Calypso. For me this is like the mother of Soca, but it is an art-form which allows you to express yourself further and touch on topics you wouldn’t in Groovy or Power Soca.”
And so, three weeks before the opening of the Calypso season after recording a number of Groovy songs and a power Soca track for 2013, Q-Pid came up with an idea, then a verse for her first Calypso.
“I went to a few writers, but they were either too busy, did not take me seriously, or they wanted to give me songs dealing with politics.
“I figured for my first time in Calypso this was not the route I wanted to take,” the mother of two told us. At that point she went home and started writing a second song, which turned out to be “Woman.”
With lyrics on paper and a melody in her head, three days before the show Q-Pid approached Martin James of the police band for help with musical arrangements for both songs to which he obliged.
On opening night at Take Over Tent Q-Pid took everyone by surprise, even the so-called “big-guns” of Calypso with her renditions. Despite that, Q-Pid says her acceptance into Calypso was somewhat divided at first.
“Some people close to me discouraged me saying it was not my thing, that I am a Soca artiste,” she said. “Yet, there were a few friends who encouraged me to go for it.”
While she has received no messages of solidarity or congratulatory remarks from any women’s organizations here, Q-Pid says the support and calls from friends, fans and persons unknown to her all of last week, have been overwhelming.
“This has really motivated me and I now feel compelled to go out there next weekend and do my best to deliver great performances for all my supporters,” she says.
On Saturday July 13 Q-Pid will be competing in the finals of the Groovy Soca Monarch with the song “Chipping” and in the Power Soca Monarch competition with “Crossover.” Both competitions will be held on the same night.
Sunday, July 14 is all about the Calypso finals where she will come up against ten contenders including two other women. Her songs; “The Dream and “Woman.” Q-Pid says her mission is to celebrate ten years of contributing to Saint Lucia’s Carnival and to live out her dream as a strong Saint Lucian woman.
