Last night Rikki Jai won the 50Th. Anniversary of Independence Chutney Soca Monarch Competition that was organized by Soutex in conjunction with the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism. Heartiest congratulations to Rikki Jai on winning the competition.
The Internet feed had issues with the video quality but especially with the audio quality that took away from the quality one expected from such an elaborate production. The broadcast was free of charge and was provided by Win TV via an Internet feed. It could have been the quality of the feed produced by the sound system and the conversion rate used for the internet feed that created the poor quality.
The winner of the competition (Rikki Jai) took home the first prize purse of TT$500,000.00, Sally Sagram won TT$250,000.00 for her second place while Rooplal Girdharrie took home the third place prize of TT$150,000.00. All other participants in the competition received TT$50,000.00 for their efforts.
The top three places were as follows:
1. RIKKI JAI (Independence Chutney Soca Monarch)
Mother Trinbago
2. SALLY SAGRAM
Happy Independence
3. ROOPLAL GIRDHARRIE
Land Of Paradise
The following is my post of Rikki Jai's performance that was done and posted while the show was in progress:
Singer: Rikki Jai
Song: Mother Trinbago
This performance started with a brief history of the country with a film segment. A theatrical performance accompanied the audio/video segment. Theme of the introduction was all about 'Unity' for an Independent "Mother Trinbago". Up to this point in the program Rikki Jai had the best singing performance of the night. He was very animated and moved well on stage as his props came into play. This was a fast paced performance that focused on love of and for country. He also had his break in the performance where he provided the names of people who shaped the country and also brought fame to the twin island republic. This performance also featured the steelpan and blends of African and East Indian culture. Rikki looked young on stage and his overall performance was very good.