Reigning Calypso King, Gregory “Karessah” Riviere, has a message for his nine competitors this year.
That message is simple: “It will not be easy to get it (the crown) off the Karessah’s head.”
Karessah, who spoke exclusively to Dominica News Online (DNO) on Tuesday, gave clear indication that he will be defending his crown fiercely.
The Marigot resident is an entertaining Calypsonian and is no stranger to the stage. In fact, he was crowned Calypso King three times, first in 2009, 2010 and 2015 and is “extremely confident” that he will regain that title for the fourth time, this year.
“Based on what I am seeing and what I know is going to happen it will not be easy to get it (the crown) off the Karessah’s head,” he remarked. “I am extremely confident… I know what I am capable of doing and I know what I am about to do.”
He continued, “It begins with the material. You need to have lyrics, you need to have good melody and it ends with performance.”
He indicated, however, that there are challenging songs in the competition this year.
“I will not say that there are no challenging songs in the competition. I heard some very good songs, the nine competitors are really strong, but the tighter the battle, the sweeter the victory,” Karessah noted. “It just shows that calypso in Dominica is becoming very competitive and what really matters is what happens on stage on the night.”
Karessah’s fans and the rest of the public can look forward to his second song he has released for this year’s Carnival season called “Associate Degree.”
The song is written by him and he said it sends clear messages to the youth to not only rely on the Associate Degree; however they should reach for higher heights.
“The name of the second song is “Associate Degree, it’s basically looking at education and promoting higher education, of course people may take it differently but what I really want to bring across is to allow young people to see the value in education and not only relying solely on the associate degree but aspiring for greater heights ,” he explained.
Karessah revealed that he got assistance from Peter Letang of Swinging Stars Fame to do the music.
“The first song is ‘The King is Back’, basically recognizing the fact that I have been out for a year after gaining the Calypso crown,” he noted. “But I have been in touch with the country so I was able to pick up a number of issues at the time and what I decided to do is basically coin it in a creative way, bringing out the issues in a way that nobody has ever done it before.”
Additionally he pointed out that people get offended when calypsonians call their names in song, “so I am saying if you are not able to sing about people then you can maybe sing about animals…”
He advises young calypsonians to “never give up.”
“I basically want to tell them that they shouldn’t give up,” he advised. “Calypso is something you have to be in it for a while and you have to be able to grow in it. You will not achieve everything are the beginning, but if you remain consistent, if you persevere then you will definitely achieve great things. As a young calypsonian you have to understand that calypso is about lyrics and the only way you can get lyrics is by doing a lot of reading… listen to the issues, follow the news.”
He also believes that upcoming calyposians need to look at the other calypsonians who have been striving, “what are the things they are doing that are making them successful.”
He encouraged his fans to turn out in large numbers to support him.
“This is going to be one of the greatest Calypso shows,” he encouraged.
He commends his sponsor, Malcolm Stephen and Sons.
Karessah also encouraged others in the private sector to come forward to sponsor calypsonians.
Listen to Karessah’s ‘Associate Degree’ below:
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Remember on the night of the show its not the fans decision thats final…. its the judges
I see a lot of people choose who is their king already, but Karessah is right….is the performance on the night.,,,that will determine who is king and want’s to be king. long live the king….Karessah.
Karessah, Then one sees no reason why you went overseas to study for your DEGREE since you could further educate yourself in DA without relying on your ASS-sociate DEGREE to aspire to higher heights.
Associate he went to get the masters they doh have it yet
I’m yet to see a handsome calypsonian. Why is that? Well, it has always been this way. Look at Calypso Rose, Sparrow, Kitchie, Shadow, Dice, Pickie and all the younger ones down the line are all ugly looking people.
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I must make a comment, every year is Dice, Dice, Dice, Dice, give another person a chance:
(1) Carissa is a great and witty calypsonian
(2) He composes his own songs
(3) Dice is also a great entertainer, but he does not compose.
It is not fair to give the same person every year, please, please, a lot of people and myself will boycott the show if other people do not get the chance.
My king always, karessah baby…..mwah mwah mwah.
I have to say Sir you are not in it this year. I have been a fan of yours for some time now but after last year’s borrowed idea ‘Flush it’ I have become concerned that you are running out of ideas.
I certainly agree with you
majjjeeee!
I support you 100% hold on to the crown.
And if you don’t, well at least DON’T GIVE IT TO DICE
A whole set of ass-o-ciate in de country…lol
Smart one but not a crown winner in my opinion. My Dominica trade house by the Dice has caught the attention of the public in a BIG way already.
I cannot agree with you more..Dice’s song has over 20, 000 views on Utube compared to Karessah’s 8000+…In fact De professor’s song is even more popular than the kingg’s…it is in 2nd place with 9000+ views…look at the gap between the most viewed sing, Dice’s and the second, De Professor’s…
Well let the popet win lol
with that song “the king is back”???? i don’t think so!!!
It’s a very interesting composition, he is back to defend u from.all the rats…that tried to bite u lol
I want the rats to eat him up. It takes one to know one.
Karessah they just need to give u the doctorate in calypso ,u are phenomenal and without u the show doh have no taste. Good luck and on the night let the best man win.