Last year’s finalist three-time champion Black Sage (Phillip Murray) has failed to qualify for the 2015 final of the National Extempo championship. Black Sage won the championship in 1995, 1999, and 2004, and has been a finalist on many occasions.
At the end of the preliminaries held at Kaiso House in the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, on Monday night, the finalists named were three-time winner Lingo (Joseph Vautor La Placeliere), Francois Ottley, Abebele (Neil Baptiste), Nesta Boxhill, lone female competitor and two-time winner Lady Africa (Leslie Ann Bristow), Myron B (Myron Bruce) and Contender (Mark John).
The event, which has seen an increase in patronage over the years, attracted a full house of listeners who were treated to a very keen contest featuring 25 extempo exponents, in a musical battle of creative wit and ingenuity, seeking to advance to the final and pit their talents against the reigning champion Brian London.
In the first round, each competitor was required to make a blind selection from a receptacle and sing on topics that required knowledge of words, quick thinking and wit in order to create rhyming sentences. Among the more challenging ones were: Lay Your Head On My Pillow, Left Hand Dumpling, Stress Does Kill Yuh, Doh Take It On, The Art Of Making Love, and Who Judging The Judges.
A total of 12 qualifiers from that round were paired and had to sing four verses each on the same topic. The duos were as follows: Myron B and David Brown, Contender and Francois Ottley, Black Sage and Hezekiah Joseph, Fireball and Nyol Manswell, Lingo and Lady Africa, and Abebele and Nesta Boxhill. Their topics included Full-Sized Women, Yuh Need A Bush Bath, Ah Fraid Obeah, Ministers So Backward, and The Fired Ministers. Contestants gaining the highest marks from the round advanced to the final.
The adjudicating panel comprised Rhonda Valentine-Charles, Leon Gordon, Roslyn Jackson, John Victor, Marlon Moore, Jennilyn Hamblyn-Raphael, and Jennifer Crawford, with Krisson Joseph as reserve. Contestants were judged on criteria that included lyrics, rendition, originality, presentation, and repartee.
Musical accompaniment was supplied by Kaiso Moodz, and show host duties shared by Godfrey Pierre and Omari Ashby. Making guest appearances were Singing Francine (Francine Edwards) and Allrounder (Anthony Hendrickson). The final of the National Extempo championship will take place along with the categories final during Kaisorama to be staged at the Grand Stand, Queen’s Park Savannah, on February 12 from 7 pm.
