Independence Chutney Soca Monarch Finals | Comments

The 50Th. Anniversary of Independence Chutney Monarch show took place last night and into the early hours of Sunday morning.The contestants came and performed but the televised show had a major flaw. The audio transmission was not good and turned out to be a major setback for anyone viewing the competition via the Internet video feed. The video was not the best and the stage lighting was not well done but the audio was poor and sounded very distorted. I did not stay up for the results... the show went on with several guest performances. I was very disappointed and cannot, in all honesty, say that I enjoyed the show! 

The following comments were made during the performances. 

Kenneth Supersad 
Song: "Independence Time"
The first contestant and the person who topped the preliminary and Semifinal rounds of the competition was first on stage. He came on with a supporting cast that included tassa drummers and a multitude of dancers. However, he did not do much in terms of dance. His song,  a patriotic song obviously, featured a segment of steel pan followed by an individual tassa drumming segment. Interestingly he also featured African drumming during this segment after which the song exploded with a blast of chutney rhythms. The audio transmission was not best but one could get the feeling that this first performance clearly showed that some serious thinking went into the this production regarding the lyrical and musical content... he covered all bases!

Droopatie Ramgoonai 
Song:"Gem of the Caribbean".
This performance started with a marching band rhythm,fire eaters, moko jumbies and devils... the music sounded a little off rhythm but when Droopatie stared to sing everything fell into place. Droopatie provided her trade mark 'Wheeeeeee'and had her Moko Jumbies waving flags as she worked the stage. The song was all about national pride and the unity of the races that is needed to build the nation. Characters galore flowed onto the stage depicting segments of the culture including Carnival and other aspects of the nation's culture. There was steelpan and a break away session of pure Carnival madness. Drupatee shook her way across the stage. Again the audio was not up to standard. She broke the rhythm of the performance to end the song. That did not go down well.

Ramdeen Falco Maharaj 
Song: "Welcome to T & T"
I was not connected to this song from the beginning because he sounded a little off key and the music sounded too much like a Bollywood music production and not really representative of the culture of Trinidad and Tobago. The music eventually brought on the Carnival elements but the beginning of this performance left me disenchanted. Now the speed of the music was right on and the elements of the culture were a part of the performance (including steelpan and segments of Spanish and African culture). He managed to finish the song and performance very good. 

SOCA ELVIS
Song: Song For The People
I liked how this artist introduced his song. He talked about the transition from the Union Jack to the Trinidad and Tobago National flag with music that set the tone for the action to come. He had someone play the part of the 'Father of The Nation' receiving the national flag after which the musical performance started. Again Pan and African dancing was on display to show the cultural diversity along with European, Mediterranean and Indian dancers on stage. He did not overwhelm the stage with props and sang his song at the right speed. This was a very controlled performance. The lyrics took a look back at the history and moved on to a celebratory focus. There was a very nice segment where tabla and steel pan playing were featured with a sweet backdrop rhythm. I liked this performance even though his singing was not the best!

Sally Sagram
Song: Happy Independence
"If you are happy and you know it then clap your hand!" That was the opening segment for Sally Sagram... then the music exploded and it was celebration time. This song went on with a rags and flags theme. This song was just a Carnival breakaway performance. SHe had a Moko Jumbie on stage with singer but did something I just dislike... "low, low, low" after which she began to interact with the audience to introduce the steelpan (national instrument) followed by a segment of African drumming and dancing. She attempted to show the fusion by finally introducing some tassa drumming. This was a real mash up the place session during the performance. She tries a little too hard to bring in the Carnival element in her singing. It sounded a little strange how she moved from calypso to chutney style singing. He props were good but the break dancing on the stage to end the performance looked out of place.She concluded her performance with the marching band segment - a bit too much...

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.


Artie Butkoon
Song: Sweet Trinbago
Another prequel to the start of the song then, "Make some noise" "show me your rags and Flags" came across the screen. This performance started with pace and maintained that speed throughout. One did not get a chance to get into the lyrics of the song. It sounded more like a Power Soca Road March performance if one can make such a comparison. I don't think the judges had time to gather their thoughts... I don't think she gave herself a chance to place well in this competition. This performance deterrioted as the song came to a close with a 'so called child performance' as a prop to emphasize the fact that the performer is pregnant! I don't think it went down well.

Kris "KI" Persad
Song: "In My Land"
This performance was very difficult to judge because the audio was very bad. I could not understand what he was singing. THis performance simply sounded noisy to me. Maybe it was diferent a the venue.I don't think his performance was good to get into the first three places.

Rooplal Girdharrie
Song: Land of Paradise
THis performance had a good introduction with a good rhythmic flow. This performance had a sound marriage between the vocals and music. The story of the song dealt with sacrifice and love for country. The song celebrated nationhood with much emphasis on celebrating nationhood. The props crossed all barries and races. There was a change of pace and it sounded like two different songs when he beban to sing Hindi to end the performance.

Mohip Poonwassie
Song: Jubilation Time in Trinbago
This was the final performance and once again we had a monologue to start the segment with the story of the birth of the nation. Elements of the cultural segments, African  and Indian and Chinese and other nationalities were introduced before the artiste got into a Hindi singing segment to introduce his performance. The music started and the artist got into his performance. This one was a true chutney performance in sound unlike most of the others that were more Soca style oriented in the singing performances.

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