?When Bro Valenti­no first stepped on­stage at the sixth an­nu­al Vet­er­ans Ca­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tion on Mon­day night, the au­di­ence wel­comed him with the warm re­spect be­fit­ting a cul­tur­al hero.

The show, which was pre­sent­ed by the Na­tion­al Ac­tion Cul­tur­al Com­mit­tee (NACC), in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Con­gress of the Peo­ple (COP), and held at SWW­TU Hall on Wright­son Road, Port-of-Spain, fea­tured ten ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, singing new songs in the first round, and se­lect­ing num­bers from their ex­ist­ing reper­toire for the sec­ond. Ver­sa­tile was first, singing Sin of the Par­ents and Mr Ca­lyp­so. Con­tender, at num­ber two, sang Per­se­ver­ance Does Pay, cel­e­brat­ing his first time at The Big Yard last year. In the sec­ond round, he sang Now Talk, a hu­mor­ous song about young peo­ple's slang. He was well re­ceived both times.

Roots­man's of­fer­ings were Black Holo­caust and the pop­u­lar Rock Me. Bro Valenti­no struck a nos­tal­gic note with No Re­place­ments–be­moan­ing the loss of lyric, wit and wis­dom in mu­sic from yes­ter­year's greats–and his clas­sic Bark­ing Dogs. Or­gan­is­er, flashily dressed, de­liv­ered his hu­mor­ous D Sum­mit–re­call­ing the fa­cade of per­fec­tion T&T tried to present dur­ing the Sum­mit of the Amer­i­c­as last year–and the Nuts Ven­dor, which the crowd loved. Mu­da­da, who sang The Man­tle and Ready to Par­ty, was fol­lowed by Pos­er, with We Should ah Teach Them and Nowa­days.

Pow­er sang Fam­i­ly Ties and Ah Comin, which was a hit with the au­di­ence. Singing Francine sang Moth­ers in Trou­ble and St Pe­ter Say, be­fore guest ca­lyp­son­ian Lord Nel­son ap­peared and re­galed the crowd with a vi­brant and saucy per­for­mance of sev­er­al hits, in­clud­ing La La and Meh Lover.

?The re­sults

1. Bro Valenti­no

2. Or­gan­is­er

3. Con­tender

4. Pow­er

5. Singing Francine

6. Roots­man

7. Mu­da­da and Ver­sa­tile (tied)