DOUBLE CROWN
After being crowned Queen of Calypso last month in Vincy Mas 2023, Fya Empress Sunday night completed the double by snatching the 2023 Vincy Calypso Monarch from 10 other contenders.
Fya Empress, whose real name is Lornette Nedd, out-performed her competitors with “The Price of Neglect” at Carnival City, Victoria Park, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Shena Collis, with “Beat Yo Bad with Calypso,” placed second; Glenroy “Sulle” Caesar (“We Outside”) took the third spot; and Shaunelle McKenzie (“Who to Blame”) placed fourth.
There was, clearly, no place for president of the Brooklyn-based Dynamite Calypso Tent Carlos “Rejector” Providence, who had hoped to “Use The Anthem” when he competed Sunday night in the Grand Finale.
Rejector, a former National Calypso Monarch in Vincy Mas, was the only calypsonian from the Dynamite Calypso Tent to be selected for the Grand Finale. Another member of the Dynamite Calypso Tent, Dennis Bowman (“Do Something”), was named as a reserve.
Others who competed Sunday night were: Phylicia “Nubian Empress” Alexander (“Reckless Driving”); Robert “Patches” Knight (“Do the Right Thing”); Bernard “Reality” White (“I am Calypso”); Omani Cupid (“My Time”); and Cleo “Cleopatra” Hendrickson (“Gun Violence”).
According to Loop Caribbean News, Fya Empress told local media afterwards that she was “elated” and felt that she had accomplished what she wanted to do.
“Fya Empress is a well-known singer and songwriter from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and has performed and won many competitions with several titles under her belt, including the 2017 Vincy Calypso Monarch, the 2013 Ragga Soca Monarch and the 2012 Road March crown,” Loop Caribbean News said.
In late July last year, Fya Empress electrified picnic-goers at the Second Annual Vincy Day Picnic in Brooklyn.
At the time, she brought the crowd alive at Canarsie Park, on Seaview Avenue and East 85th Street, in Brooklyn, ripping them with her signature “True Vincy.”
She also belched out “No Money, No Wuk”; “Lahlo”; and “Rum, Please” from her wide repertoire.
“It’s always good to perform before your own,” the former Ragga Soca Monarch and Road March Winner in Vincy Mas, and three-time Tobago Soca Monarch told Caribbean Life immediately after firing up picnic-goers.
“I’m enjoying every bit of it,” Fya Empress added.
Meantime, in the Soca Monarch Competition in Vincy Mas 2023, Delroy “Fireman” Hooper was crowned Soca Monarch for the twelfth time.
The national radio station, NBC SVG, reported that Hooper first won the national Soca Monarch title in 1999.
Since then, he has won Soca Monarch 12 times from 23 attempts, NBC SVG said.
“This year, 2023, nearly two decades since he began the mad sensation, he brought more ‘Madness’ to win his 12th Soca Monarch crown,” NBC SVG said.
