Ten times calypso monarch winner, Finley “Scholar” Jeffrey has singled out newcomer “I Am G” as the artiste who has caught his eye for the season.
In an exclusive interview with THE NEW TODAY, Scholar said that 2023 is the first time for “I Am G” and he was attracted to him immediately.
He referred to him as “very, very, impressive” and is confident that “once he gets his game” he will make it all the way into the final.
“He’s that ok. He just needs to work on his stagecraft and his presence. He has a way that he looks down sometimes but that will come with experience.
“I saw him and from the minute I saw him the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. I knew I was hearing somebody who had great potential.”
Scholar went on to say: “I will be honest with you, this is a very impressive young man. He needs to hone the craft and he will get it once he continues in it in terms of his delivery and so on – he will have to work on that but song for song this guy is comfortably into the finals. An endorsement like that coming from me you should know.”
One of the songs done by “I Am G” for the season is called “The Fundamentals of Calypso”.
Apart from “I Am G”, Scholar believes that the other calypsonians who are looking good with their material for the season are former monarchs Sour Serpent and Rootsman Kelly as well as Big J, and Randy Isaac.
He referred to Sour Serpent as an artiste who is now “a staple” in Grenada calypso and one whom you can “always expect good things from him.”
Scholar was also impressed with two female singers this year – Nashanda Charles from the sister isle of Carriacou who finished 4th in a previous Dimanche Gras show as well as Messenger who came into the competition from Trinidad and has a good jab jab song called, “The Jab Jab Culture”.
On Rootsman’s hit for the season called “Ah Singing Nothing”, Scholar said it is “a very good song, simple but very effective.”
However, he took particular issue with Rootsman for venturing into the political realm for the first time.
“The only issue that I have …. with him is that when I was singing about politics back then Rootsman used to criticise me and now all of a sudden NDC come in power Roostman thick into the politics and thick in it. So it kind of shows something and I believe that as calypsonians we have to be consistent. If we are singing about politics, we are singing on politics. If you don’t sing on politics you don’t sing on politics – you can’t decide if you sing on politics when certain parties are in power and then you’re not singing when a next one is there then that to me is hypocrisy”.
Scholar also sent a warning to those who are trying to take away the Crown from him on Dimanche Gras on August 10.
“When I go to sing against anybody I keep my eye on everybody but I keep my eye also mainly focused on me and what I can do because I always believe that once I can deliver in the way in which I wish to deliver nobody can’t beat me,” he said.
The Hubbards Kaiso Tent of which Scholar was the manager dominated the season with 15 of the 19 places selected by the judges for the semi-finals last Sunday in Grenville in St. Andrew and with 7 of them occupying the 9 places in the finals.