Chalkdust delivers his triumphant performance during the 2017 Dimanche Gras show at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Sunday.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad  -Veteran calypsonian Chalkdust (Dr. Hollis Liverpool) broke the record which he held with the Mighty Sparrow ( Slinger Francisco) when he won  the calypso monarch 2017 competition at the Dimanche Gras show at the Queen’s Park Savannah here on Sunday night.

It was the ninth time he has won the coveted calypso crown.

For several years, he and the Mighty  Sparrow held the record for having won the crown eight times.

Attired in  red and white graduation gown, Chalkdust  got the nod from the judges for his rendition of  ” Learn from Arithmetic,” which dealt with the issue of child marriages.

His performance earned  him  $700,000 (TT).

Seventeen singers , more than half of them women, competed for the crown.

Karene Asche, captured second place with “Caught in the Whirlwind” in another of her high quality performances.

Asche’s song lamented the harsh reality of all the ills with which Trinidad and Tobago is now afflicted. She called on citizens to take action now and stand up and be counted since evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Third place was copped by Heather Mac Intosh, who sang “Games”.

Mac Intosh song dealt with the scandal that hit the country when the gymnastics federation bypassed Thema Williams in favour of Marissa Dick, as Trinidad and Tobago’s representative at last year’s Rio Olympics.

In the closing her performance, she brought Williams on stage and introduced her to the audience, which drew a round of applause.

And first time finalist, Terri Lyons, gave a strong performance of her thought-provoking number, “The Phrase”, a song  about the subliminal messages carried by some words or phrases and how they play on the human brain, controlling thought patterns, actions and mindsets.

In her message, Lyons said the phrase “black and ugly” was created to mess with the psyche of people of African descent and called on them to reject any words or phrases bearing negative connotations.

She  placed fourth in the competition.

Full results:
1st. Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool – “Learn From Arithmetic”

2nd. Karene Asche – “Caught in the Whirlwind”

3rd. Heather Mac Intosh – “Games”
4th. Terri Lyons – “The Phrase”

5th. Rondell Donawa – “Lip Service”
6th. Devon Seales – “I Carmona”
7th. Roderick “Chucky” Gordon – “Wha Yuh Doing”

8th. Victoria “Queen Victoria” Cooper – “The Call to Pray”

9th. Lynette “Lady Gypsy” Steele – “Plight of my People”

10th. Anthony “All Rounder” Hendrickson – “To Be An Icon”
11th. Weston “Cro Cro” Rawlins – “Final Sendoff”
12th. Winston” Gypsy” Peters – “Angry Land”

13th. Kurt Allen – “My Corn Tree”
14th. Sasha Ann Moses – “Main Witness”
15th. Lornette”Fya Empress” Nedd-Reid – “Guilty”
16th. Miguella Simon – “Still Colonial

17th. Marsha “Lady Adanna” Clifton – “Social Media”