For­mer Cou­va se­nior ca­lyp­so monarch, Vic­to­ria Coop­er-Rahim, singing un­der the re­gal so­bri­quet of Queen Vic­to­ria, made it clear that she will be a strong con­tender to re­gain the crown when she topped the pre­lim­i­nary round of the 2017 com­pe­ti­tion on Jan­u­ary 28.

Coop­er-Rahim, who took a break from the Cou­va ca­lyp­so are­na over the past few years, has thrown down the gaunt­let this year with a well-craft­ed and time­ly so­cial com­men­tary, ti­tled The Call To Prayer, which urges cit­i­zens to turn to prayer to res­cue the coun­try from its af­flic­tions

She leads a line-up of 14 ca­lyp­so­ni­ans who will come up against de­fend­ing monarch, Geor­gia McIn­tyre, at the grand fi­nals which take place on Feb­ru­ary 24, at Car­ni­val Cen­tre (Cou­va Car Park), a re­lease said.

Caryn Mc Carthy, with her of­fer­ing of Just Ah Name, placed first in the pre­lim­i­nary round of the Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch Com­pe­ti­tion.

She will join sev­en oth­er con­tenders who will try to wrest the crown from the seem­ing­ly un­shake­able hold of his­to­ry-mak­ing N'Janela Dun­can-Reg­is, who goes for her fifth suc­ces­sive ti­tle.

"We are in store for a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar show when the grand fi­nals come around.

"In the se­nior cat­e­go­ry, we have for­mer monarch Queen Vic­to­ria who will be mak­ing a re­turn to Cou­va af­ter con­cen­trat­ing her en­er­gies on the na­tion­al stage. We wel­come her back since she start­ed with Cou­va ca­lyp­so from the ju­nior ranks.

"An­oth­er draw­ing card, of course, is whether any of the ju­niors can stop N'Janela in her tracks.

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Wilton 'Flex' Grif­fith, mem­ber of the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee (CCC) and co­or­di­na­tor of the ca­lyp­so com­pe­ti­tions.

Fi­nal­ists for Cou­vaSe­nior Ca­lyp­so

Vic­to­ria 'Queen Vic­to­ria' Coop­er-Rahim–The Call To Prayer

Natasha Ed­mund–

Youth Pow­er

Malaike Bal­lan­tyne–

Ca­lyp­so and Coun­try

Trevor 'Tu­lu' Bur­nett–

Kitch Wel­comes Jit

Je­lanie Wells–Who Ban Dat?

Ver­non 'Big Fish­er­man' Bereaux–On­ly One Piece

Tam­i­co 'Spicy' Moore–Miss­ing You

Rose­mary "Young Rose' Mitchell–Re­al Free­dom

Cindy 'Nspire' Chand­band–Chances

Nicholas 'Nikko' Ash­by–

An­ces­tors Free­dom Pray

Miguel­la Si­mon–Still Colo­nial

Francesca 'Sweet Mer­le' Lewis-Fran­cois–Can We Rise

Ken­son 'Nin­ja' Nep­tune–Take Yuh Place

Ter­ry 'D Mas­so' Mar­celle–Big Sev­en Na­tions Feed The World

De­fend­ing Monarch: Geor­gia Mc In­tyre

Re­serves:Carl­ton Loui­son–God Eh No Tri­ni At All

Pa­tri­cia 'Dy­nam­ic Vi­va' Smith–Mis­ter Mur­der­er.

Fi­nal­ists for Cou­va

Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so

Monarch Com­pe­ti­tion:

Caryn Mc Carthy–

Just Ah Name

Je­re­mi­ah James–Oh Ma­ma

Faith Hay­wood–Faith

Ja­son James–

Mar­tin Luther King

Takiyah Nurse–Why?

Jahia As­soon–Short Fuh Spite

Jew­el A Mitchell–All On My Own

Monique Mitchell–Trin­ba­go is Mine

De­fend­ing

Monarch:

N'Janela Dun­can-Reg­is