A battle royale will take place tonight in the Digicel International Soca Monarch and Play Whe Groovy Soca Monarch at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The show starts at 9 pm and will see Machel Montano defending his title with the song “Pump Yuh Flag”. His closest contender is Iwer George with “Jab (No Pain)”.
Tonight’s competition will be a rematch for George, as he and several others thought he should have walked away with the $2 million prize last year. The prize this year, remains at $2 million.
George will perform in position number seven while Montano will be the ninth performer on stage.
Speaking after the draw for positions on Tuesday, George noted the similarity between this year’s positions and last year’s.
“My theme is judgement. The old people have a saying, ‘All unfair games must play over’, so I know deep down in your hearts, you felt as if you were treated unfair last year, and this is an opportunity to play over that unfair game. I know you (his fans) all shout and scream and went home hoarse after Soca Monarch last year. All I have to say is you would have to shout some more this year,” said George.
While Montano could not be reached for comment yesterday Calypso icon Calypso Rose yesterday morning said she would be at the competition to appear on stage with Montano.
This year’s power soca monarch prize is $2 million while the groovy prize is $500,000.
In the Groovy competition the “Palance” boys JW and Blaze (Jason Williams and Ancil Isaac Jnr) will lead off what will be the stiffest Carnival competition when they perform “We Time”.
Self proclaimed “red south boy” Kees Dieffenthaller, doesn’t intend to “Stress Away”. Instead he plans to “come hard” and defend his title. He may just pull in Snoop Dogg, with whom he did a re- mix of the song, “Stress Away” to accompany him on stage for maximum effect.
“Mr Fete,” Montano, is expected to use his 30 years of experience to loom large in the competition.
But singer, songwriter and producer, Kerwin Du Bois, who emerged at the top of the list at the end of the semi-final round of competition, has been working his “Bacchanalist” to great
success in the fetes and soca shows.
Additionally, this talented young artiste has also collaborated with two other finalists, Patrice Roberts (“I Am Soca”) and Destra Garcia (“Baddist”), and may also appear on stage with them.
Roberts said she is still thinking very seriously about it while Destra said with a mischievous laugh, “It’s left to be seen.”
And then there is the “People’s Champion,” Benjai (Rodney Le Blanc). No doubt thousands will be calling Benjai’s name in the Stadium as they sway to the infectious groovy music on the track.
The winners of each category will be determined by a combination of the judge’s decision and text votes by members of the public.
Speaking with Newsday about the competition’s preparations, Gregory Fernandes, adviser to President of the Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) William Munroe, said they were working hard on getting the venue prepped.
He admitted there was a delay due to an event that was hosted recently at the stadium and it took a lot of time to remove the infrastructure but assured everything will be ready in time.
“Based on the preparations, we expect one of the greatest competitions ever. Based on all the artistes, particularly in the groovy, there is definitely sharp competition and all the artistes are going all out so they can have a good chance of winning the competition. Patrons can expect top of the line performances this year,” Fernandes said.
Asked about ticket sales, Fernandez said they were robust and he expected a great turnout tonight.
General tickets are $250 while VVIP tickets are $750. Tickets are available nationwide at several outlets including Digicel, Francis Fashions and Cache.
