TC wins at last... and how!

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For years now, Barbados' TC has been one of those 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride' kaisonians.

Second and third place knew her well and even though she was a perpetual finalist in Barbados' Calypso Monarch contest and a regular finalist in the Party Monarch contest, she never could seem to make the breakthrough.

Sometimes the judges seemed to mess her up, preferring 'shareholders' like Red Plastic Bag and Gabby to her and sometimes she was her own worst enemy like in 2005 when she had the Calypso Monarch title in her hand after a brilliant first half and then just dashed it away with a weirdly low-key performance of her bigger song in the second half.

But...she did it at last!

Today at Farley Hill, TC won not just the Party Monarch contest but the first ever Sweet Soca (aka groovy soca) contest with her big tune Hot Sun and Riddim.

No longer will she have to endure the 'she's a great calypsonian but..."  discussion.

She got crowns now.

Honestly, the Party Monarch result took folks by surprise, especially since TC was one of three contestants who just re-sang the song they performed like... an hour earlier in the Sweet Soca contest.

The only difference was that she did the 'road mix' of it but I don't know how many people picked up on that.

But for sure, she deserved her Sweet Soca win - even though there were other people with more popular songs going in like Natahlee's What We Do and Mikey's I In Dat, her performance and presentation was simply above the rest.

In the Party Monarch it was more like... well, why not TC? Again, none of the other contestants with bigger songs (Mikey, we looking at you again with the party-smasher Riddum Sekshun) raised the level of their game to a point that made you say 'ye, dem got de crown for sure'. TC's performance was not as surprisingly fresh as it was in the Sweet Soca contest obviously but she did change up the presentation and her costume somewhat and the song got people moving.

So why not TC? She's certainly waited long enough and this like it is the year for islandistas to sweep some titles.

Congrats to her from us here at islandista.

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First black Miss England is an islandista!

 

 



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The first black Miss England in the contest's history was crowned today and she is an islandista!

Rachel Christie, the niece of Jamaican-born British sprinter and Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie, was crowned Miss England in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Rachel is the daughter of Linford's late brother Russell who was also an athlete before he became caught up in unsavoury stuff. When she was just eight years old, her father was stabbed to death in a drug war.

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Following in the family tradition, Rachel is also an athlete - a heptathlete who trains with her uncle at the Linford Christie stadium in Hammersmith. 


 



She actually got into beauty contests with the idea of funding her athletics career, admitting frankly in an interview with the Independent:


I'm just an athlete at the minute, which means I'm unemployed and I'm broke. Modelling could fit round training in a way that a lot of other jobs couldn't."

 She had a close call a few days before the contest when she got into a car accident in Acton and suffered whiplash and bruised legs that almost caused her to miss the first round of the contest.

Christie is fully aware of the historic nature of her being in the contest. Just a few days ago, she commented on the dearth of black entrants in beauty contests, saying:

"I don't know why so few black girls enter. I think they think they won't win because beauty queens always have blond hair and blue eyes. I think they need to advertise more to change that. I'd be so proud if I were the first black Miss England.

And now she is. Congrats to Rachel!

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Queen Fay-Ann!

Tell them that ah tough like iron

When ah done wid dem,

Dey bound to know know why mih name is Fay-Ann Lyons.

What did we say, nuh? Who could beat de lady wid de carnival baby? Not a man - or woman!

As expected, Super-preggy Fay-Ann Lyons won the Road March, sweeping all three soca titles and making her the 'winning-est' woman ever in Trinidad Carnival.

 The news just came through a short while ago.

She now has five titles, including an unprecedented three Road March titles - surpassing the great Calypso Rose's two Road March titles and equalling her for back-to-back wins and a Carnival sweep.

Despite all the talk about Destra Garcia being close, in the end it was a proper cut-ass by Mummy Lyons-Alvarez, with Fay-Ann's 'Meet Super Blue' getting 410 plays to Destra's 'Bacchanal' a distant second with 76 plays.

Congrats Queen Fay-Ann!

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Real islandistas RALLY!

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That's right. Thought we were just interested in fashion, music and suss? Nah - islandistas are Caribbean through and through and that means we love West Indies cricket - not just for the liming and all-inclusive partying from the Mound to the Trini Posse stand but the game itself.


 

True, it has been often been hard to love for the last decade and a half but islandistas ent sissies. We hang tough and keep rallying. And every now and then - like yesterday, we are rewarded for hanging in there and remembering that West Indies cricket is bigger than just the current crop of players. It goes to the heart of our Caribbean-ness - at least, for us in the English-speaking Caribbean.


Yesterday's innings defeat of England was one to savour. So here are a few pics of the action. Enjoy.

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