In­nis Fran­cis

in­nis_fran­cis@ya­hoo.com

For­mer Na­tion­al Women’s Ac­tion Com­mit­tee (NWAC) Ca­lyp­so Queen Make­da Dar­ius promised and suc­ceed­ed in a grand pro­duc­tion; Pieces of Me con­cert at the San Fer­nan­do Na­pari­ma Bowl re­cent­ly.

The 2020 Ca­lyp­so Queen’s set con­sist­ed of ca­lyp­soes, bal­lads, rock­ers, and reg­gae that had pa­trons out of their seats more so as she per­formed a soul­ful ren­di­tion of Whit­ney Hous­ton’s Sav­ing All My Love For You.

A smil­ing Dar­ius ap­peared in the sec­ond half of the show host­ed by Mor­isha Ran­some and Eu­nice Pe­ters in shim­mery gold­en ap­par­el brought out by the North West Laven­tille Cul­tur­al Move­ment.

Dar­ius, who hails from La Brea, be­gan her set with fel­low ca­lyp­son­ian and for­mer Na­tion­al Ac­tion Cul­tur­al Com­mit­tee (NACC) Young King Ad­de­lon “Ban­jela” Brave­boy singing Tis the Sea­son. This set the pace for Dar­ius’ spo­ken an­no­ta­tions and snip­pets in­to the evo­lu­tion of her ca­reer as a ca­lyp­so artist.

Blessed with the gift of voice, Dar­ius kicked off her glass slip­per and worked the stage to de­liv­er hits af­ter hits that in­clude her win­ning item Not Mar­tin, Shame by El­la An­del, Good­bye to the Sum­mer, Red, Red Wine, and An­cient Rhythm.

She said: “I shock them to the core be­cause I sing bal­lads too but peo­ple don’t know that. The show was about my life sto­ry and stages of my life, every artiste on the show would have been some­one im­pact­ed my life, even the peo­ple in the back­ground…and the pieces were the dif­fer­ent gen­res of mu­sic that made me who I am. The spon­sor asked to take a show to Port of Spain but there were no venue avail­able on Re­pub­lic Day or In­de­pen­dence Day.”

Makeda Darius and Addelon “Banjela” Braveboy singing Tis the Season.

INNIS FRANCIS

En­dorsed by fel­low ca­lyp­son­ian Michael “Sug­ar Aloe” Os­ouna who lament­ed Dar­ius’ growth and tal­ent­ed skillset; he said: “once she stick it out, she has far to go.”

Aloes al­so per­formed Love Don’t Love Any­body, Signs of the End of Times, and I Love Be­ing Me with bud­ding young­ster Zachary Ran­some.

Chair­man of TU­CO South Cen­tral Zones Steve “Ras Kom­man­da” Pas­call and cousin to Dar­ius al­so called for the show to be tak­en to Port-of-Spain.

The show was far from fin­ished and wel­comed com­mand­ing per­for­mances from pan­nist Joshua Re­grel­lo who played Play Pan Man Play, Tri­ni To the Bone, and Pum Pum.

Ban­jela al­so sur­prised the au­di­ence as he per­formed be­tween two mir­rors Michael Jack­son’s Man In the Mir­ror be­fore join­ing Dar­ius on stage with the song, Tis The Sea­son.

To­ba­go’s Sharon Phillip made a bold im­pres­sion dur­ing her set, singing Phoenix Rise, and The Slave; and Jime­cya Bur­nett per­formed I’ll Rise Up by An­dra Day.

Ca­lyp­so Monarch 2020 Ter­ri Lyons raised the roof with a mes­mer­iz­ing per­for­mance of songs Cah Take My Joy, Ca­lyp­so, and Fling Bam Bam.

Dar­ius said she was hap­py that the show was a suc­cess. A sec­ond show is planned for next year.

North West Laventille Cultural Movement dancers.

INNIS FRANCIS

Makeda Darius entertains in style.

INNIS FRANCIS

The audience on their feet during Makeda Darius’ performance.

INNIS FRANCIS