In the “Big Up Empress” (published in the And I Still Rise blog), Abeni writes about how women are taking over in the usually-male-dominated calypso/soca fields:

In Bump-I’s 2012 calypso he sang about women taking over St Vincent and the Grenadines. His calypso, which almost sounded angry, highlighted the leading roles of women in all spheres of Vincentian life. As if to further strengthen his point a woman walked away with three of the big prizes of Vincy Mas 2012. This is no mean feat given the male dominance in calypso/soca fields.

Lornette “Fya Empress” Nedd wrote her name in the records book by becoming the first person to win the Ragga Soca, Calypso Monarch and Road March crowns. For all I know this is probably the first time a woman has won the ragga soca and road march titles; all of this after being crowned earlier in the year as Trinidad’s Queen of Calypso. In the Soca Monarch competition she placed second behind Skinny Fabulous with former Junior Calypso Monarch Shaunelle Mckenzie placing third making it the best showing ever for women. In recent years the Soca Monarch crown has gone to either Fireman or Skinny and though the Empress gave a spirited performance it was not enough to buck the trend.

2013 promises to be exciting. The women have served notice that they are a force to be reckoned with and the singers have to take note. Congrats to Fya Empress for cracking the glass ceiling.

For original post, see http://hairoun.blogspot.com/

Photo from http://www.socanews.com/music/artists/artists.php?Fya-Empress-146