Toronto’s Calypso Monarch crowned

Bryan “Structure” Thornhill

Bryan “Structure” Thornhill brought a sold out crowd at the Chinese Cultural Centre’s P.C. Ho Theatre to its feet last Saturday (July 23) when he was crowned the 2011 Kaiso 365 Calypso Monarch champion.

Presented by the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA), Structure won the hotly contested battle between the nine finalists for the fifth time with his renditions “Uprising Is First” and “Trenton Monster.”

The Barbadian-born singer, who also won the coveted People’s Choice Award, took home six other awards
including Best Lyrics, Melody, Presentation, Originality, Rendition and Humour.

Structure, who won the Calypso Monarch title in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, took home a cash prize of $6,000 beating out five-time champion Michael “Beginner” Moore, two-time winner Pat “Pan Man Pat” McNeilly, Denise “Spice” Quammie-Alexander, Newton “Newton P” Philips, Steve “Mr.Wonderful” Clarke, inaugural champion Clieve “King Smokey” Henry, one-time winner Michael “Redman” Thomas and three-time and defending champion Eulith Tara “Macomere Fifi” Woods.

With the victory, he will represent Canada in London, U.K in next year’s Notting Hill Carnival, as part of an exchange program with the Association of British Calypsonians (ABC). As part of the program; last year’s London Calypso Monarch Alexander D’ Great made a special visit and performed several hits.

Structure, who entered the Calypso world in the 1980’s in his native home Barbados with the social commentary “Product of the Classroom,” was a regular in the yearly Pic-O-De-Crop competitions.

In 2002, after immigrating to Canada, he entered the OCPA Calypso Monarch competition and placed
second.

The Calypso Monarch competition attracts singers from across the GTA and beyond and has been held annually in Toronto for the past 30 years.

Here are the final results:

2011 Calypso Monarch Results

• Winner: Bryan “Structure” Thornhill
• 2 (tie):– Eulith “Macomere Fifi” Tara Woods (defending champion) & Pat “Pan Man Pat” McNeilly
• 4: Michael “Beginner” Moore
• 5: Denise “Spice” Quammie-Alexander
• 6: Steve “Mr. Wonderful” Clarke
• 7: (tie) Newton “Newton P” Phillips & Michael “Redman” Thomas
• 8: King Smokey – Clieve “King Smokey” Henry

Special Awards

• Best Lyrics: Structure – Trenton Monster
• Best Melody: Structure – Trenton Monster
• Best Presentation: (tie) Structure – Trenton Monster & Newton P - Old Age Pension
• Most Original Calypso: Structure – Trenton Monster
• Best Rendition: Structure – Trenton Monster
• Best Composition on a local topic: Pan Man Pat – Stop The Gravy Train

Most Humorous Calypso:

• Structure – Trenton Monster
• Best Arrangement: Michael “Skel”
• Redhead – Tackling The Issues (sung by Macomere Fifi)
• People’s Choice: Structure