Now that the crown is firmly fitted on the head of Chalkdust for his innovative (at least) composition this carnival it wouldn't hurt for the fraternity to reexamine itself after what I consider to be one of the most lukewarm competition in years. I kept asking myself as I heard artiste after artiste perform, how the hell they made it and one of the better calysposnians of the season was relegated to the role of reserve. I challenge any calypso fan to listen to the lyrics that Brother Valentino offered in "in Way calyspo went" and come up with a better composition at the Dimanche Gras on carnival sunday night. For those who forget I exalt them to check the work of Skatie, Protector, Kizzy Ruiz, Heather Mcintosh and Ras Komanda in particualr and tell me how they made it. Their work was sub par. Lyrics were jumbled in most cases and melody for the most part very poor.
What surprised even more is that the calyspo fraternity with the exception of Terry Joseph and a general commentary by Ravi Ji didnot rave Bro Valentino's song. In fact when I tuned in to the semis final, one Radio commentator said that Valentino had just schooled us in calypso and that the whole of skinner park was eating up every word from his lips. Yet he was rejected in favor of some week performances.

Today I challenge our media to give Valentino a voice outside of Carnival so that gem "Way Calypso went" could be heard. To me it was the commentary of the season and not to play it would help sink an already battered artform of good social commentary.