Soca Buzz
Island Events Soca Buzz!!! This week 03/05/06
By Island Events
May 3, 2006, 11:29

Zan and Patrice Roberts at the Alternative Concept 4

Machel shows Zan

It was a surprise to all present including VIPs, soca artistes, media and specially invited guests when groovy soca monarch finalist Zan went up the Queen’s Hall steps leaving his duo partner Patrice Roberts to find her own way up the stairs.

This proved too much for the chatty audience who shouted out comments about the love the two artistes sang about in the hit song Always Be.

Fortunately this was not the case when Machel Montano went on stage with Patrice to collect the special award for their Road March hit Band of the Year. Machel met Patrice at her seat and proceeded to escort her on the stage arm in arm to the delight of the audience, with one delighted member shouting “Show him Machel. That is how you treat a woman.”

This was only one of the highlights of the Soca Monarch Prize giving ceremony on Thursday night which saw all the soca monarch finalists accepting their awards with the exception of Sean Caruth, 2005 Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin and Fay Ann Lyons. Also absent was the undisputed Soca Monarch Champion SuperBlue, who was awarded a golden microphone for his contribution to the artform.

The Soca Monarch finalists were surprised to learn that despite the gala ceremony the monetary winnings were not distributed on the night but would be given out on Friday at a ceremony at the Ministry of Culture.

At the upcoming ceremony the Ministry will also announce the artistes that will accompany the Soca Warriors, as the cultural contingent, to the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

Road March Winners give songwriter prize

2006 Road March winners Machel Montano and Patrice Roberts handed over the keys of the brand new Mitsubishi Lancer which they won in the 2006 Vibe CT 105 Road March competition to Kernel Roberts, who penned the winning tune - Band of the Year.
                 
The winners were presented with the keys to the prized Mitsubishi at a presentation ceremony held at the Diamond Motors showroom on Richmond Street on Friday.
 
Band of the Year, which was sung by Patrice and featured Montano, was played a total of 334 times to capture the Road March title.

Cell war affects Soca Artistes

The cellular war heated up this week when B mobile sponsored Shurwayne Winchester and his band Traffik had to be replaced with Digicel sponsored Destra and Atlantik in the DSC Promotions’ Wadadli Beer Calypso Spektakula in Antigua.

Winchester, who has a regional advertising contract with B-mobile, faced opposition from his sponsors concerning his appearance on the show, which was sponsored, in part, by Digicel.

The show, which was held on Saturday, before a large audience included performances by Chalkdust, Explainer, Mista Vybe, Faye-Anne Lyons, Iwer George, Bunji and Asylum, Destra and Atlantik from Trinidad & Tobago and Queen Ivena, Singling Althea, Tardar Foot, De Bear, Claudette “CP” Peters, Naycha Kid and Burning Flames from Antigua.

Pan Sweet Pan

When the TSTT Pan in 21st Century and Pan Down Memory Lane competition concluded on Saturday at the Queen's Park Savannah Witco Desperadoes had successfully defended its title among conventional orchestras and La Horquetta Pan Groove had scored an unprecedented fourth straight win over like single-pan bands.

A grand stand only, 3,000 strong crowd enjoyed the 25 steelbands which competed - 13 in the Pan Down Memory Lane contest for single-pan bands and 12 conventional orchestras in the Pan in the 21st Century competition.

Virgin Island Parade

Thousands lined the streets of St Thomas in the Virgin Islands for Friday’s annual children’s parade and Saturday’s adult carnival parade.

The parades were the culmination of weeks of celebrations which included the crowning of Calypso Monarch Cedric ‘King Spades’ Brookes for the 2nd consecutive year.

Chutney Titles up for Grabs

Chutney Artistes will compete for 13 titles and some $350,000 in prizes at the Bmobile National Chutney Monarch Finals on Saturday 6th may at Skinner’s Park, San Fernando.
The competitors include Ramdeen Falco Maharaj, Neeshan D’Hit Man Praboo, Heeralal Rampartap and Marva Mc Kenzie.

Singing on the theme “On The Road to Germany”, they will vie for titles ranging from best dancer and musician to the best tasting chutney.

The show includes performances by Reigning Calypso Monarch Luta, DeFosto, Anil Bheem and the Beemazz, Melobugz, Kess D Band, Maximus Dan and others.

Feuding continues over Toronto Carnival

After running Caribana for 38 years, the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), whose lack of accountability and transparency led to it no longer receiving city funding, appears to have been shut out of the new management team for the new Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

The Caribbean Cultural Committee has launched a committee to campaign against the new management - The Hands Off Caribana Action Committee, which will lead a march on Toronto City Hall this Saturday. Protestors see the city's move as a political effort to usurp the festival from the people who nurtured it for nearly four decades.

Until recently, the CCC was vowing to hold its own festival, regardless of the loss of city funds.