April 29, 2004 – The mighty outsider walked away with the 2004 V.I. Calypso Monarch crown Thursday night, and the crowd caught up in the chorus of "Mudada go home and leave the people's business alone!" didn't mean it for a minute.
Brother Mudada, a transplanted Trinidadian, won the right to compete for the V.I. calypso monarch title for the first time this year. He won fans in the calypso tents and favor at Saturday's Heineken Calypso Revue. And on Thursday night, he won the judges' nod to succeed Whadablee, who held on to the crown for an unprecedented five straight years.
In addition to "Mudada Go Home" — with its lyrics about rejection as a just-come calypsonian — Mudada also performed "Sweeter and Sweeter," a paean to a mature partner which proved to be another audience pleaser. "As you get older, you're getting sweeter," he sang. "You're getting better, sweeter than sugar…"
His rendition of "Mudada Go Home" in Lionel Roberts Stadium included a guest appearance by Trinidad's 2003 Calypso Queen, Singing Sandra, who came onstage to console him. Then, after joining in on the chorus, she hefted him onto her back and carried him off the stage.
Mudada, whose given name is Allan Fortune, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the last year, which made him eligible to compete for the V.I. Carnival calypso monarch title. In addition to winning the crown, he also received $5,000.
"Well, I'm so overwhelmed, I don't know what to say," he commented Thursday shortly after midnight as Singing Sandra (Sandra De Vignes) and fellow Trinidadian emigre Chalkdust (Hollis Liverpool) offered their congratulations. "But I can say thanks." he continued. "I really appreciate it."
"We go back for years," Liverpool, a faculty member at the University of the Virgin Islands for several years, said in reference to Mudada. In Trinidad, "one time he came second behind me, in 1976. And then he came to St. Thomas."
Mudada's 1987 Trinidadian song "The Mecca" appears as No. 60 on the "Top 100 Calypsos of the 20th Century" list compiled from an online poll conducted by Kaisoca International, a Toronto-based calypso research organization.
There was territorywide representation among Thursday night's honorees:
First runner-up was King Generic (Maurice Benjamin of St. Thomas), who wowed the crowd with his song "Bull Ship."
Second runner-up was King Kan-Fu Plentae (Campbell Barnes of St. Croix).
Plentae also collected the Best Social Commentary award.
Super-T (Myrel Tonge of St. John) received the Best Political Satire award.
And Most Improved honors went to Trashrow (Chester Cromwell of St. Thomas).
Whadablee (St. Clair deSilva of St. Thomas) didn't compete this year, instead serving as chair of the V.I. Carnival Committee's calypso division. But he made an appearance Thursday night as a featured performer, singing a new song, perhaps suggestive of things to come: "I'm Taking a Break."
Jean Etsinger also contributed to this report.
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