The youngest per­former to grace the Grand Stand Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah (QPS), Port-of-Spain stage in yes­ter­day’s 2025 Ju­nior Ca­lyp­so Monarch says he is on a mis­sion to save the art form.

And eight-year-old Xhaiden Dar­ius, of Savonet­ta Pri­ma­ry School, is well on his way to achiev­ing this goal, af­ter he bet­tered 14 oth­er much old­er stu­dents with his song Ca­lyp­so Will Sur­vive to take the ti­tle.

“At my age, be­tween me and you, and no mat­ter what they say is true, I want all of them to know I would nev­er stop singing ca­lyp­so...and I will take a page or two from Broth­er Mar­vin and Su­per Blue,” Dar­ius sang dur­ing his per­for­mance.