1st Place – Lornette ‘Fya Empress’ Nedd
2nd Place – Shernelle ‘Skarpyon’ Williams
3rd Place – Orande ‘Bomani’ Charles
“I feel great; I had fun on stage and I am really happy; this is the first time I have won a competition in my homeland and I am so glad”.
Those are the words of Lornette ‘Fya Empress’ Nedd, the winner of the Friday June 29th National Ragga Soca competition which was held at Carnival City Victoria Park.
Fya Empress who will on Saturday July 7th take part in the National Soca Monarch competition won the Ragga Soca crown with her song ‘Bam Bam Talk’.
The Trinidadian based entertainer who was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines beat 15 other artistes on Friday June 29th during the competition.
After being crowned by Miss SVG 2012 Carice Glasgow, Fya Empress said that she felt “extremely happy”.
She said that going on stage to do the song that was written by herself and her husband ‘Mr. Fuzion’, she felt confident as she had a world class team working behind her and, “everything went as planned”.
Fya Empress who this year made in not only into the Ragga Soca and Soca finals but also the National Calypso finals commented in confidence, “this is the first one down and I am happy”. She added that her performances this year have been better as, “this is a different Fya Empress, a new Fya Empress as I have been coached so I think I am a little more prepared than other years”.
“For soca monarch you should not be looking for a lazy presentation, just come out and prepare to party with my song Rum Please”, said Fya Empress while sporting green cat eyed shaped contact lenses she likes to call, “the hater blockers”.
This is Fya Empress’ second crown for 2012 as earlier this year she won the 28th National Women’s Action Committee (NWAC) National Calypso Queen Competition in Trinidad and Tobago with her performance of a song entitled “Woman”.
She said that now that she has won a crown in St. Vincent, “I now feel as though I am doing something worthwhile”.
“I have a surprise for Soca Monarch and for the Calypso competition so on the nights I want to see women coming out to represent”, said Fya Empress who added that she would like to see women empowering themselves.
“We as women…we only have one rib from the man… so you know the man have power but I can now speak for women..I can be a voice for them” stressed Fya Empress.
Coming in second in the competition was the 2011 National Ragga Soca King Shernelle ‘Skarpyon’ Williams. This is Skarpyon’s second second place for 2012 in major competitions as his song ‘Whine’ also placed him second in the Ragga Soca New Song competition. However the prolific entertainer did not make into the National Calypso Competition in which he placed third last year.
The Ragga Soca Competition saw in third place Orande ‘Bomani’ Charles doing ‘Sagga Boy’ and relative newcomer Hance ‘Man Hans’ John with ‘Down Dey’.
The other participants were Tamisha Nicholls (Talk), Danielle Veira (Tell me), Zoelah Boyde (Jack it up), Cornelius ‘Poorsah’ Williams (Knocking Plate), Frankie ‘Wise Guy’ Thompson (Bumper tun over), Phil ‘Dr. P’ DaSilva (Carnival), Eghorne ‘Troblous’ Alexander (Don’t let go), Aurella ‘Queen B’ Beache (Nice and Sweet), Shaunelle McKenzie (Ruff Rider), Godwin ‘Gao’ Billy (Only money she want), Troots and Ice (Sweet for so), and Reaon ‘Madzart’ Primus (Woman love married man).
This year the show also saw live performances from Jamaican dancehall artiste Garfield Spence aka Konshens. Konshens of ‘Bubble gal ah bubble’ , Skinny Fabulous, Machel Mantano and panists Rodney Small and Rejhuan Baptiste .
Source: Official Website of Carnival Cooperation http://www.carnivalsvg.com
