Charice Walrond Has Her eyes Set on Pic-O-De-Crop

For Charice Walrond it was perseverance and a ride of true ‘Honesty’ about experiences dear to her heart that took her to victory during the 13-18 category of the 2013 Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition. As the curtain falls on her reign, ‘Honesty’ as she is known on stage, shared her memories with Scotiabank Marketing Manager, Amanda Lynch-Foster about her wonderful journey through the Programme.

Scotiabank Senior Marketing Manager, Lisa Cole pledged the company’s continued commitment to the Junior Monarch Programme in 2014 with an increase in the prize money for the competition and a special prize for the Best Junior Soca Song. As a longtime sponsor of the Festival for over 20 years, Scotiabank wanted to do something special for the 40th Anniversary of Crop Over and they saw this increased involvement as an ideal opportunity to cement their support not only for Junior Monarch but also for the Crop Over Festival on the whole.

Charice, who first started competing in the Scotiabank Junior Monarch Competition at the age of fourteen admitted that this journey began with the encouragement of her peer Aziza Clarke. She credited Aziza as being one of the early inspirations for her interest in Calypso, but emphasised that she has since developed her own appreciation for the value of the art form and not just for its monetary gains.

In reminiscing about her reign, Charice recounted fondly her opportunity to perform on a Trinidadian stage, the exposure to methods of performance preparation across the ocean and other lessons learnt, plus a chance to rub shoulders with Trinidadian Calypso legends like Singing Sandra.

The future looks bright for this young Calypsonian who has an interest in songwriting, but says she still has a lot to learn before taking that plunge. One bit of advice that this outgoing Monarch will definitely take on board as a blossoming songwriter is the importance of the message in the lyrics to the deliverer – a lesson that she learnt on her own journey through the competition.

Ronald Davis, NCF Cultural Officer for Music says this is definitely a focus of the Junior Workshops which have been a staple in the Scotiabank Junior Monarch Programme for many years. Davis added, “We always advise songwriters to stay within a medium that is in keeping with the level of the singer. The person’s ability to relate to the message in the lyrics is key to his/her effective delivery of the right measure of emotion required for the particular song.”

He thanked Scotiabank for its continued support and remarked that the growth of the programme would not have been possible without the company’s vision and commitment to the development of our youth.

Charice has her eyes peeled on the 2014 Pic-O-De-Crop and if all goes as planned she will be following in the footsteps of her friend and fellow young calypsonian Aziza who entered the senior competition last year.