The Soca Monarch race is wide open.
Few if any of the 80-plus acts who contested the semi-final Groovy and Power categories, on Sunday night, left the Arima Velodrome feeling assured of a finals spot on Fantastic Friday.
Their anxiety told in their elaborate stage shows as the competition front-runners turned up the heat, quite literally, on the chasing pack. Kerwin Du Bois, Destra Garcia, Patrice Roberts, Nadia Batson and Vincentian Skinny Fabulous all brought their A-game employing: dancers, traditional Carnival characters, pyrotechnics and colourful flame machines all in an attempt to stand out.
Not to be outdone the proverbial pack also turned up the ante revealing that they too had a few surprises up their sleeves. Devon “Faddah Moses” was the most impressive of that lot with a spirited performance of his little known “We Want Water”.
Moses acknowledged that his song was not popular due to limited radio play. He told the crowd he was prepared to work for his place in the Power Soca Finals before breaking into a “freestyle” verse about water woes in Arima that the won them over. The area has been suffering from an inconsistent supply for the past week.
Experienced or not Sunday’s acts will all be hoping the judges are more accepting of their presentations than the massive Arima party crowd. What Skinner Park is to calypso Arima now seems to be to soca, as many felt the sting of a brutal musical acid test.
None more so than Sherrard Churche, brother of soca starlet Shivonne “Lil Bitts” Churche, who laboured through his performance of “Tizik”. Churche seemed out of his depth in soca’s big yard as he failed to move the crowd and stumbled over his lyrics.
HD band member Darryl “Farmer Nappy” Henry and Grenadian Hollice “Mr Killa” Mapp, however, had no such problems. They easily enjoyed the best crowd reaction for the groovy anthem “Big People Party” and power party hit “Rolly Polly”, respectively.
All will have to up the intensity when they face joint Monarch Machel Montano and Austin “SuperBlue” Lyons in the final showpiece. Montano, defending Monarch in both categories, is expected to sing his immensely popular “HMA” (Happiest Man Alive) and “MOR” (Ministry of Road) in the Groovy and Power. Much speculation, meanwhile, surrounds Lyons’ yet-to-be-released song of choice.
The multiple Soca Monarch and Road March winner was a no show on Sunday night where he was expected to perform “Spankin” in the Groovy semis. Yesterday one of SuperBlue’s assistants said the multiple times soca and road march winner simply had a change of mind.
“He was only going to enter the competition because a lot of people felt he should,” said the assistant- who requested that we don’t publish her name.
“But his focus was really on Power Soca. In fact he is in the studio right now which is why he isn’t taking any calls. “At first Blue was really feeling the Groovy and then he decided that he better just concentrate on the Power Soca.”The assistant added that SuperBlue was in the studio and not accepting calls.
SuperBlue planned to sing “Spankin” in position five at Sunday’s semi-finals. The song is a remake of the singer’s 1989 song “Mrs Pan” which he recorded using his former sobriquet Blue Boy. Several steelbands have made it their tune of choice for this years steelband Panorama competition
Last year the artiste shocked the soca fraternity when he staged a successful comeback winning not just the Soca Monarch title with Machel Monanto but the Road March title with the song Fantastic Friday.
SuperBlue, always one to release his “big tune” late in the Carnival season, was expected to put out his Power Soca 2014 single either yesterday or today, his assistant said.
International Soca Monarch promoter Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) is expected to announce the list of finalists at 10.45 a.m on Wednesday. The finalists will then draw performance spots on Friday at CPF offices on Prince Street, Port of Spain.
Source-Trinidad Express Newspaper
