(Trinidad Express) With what must be hailed as a superb performance of his runaway hit, “Single,” JMC 3Veni lead vocalist KI won the 2012 Chutney Soca Monarch title at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday night.
Almost every patron was singing the song’s hook, “I will single forever” and other lines as KI performed before the more than 8,000 people at the Oval. By the end of the performance, one could have believed without doubt that KI would pocket the TT$1 million first prize, which is half of what defending monarch Rikki Jai took home last year.
Jai had to settle for second place this time around although he too enjoyed a favourable response from the audience for his performance of “De Drinkers Anthem”.
The night, however, belonged to KI, who exhibited full confidence on stage. The performance began with KI standing roughly 12 feet over the stage on a platform with a pole upon which he slid down to the stage after singing the opening lines.
Accompanied by only dancers, KI commanded the crowd’s attention with just his voice. The entertainer that started performing with the family band as a child made some adjustments to the song, adding new lines including a speedy raga-styled chant. Near the end of his presentation, KI told the audience that for weeks fellow competitors have had their say about him and his song and it was now his time to respond.
KI shouted out to Jai saying that all the antics he used in his performance would not save him from defeat.
“Last year they give the wrong guy, but tonight the Chutney Soca Monarch is mine,” sending the audience wild again as he made his way back to the top of the platform for one more chorus before disappearing down the pole as the stage went black.
At the end KI earned 36, 737 of the more than 119,000 text votes sent, the most ever in the history of the competition. Third-place winner Rick Ramoutar received only 3,982 votes, while Jai accumulated a total of 32,731 votes, proving that even in second place, Jai still enjoys the respect of chutney music fans throughout Trinbago, up the islands and in the US and Canada. Each mobile phone was allowed 18 text votes until the time that voting closed.
Jai performed wearing a ring master’s outfit and was accompanied by a number of dancers. His stage props included a line of ornate silk pagodas and a Roman daybed that when eventually turned around revealed soca artiste Destra Garcia lounging. She rose and joined Jai in the performance much to the delight of the audience. Garcia actually opened the show with a guest performance that saw her performing several of her hits from the past to present.
The show got on the way minutes before 10 p.m. and for the most part progressed smoothly with most competitors taking the stage quickly and keeping their performances tight. There were the couple of exceptions where acts remained on stage a bit too long lobbying the support of the patrons and people viewing at home on either television of via live streaming on the Internet.
Final results, with the number of votes, as provided by the producers were as follows:
1st: KI 36,737
2nd: Rikki Jai 32,731
3rd: Rick Ramoutar 3,982
4th: Nigel Salickram 3,879
5th: Arti Butkoon 2,578
6th: Terry Gajraj 1,240
7th: Fiona Singh 1,124
8th: Sassy Ramoutar 821
9th: Sally Sagram 731
10th: Haresh Singh 681
