He's Bacckkk!

Karessah, the only calypsonian who is capable of giving King Dice nightmares, even when he's awake, is back for the 2015 calypso season with a vengeance. After missing the finals last year, Karessah, based on his performance at the Eliminations on Sunday night at the Harlem Plaza in Newtown, appears to have a dice made up of only sixes as he began a campaign to dethrone Dice, the seven-time King of Dominican calypso. Calypso fans, he's bacckkk!

"It was a fantastic night," Davidson "Observer" Victor of the Dominica Calypso Association (DCA) said on DBS radio this morning. "We expected the Karessah to come back and give the usual top class performance that Karessah is noted for. Karessah certainly lived up to that expectation of the public."

At the first major calypso show of the 2015 season, the Calypso Eliminations, the DCA selected twelve out of 65 registered calypsonians to move on to the Quarter Finals scheduled to be held on 17 January 2014.

Amongst the twelve are two newcomers: Sheldon "De Professor" Alfred, a former Junior Monarch who thinks he's now big enough to take on the seniors, and Beo, a musician who has crossed over to calypso.

The others are: Karessah, Daddy Miller, Haxey, Soul Puss, Alisha, Della, Lady Star, Comforter, Mask Eruption and Vigilante.

The calypsonians were judged on their lyrics and melody. They performed two verses and two choruses and sang with the band provided or acapella.

The DCA also selected three reserves in the event that one or more of the twelve chosen at the Eliminations, or other calypsonians who were in the finals last year and who will join the group in the Quarters, drops out before the Quarter Finals Show. The reserves are: Sting Ray (first position), Liberator (second) and Caribbean Rose (third).

"It is important to note that the person who comes in the first position of the reserves will be the first person to move forward in the event that one person is unable to take part in the Quarter Finals," Observer said.