Kali­fa Clyne

Ca­lyp­son­ian Michael Os­ouna (Sug­ar Aloes) is call­ing on the Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans Or­gan­i­sa­tion (Tu­co) to al­low more artistes in­to the Ca­lyp­so Monarch fi­nals.

Os­ouna made the ap­peal while speak­ing to the me­dia af­ter yes­ter­day's draw for po­si­tions for the Ca­lyp­so Fi­es­ta semi­fi­nals at Skin­ner Park to­mor­row, in which 40 con­tes­tants will com­pete for fill 11 spots in the fi­nals set for Car­ni­val Thurs­day.

"I be­lieve that be­cause of the fact that the Ca­lyp­so is on its own that night with no oth­er com­pe­ti­tions that they can in­crease the num­ber.

"In­stead of get­ting 11 to meet one, bring in four­teen to meet one and if the singing of two ca­lyp­soes is the prob­lem, chut­ney singing one for a nice prize, so­ca singing one for $2 mil­lion, let us sing one for our one mil­lion dol­lars," Os­ouna said.

He said in that way more ca­lyp­so­ni­ans could be ac­com­mo­dat­ed.

"Long be­fore Keshorn Wal­cott was born, be­fore Hase­ly Craw­ford and Wendy, ca­lyp­so put T&T on the map. Small is­land pride, Rum and Co­ca Co­la, Kitch­en­er, Spar­row, you name them, ca­lyp­so put T&T on the map."

Os­ouna said no Gov­ern­ment in T&T had ever mar­ket­ed Car­ni­val.

"We are the ones that mar­ket Car­ni­val, the Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, the mas men, the pan­men. What we do, they can't do it."

He said de­spite this, Gov­ern­ment act­ed as though they were do­ing ca­lyp­so­ni­ans a favour when they gave fund­ing.

"It's as if we are beg­ging them for some­thing. We are the ones that go out and mar­ket the prod­uct and when we come back the coun­try ben­e­fits."

Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans will per­form one song for the semi­fi­nals of the com­pe­ti­tion on Sat­ur­day and will per­form two songs for the fi­nals of the com­pe­ti­tion.

List of per­form­ers for to­mor­row's Ca­lyp­so Fi­es­ta in or­der of ap­pear­ance.

1. Alex Gift

2. Al­lan For­tune

3. Kurt Allen

4. Vic­tor Mc­Don­ald (Mr Mac)

5. De­von Seales

6. Giselle Fras­er Wash­ing­ton

7. Les­ley Ann El­lis

8. Hen­son Wright

9. Shami­ka De Noon

10. An­tho­ny Hen­drick­son (All Rounder)

11. San­dra Des Vi­gnes (Singing San­dra)

12. Sean Daniels

13. Ran­dolph Hi­laire

14. Alana Sin­nette

15. Kizzy Ruiz

16. Lynette Steele (La­dy Gyp­sy)

17. My­ron Bruce (My­ron B)

18. Michelle Hen­ry

19. Mar­i­on Pam­ponette

20. Car­los James (Skatie)

21. Mar­va McKen­zie (Mar­velous Mar­va)

22. Eu­nice Pe­ters

23. Win­ston Scar­bor­ough (De Fos­to)

24. Rod­er­ick Gor­don (Chucky)

25. Michael Leg­ger­ton (Pro­tec­tor)

26. Michael Os­ouna (Sug­ar Aloes)

27. Helon Fran­cis

28. Nicole Thomas

29. Khadi­jah An­toine

30.Heather McIn­tosh

31. Ros­alind Reid

32. Karen Ecles

33. Vic­to­ria Hoop­er

34. Dil­lon Thomas

35. Ter­ry Lyons

36. Hol­lis Liv­er­pool (Chalk­dust)

37. Karene As­che

38. Shel­don Nugget

39. Er­ic Tay­lor (Pink Pan­ther)

40. Mar­sha Charles (La­dy Adana)