By Tiffny Rhodius
The national finals of the children’s Mashramani competition continued yesterday with the calypso and dramatic poetry competitions at the National Cultural Centre.
In the dramatic poetry all the lines were remembered but the contestants appeared to be in a haste to perform and in one case a costume that was too tight saw some slips and falls but there were well articulated poems with strong messages.
Meanwhile, in the calypso competition, backup singers, dancers and other props were not enough to draw the full support of the crowd. Now and again a performance would get the crowd clapping in appreciation and joining in on the performance but most times it seemed that the contestants were only performing for the judges.
Results: Dramatic Poetry
The morning session saw the younger children performing first and the bauxite region, Region Ten, dominating. Region Ten took first place in both the 5-7 and 8-10 categories.
In the 5-7 group, the poem ‘Is Dis Yuh Culture’
presented by Trickhika Bobb of Amelia’s Ward Primary was well articulated and dramatized. Bobb’s poem was about a homeless person who condemned the rest of the society for their careless disposal of garbage and encouraged them to change their ways and make Guyana a cleaner place.
Second and third place went to Bryan Hosea of Santa Rosa Primary and Altouise Thorton of Vryheid’s Lust Primary respectively.
Hosea’s poem, ‘Lament of a child’, told of the abuse a child received at the hands of his mother while Thorton’s ‘Dis is we’ was a poem celebrating the many races in Guyana.
However, Thorton’s skirt failed to accommodate her kicking action so when she did she ended up falling.
The brave girl got up, however, without missing a beat and continued with her poem.
And in the 8-10 category, from Regma Primary, Shelly Ann Tappin’s ‘Po Lil Me’ poem told of a young girl who was yearning for an education but was instead abused physically, sexually and verbally by her parents. Her dramatization was effective enough to earn her first place.
Meanwhile as the day progressed, the older children took the stage and Georgetown shared the winnings with Region Four.
In the 11-13 category, Gem Walker of Paradise Primary had the crowd chanting ‘Guyana Meh Say’ during the dramatization of his poem with the same title.
His patriotic poem earned him the first place while in the 14-17 category St Stanislaus College’s Tennell Pierre in a zombie dramatization was the life of the afternoon session.
Pierre’s poem ‘Judgement Day’ portrayed a dead woman telling of the negative choices that she had made while alive. The stage was turned into a burial ground and Pierre rose from her grave and told of her carefree life. She then contracted HIV and lamented her ignorance when she was alive.
Results: Calypso Finals
In the calypso round persons sang the praises of teachers as well as the hardships that they face in this country. Other performers stressed the importance of uniting as a people and featured other social issues that are currently affecting the society.
In the 5-7 group the bauxite region again took first place. Young Ronaldo Ramsay’s ‘Teacha Teach Me’ implored the teachers to teach him good and “don’t beat me with that big, big wood”. However his performance had to take second place to Regma Primary’s Sharmara David whose ‘Uniting’ was lively, clear and well sung.
In third spot was Soesdyke Primary’s Shaina Rodney who did ‘De Advantage Done’.
And in the 8-10 category, Region Seven’s Travanah Colinet took the first place with her
‘Mashramani’ song. Colinet’s adorable smile, frilly costume and good vocals were more than enough to win the judges over.
Meanwhile, the older group saw Georgetown winning the 11-13 group while Region 10 won the 14-17 group.
Andre Dueshury of St Pius Primary performed ‘Teacher, Teacher’ for Georgetown and Mackenzie High’s Ronel Gonsalves performed ‘Teenage Pregnancy’.
Dressed in a graduation gown along with background dancers, Dueshury praised his teacher singing that “because of you I learn to spell” and he sang his thanks to the teacher for staying in the business even though it did not pay well.
Gonsalves’ song warned young boys and girls of the hardships that teenage pregnancy can bring. He also stressed the importance of saying no.
He sang to the young girls that the men “only wan big ya belly” and to the boys he asked them if they were ready for a little one to be calling them “daddy”.
The calypso performances were backed by live music provided by the Mischievous Guys band.
The national finals of the children’s competition will come to a close today with the costume competition.
Tomorrow there will be the children’s costume parade which will be departing from Parade Ground.
