Helon Francis Breaks His Silence on the Calypso Monarch Mic Controversy
From Corie Sheppard Podcast · 1:20:14
Show by Corie Sheppard
Send us Fan MailWhat really happened when Helon Francis' Calypso Monarch performance was interrupted during the television broadcast? Was it a technical failure, something deliberate, or a controversy that exposed deeper issues within the calypso fraternity?Two-time National Calypso Monarch and former Independent Senator Helon Francis joins us on The Corie Sheppard Podcast for a revealing conversation about calypso, politics, artistic integrity and his extraordinary journey.For the first time on our platform, Helon speaks at length about the controversy surrounding his 2026 Calypso Monarch performance of “Doh Forget.” He shares how he discovered that part of his performance had not been broadcast, his reaction to the public outcry, and why he was disappointed that no official apology or explanation was personally communicated to him.We also explore his views on the selection and judging of calypsonians, the challenges facing political and social commentary, and why he refuses to compromise his writing to satisfy anyone.Beyond the controversy, Helon takes us back to growing up in Cascade, his family's calypso heritage, learning to write under George Martin, and studying music at university.We also discuss his historic experience as a Calypso Monarch serving in Trinidad and Tobago's Senate, what independence really means in Parliament, and why he voted against the Property Tax Amendment Bill.From the calypso stage to the Senate chamber, this is a conversation about culture, conviction, creativity and the responsibility of speaking for a nation.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎧 SUPPORT THE PODCASTGet early access and extended episodes on Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/coriesheppardpodcast📱 FOLLOW CORIE SHEPPARD📸 Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/coriesheppod👍 Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/coriesheppardpodcast𝕏 Xhttps://x.com/coriesheppod━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━#HelonFrancis #CorieSheppardPodcast #Calypso #TrinidadAndTobago #CalypsoMonarchSupport the show
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