Stages heat up as Mashramani song competitions wind down
Tonight’s Soca Monarch Final will see 12 singers vying for the title and crown. Meanwhile, the Calypso Final was held last night, and the Chutney Final is slated for next Saturday.
Soca Monarch, Lindener Brandon Harding, will defend his title against Jumo ‘Rubber Waist’ Primo; Shaina Muna, who goes by the stage name ‘Sexy Berry’; Colwyn ‘Lil Colwyn’ Abrams; Osbert ‘Vintage’ Cain; Onassis ‘Ryan’ Croker; Sherwin ‘Natural One’ Rose; Collis ‘Real Proof’ McDonald; Quincy ‘True Song’ Boyce; Melissa ‘Vanilla’ Roberts; Alisha ‘Sasha Melody’ Hamid; Clifton ‘Passion’ Adolphus; Ernesta ‘Nesta’ Nelson; Roderick ‘Static’ Allicock; Steven Ramphal and Miss Joubert.
Static, the youngest contestant, among others like Jumo, Vanilla and Lil Colwyn gave the audience a grand performance at the semi-final in Linden last Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Calypso Semi-final, which included 18-year-old Junior Calypso Monarch Omaiah Hall, was held at the Bartica Community Centre Ground on Sunday night. Ten contenders advanced the final including Omaiah. She will come up against Quincy ‘Ego’ Lacon; Roger ‘Young Bill Rogers’ Hinds; Jovinski Thorne; Linden ‘Mighty Breeze’ Mantis; Karen ‘Queen Makeeba’ Bennett; Daria ‘Queen Dairy’ Barrow; Joel ‘Messenger’ Gonsalves; Lester ‘De Professor’ Charles; Linden ‘Mighty Smoker’ Stewart and current title holder, Kenroy ‘Mighty Believer’ Fraser.
Omaiah managed to secure the Junior Calypso Monarchy on her first attempt in the competition and is hoping to be named the Senior Calypso
Monarch as well.
She certainly made an impression on the judges to have been able to advance to the final and is definitely one to watch. Her song, “Tell Me How Come” targets a number of current social and political issues. She also made it known that she is excited to be old enough to vote.
The Chutney Monarch Competition which was the first to have kicked off two Fridays ago (February 7) at the Skeldon Community Centre Ground will be the last competition. Sixteen singers competed last week, nine of whom made it to the final: Roger ‘Young Bill Rogers’ Hinds; Bunty Singh; Pooran Seeraj; AW Lyrical; Christopher Ramphal; Vanita Willie; Vicadi Singh; Tony Cuttz; and Arjit Singh. Reigning monarch Steven Ramphal will be defending his title.
Steven, who also participated in the Soca Monarch Competition last year finished in second place, a mere one point from tying with Brandon Harding who finished as Soca Monarch, for a second consecutive year. The Chutney Monarch is again participating in two competitions this year. And so is renowned artiste Young Bill Rogers, who is contesting the Chutney Monarchy as well as the Soca Monarch Competition. The final leg of this competition is set for Linden.
The Chutney Competition comes in two categories – the vocal part of the genre and a dance competition. The Chutney Dance Competition was put on for a third year in a row by the Berbice Delights Dance Troupe which saw 17 entries this year. It was the talented Geetanjalie Ramkhellawan of Canal Number 2 Polder who finished as winner earlier this month on February 1. The event was hosted at Rosignol Stelling Road,
Berbice.
Both the Calypso and Soca finals are set for Durban Park. Admission to the Calypso Monarch Final is free, but the Soca Competition attracts a fee of $1,000 per person to be paid at the gate.