Tian Winter was double trouble on Bacchanal Saturday night and won both the Groovy and Jumpy Soca Monarch Titles for Antigua and Barbuda Carnival 2012. It was surprising that Claudette Peters did not place in the first three positions for the Jumpy Monarch. The surprise third place went to Natural Rampler singing Countdown... that was a surprise!
The following was posted during the show as the performers finished singing:
Last night the Antigua and Barbuda Soca Monarch competitions took place with much anticipation but as it turned out for people wanting to see the show on line it became a task to view the show. The feeds were not good and production was not the best.
The stage lighting did not make watching this show a pleasure but the Camera angles were worse. I did not get to see the Groovy competition because I was so caught up with the Olympics highlights. However, I managed to watch some of the Jumpy competition and was surprised at the horrible camera angles of the live broadcast. The crowd did not look like they were into the performances.
The music supporting the performances did not come across well on the live broadcast. I do hope it was different at the venue. The artists came on quickly and the show moved on quickly.The crowd did not appear to be into the music as seen in other shows televised via the Internet earlier this year.
The first performer, Trevaughn Weston aka Lyricsman did not impress me... that is as much I will say about that performance. He was followed by Shani who added some energy to the show and set the stage for Tian Winter who is a crowd favorite. Tian Winter performed well but he did not do anything to make me feel like he just won the Monarch title. I was confused and amazed when David Edwards came on after Tian Winter. His sobriquet is Natural Rampler.. I had to wonder, how did the Natural Rampler make the finals of the Jumpy Soca Finals? Did they run out of contestants? This guy should not have been on that stage... I hope he has a day job! That performance was difficult to deal with and painful to watch. It seemed like it went on forever.
The MC's hyped the appearance, on stage, of Claudette Peters who was a favorite to take the title. When C.P. started her performance the crowd came to life... there were flags in the air and the people raved. Miss Peters was lifted in the air in a bucket crane and had a cameraman in the bucket with her... I did not get that! The camera man was moving the camera and taking away from the artist who kept talking about the show being televised across the World via the Internet... This was not good planning! At least 'C.P.' added some life to the show the crowd showed some life during the performance. I have never seen this before in any competition... after 'C.P.' finished her performance they played her music again to serenade her off the stage.
Ricardo Barriteau aka Ricardo Drue came on as Superman and sang the song Superman. He attempted to bring Superman energy to the audience and succeeded to some extent. It appeared that he rode the wave of enthusiasm created by the performance of Claudette Peters. The camera angles made good viewing of the performance difficult and it looked so confusing at times. It looked like chaos on the stage. I did not get the feeling that Superman really had a super impact on the audience but the activity on the stage was crazy.
Next on stage was Super Mario bouncing around as he delivered his song titled 'Collision'. His song had speed with a distinct soca drum pattern leading the Collision on stage. After a while his song sounded monotonous to my ears. Then he had to talk about the Olympics in his song... these singers have a long road ahead of them to reach the standard of the more popular carnivals in the region.
Artist number eight was King Sonic singing Tag Team. This performance got off to a slow start but when the music started I did not get the feel of a Jumpy song. There wasn't any power in this performance. Apart from the drummer carrying the rhythm the rest of the music sounded more like music for a calypso instead of a Soca performance.
The final female performer came on at number nine to the funky beat of "Gonna Make You Sweat" (Everybody Dance Now) then flowed into her Soca performance. I don't know how that helped but Jashan Hughes aka Jashan gave it her all while performing her song 'Crazy Leggz'.All night I kept hearing the sounds of the drum set. The audio feed did not reveal the body of the music that accompanied the singers. Jashan was instructional with her performance then her performance died when she decided to stop and talk to the audience. This (break) did not help her performance when the pace picked up again.
Finally... the reigning champion Hard Knax! There was some theatre for Hard Knax's IBABA's performance. He came on stage with the energy that was lacking from most of the performances that came earlier. However, there was much shouting and the stage views were confusing at times. It was difficult understanding what he was saying... I feel for foreigners who watched this show. I am West Indian and I had a difficult time understanding the lyrics and song in general. The camera person went crazy and was zooming in and out in rapid fire session and panning from side to side and in and out like he wanted to cause seizures via the Internet!
After watching I guess I have to go with either Tian or Claudette.... Now before the results are announced I can make mention of a disturbance that took place on stage. Apparently Tian and Hard Knax had some unpleasant words for each other. Someone on an Islandmix thread that I was participating in during he show pointed out the following: "Tian cuss Hardknaxx on stage, then Hardknaxx come back with something that I am sure, if it is true, Tian don't want people to know about him.
Lime Groovy Soca Monarch 2012
1. Tian Winter aka Tian | Cyah Fail Me (Winner)
2. Claudette Peters aka C.P. | Benna Sauce
3. Ricardo Barriteau aka Ricardo Drue | Sugah
Jumpy Soca Monarch 2012
1. Tian Winter aka Tian | Raving (Winner)
2. Richardo Barriteau aka Ricardo Drue | Supaman
3. David Edwards aka Natural Rampler | Countdown