DAVID CUFFY

Du­ane O'Con­nor is the 2012 Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch. The reign­ing 2012 Young King Ca­lyp­so Monarch won the ti­tle and $1 mil­lion first prize with his two se­lec­tions The Hunt Is On and Long Live Ca­lyp­so at the fi­nal of the Ca­lyp­so Monarch Com­pe­ti­tion staged as an el­e­ment of the Di­manche Gras show at the Grand Stand, Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, on Sun­day night.

O'Con­nor won the judges' favour, and seem­ing­ly unan­i­mous crowd ap­proval, in de­thron­ing de­fend­ing monarch Karene As­che, who placed third, and rel­e­gat­ing four for­mer mon­archs-Chalk­dust (Dr Hol­lis Liv­er­pool), Cro Cro (We­st­on Rawl­ins), Sug­ar Aloes (Michael Os­una) and Singing San­dra (San­dra DesVi­gnes-Milling­ton)-to places 6th, 12th, 7th and 10th, re­spec­tive­ly.

Sec­ond place went to an­oth­er for­mer monarch Kurt Allen for his se­lec­tions It Is Al­leged and Long Live Ca­lyp­so, while the con­sis­tent De­von Seales copped fourth po­si­tion with One Is One and Snap­shots.

Choos­ing the Crime Watch-in­spired se­lec­tion The Hunt Is On for the first round, O'Con­nor so­lid­i­fied his hunt for vic­to­ry with a per­for­mance un­matched by any oth­er com­peti­tor. He punc­tu­at­ed the song's cho­rus line that says "is Gibbs job he want" by hav­ing host of Crime Watch Ian Al­leyne come on stage in the guise of the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and ut­ter his now fa­mous catch phrase "tonight is wet­ting, wet­ting...".

O'Con­nor, aged 33 years, is no stranger to the ca­lyp­so art form. His list of cred­its are many, and in­clude win­ner of Stars of To­mor­row in 1994 and 1999, sev­en-time Stars of To­mor­row Awardee, two-time Stars of Gold Awardee, eight-time Young Kings fi­nal­ist, five-time Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch se­mi-fi­nal­ist, five-time Un­at­tached Ca­lyp­so Monarch fi­nal­ist, and win­ner of the Eman­ci­pa­tion Ca­lyp­so Monarch ti­tle in 2003. In ad­di­tion to hold­ing the Young King Ca­lyp­so Monarch ti­tle, he is al­so the reign­ing Tu­co North Zone Ca­lyp­so Monarch and win­ner of the 2012 So­cial Com­men­tary cat­e­go­ry.

Re­sults

1. Du­ane O'Con­nor: The Hunt is On; Long Live Ca­lyp­so

2. Kurt Allen: Long Live Ca­lyp­so; When Will It End

3. Karene As­che: Against All Odds; You Will Win The Bat­tle But

4. De­von Seale: One Is One; Snap­shots

5. Heather Mac In­tosh: The Ad­jec­tive; One Gone

6. Dr Hol­lis "Chalk­dust" Liv­er­pool: Shame Mr Shak; How's Dat

7. Michael "Sug­ar Aloes" Os­una: Doh Force Meh Hand; Chi­nese Kid­nap­ping

8. Dex­ter "Stinger" Par­sons: My Rea­son For Be­ing Here; Ad­vice In Song

9. Bri­an Lon­don: Not Bri­an; Doh Com­plain - Come Plain

10. San­dra "Singing San­dra" Des Vi­gnes-Milling­ton: On Turn­ing 50; Why I Sing

11. Les­ley Ann El­lis: Street Jus­tice; Moth­ers and Oth­ers

12. We­st­on "Cro Cro" Rawl­ins: Say Some­thing; Re­lease Them