As Culturama 2026 gets closer, a number of pre-activities leading up to its official opening were held over the weekend.
1st, the third TDC Calypso Tent was held at Mem’s Pizzaria on Thursday, July 2nd which saw performances from fourteen calypsonians that will be vying for this year’s Kaiso Crown.
The Calypsonians are the reigning queen Empress Lyric with her new song entitled “Empress Again”, Nutsy with “Donald de Bum”, Bad Man Polo with “Sing for Carbo and for Castro”, West Side “I’m Coming Out”, “Lend a helping Hand” by De Syder, Lady Smooth with “Old Fowl Cook Good Food”, Bonita “Asking for a Friend”, Lady Nevaeh “I got the Blue Print”, Hollywood “Lights Camera and Action”, Drama Queen with “My Last Year”, De Undertaker “Kisses go by Favour”, Dis an Dat with “Culturama Alive and Well”, “More than Destiny” by Mighty Kairo and Pupa Wheeler with “Two islands, 1 federation”.
The TDC Kaiso Semi-Finals will be held on Sunday, July 12th at the David Freeman Centre of Excellence in Gingerland at 8:00 p.m.
Then on Saturday July 4th, the National Bank Night Market and Soca Teaser #4 were jointly held at the Artisan Village from 8:00 p.m.
There were performances by Ras Kelly with his new song called “Blessings”, Tbone “Celebrate”, “Boat Ride” by West Side, Rocco Dan with “Wine”, Ras Browne “Squat”, Pakiss with “Celebrating Life”, Delly Ranks “One Rum Friend”, “Rum and Soca” by Soca Empress, Sky with “All Day” and the reigning groovy King Adowah with “Drinks Spree”.
The Power segment saw performances by reigning Kings Ras Browne and Rocco Dan with their new song “Welcome”, Adowah with “Jammin Boss”, Akedo “Drum and Bass”, Blade with “Down in de Centre”, “Mad People” by Jeezy Sparta, West Side with “Tek u Child”, “Go Go Gadget” by Pakiss and Soca Empress and Ras Kelly with “Let’s Fete”. The National Bank Soca Semi Finals will take place on Saturday July 18th at the Cultural Village. This will also officially mark the opening of the village.
The theme for this year’s Culturama is “Our Heritage, Proud and True: It’s Culturama 52 and is expected to begin on Thursday, July 23rd, 2026.
