Sheynenne Hazel is the youngest successful junior female calypsonian. She is almost a veteran at age 9, having participated for the past few years, culminating with a victory at the National Junior Calypso Competition in 2003. This she achieved in a three-way tie with two other competitors. Her song, Can’t sing along anymore, is a damning condemnation of the cheap double entendre lyrics of today’s bards. She delivers it with the conviction of a seasoned campaigner and continues to wow audiences long after the end of the Carnival season.

Karene Asche was one of those three who won the National Junior Calypso Competition in 2003. In 1998, she established herself as a promising youth with Since you’ve been gone, a calypso that dealt with delinquent fathers that contribute to the single parent syndrome. She won the Junior Monarch title that year, which she repeated in 2000 with It leaves me wondering. On the verge of getting into the adult league she sang Vision 20/20 this year and Plight of the Casual Worker. Her third place in the NYAC Stars of Tomorrow competition is indicative of her readiness for the big league.

Patrica Roberts had a most auspicious entry into the Calypso arena with a resounding victory in 2001 with Peace Song and Doh go Dey, two songs composed by the late Lady B. She won both the Junior Calypso Monarch as well as the inaugural Junior Soca Monarch competitions. Despite the demise of Lady B later that year she was able to win both titles the following year with a message to the youth about Aids Education. She continued her ascendancy in 2003 by participating in the elusive finals of the National Soca Monarch competition.

Heather Mc Intosh is now a full-fledged adult female calypsonian though just in her twenties. She is a classic example of the product of the Junior calypso competitions. A one time Junior Monarch she is as much at home on a small stage in a school hall as the grand savannah stage. In 2003, her two hits Ten feet of Rope and Only the fools earned her the unattached Monarch, and a place in the finals of the National Monarch competition. The year before that she was the TUCO unattached Monarch, the NWAC Calypso Queen as well as a National Finalist.

With the vocal clarity, the conviction and confidence in delivery of these budding stars, their senior counterparts, both male and female, will have to maintain high standards to keep these youths at bay.