Rep Yuh School

In the countdown to the semi-finals of the Scotiabank Junior Calypso Monarch competition in association with the HIV/AIDS Commission, the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) embarked on a ‘Rep Yuh School’ promotional tour to create some hype around this year’s competition, calling for the students, teachers and alumni to wear their school colours in support of their participants.

The objective of this promotion was to show school spirit and unity much like what pertains for the interschool sports, since each young Calypsonian will be participating through their schools this year.

The competition has been divided into four zones – the Northern zone comprising of schools from St. Lucy, St. Peter and St. Andrew; the Southern zone – Christ Church and St. George; the Western zone – St. James, St. Thomas and St. Michael; and the Eastern zone – St. Joseph, St. John and St. Philip.

With the new partnership between the NCF and the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training on the coordination of the competition through the schools, it was a good time for this type of promotional tour that would also bring some awareness to the numerous changes this year.

Among the changes is a mentorship programme assigning well-known personalities within the entertainment industry to assist the entrants of the participating schools with their songwriting, performance and vocal techniques.

The Rep Yuh School tour will take some of the already assigned mentors in the industry into the schools to boost the confidence of the semi-finalists and to generate support from their peers.  The schools chosen were either new to the competition or would have had a number of individual entrants over the years.  The tour began with Vauxhall Primary, St. George Primary and Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary on June 12 and the students were at ‘full hype’ when mentors Cultural Ambassador and Queen of Soca Alison Hinds and former Party Monarch Peter Ram arrived.

On June 13 mentor MR.BLOOD kept the energy pumping for the semi-finalists of the Hindsbury, Hilda Skeene and Blackman & Gollop Primary Schools with his song Calories.

The team will wrap up the four day tour at Lester Vaughan Secondary, Coleridge & Parry Secondary and the Alleyne School, today Thursday, June 20 with two-time former Bashment Soca Monarch Stiffy and tomorrow Friday, June 21 at the Ellerslie Secondary School with Mr. Dale and Adrian Clarke.

The semi-finalists schools on the ‘Rep Yuh School’ tour will be among the total twenty-one institutions at the primary, secondary and tertiary level with individuals vying for the title of Scotiabank Junior Calypso Monarch in the 6-10, 11-14 and 15-18 categories at the Wildey Gymnasium on July 6 and 7 respectively.