Sharmaine Gift, Mark ‘Super Markey’ Harris and Winston ‘Pecky Dread’ Bradshaw, along with Delroy ‘DMD’ Dash who was a no-show, were the first four contenders to be eliminated from the first round of the Carib Soca Monarch competition on Saturday.
Linden was well entertained by the performances of 18 artistes who kicked off this year’s competition when they took to the stage of the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground (MSC).
The event, scheduled for a 7 pm start, never launched until 10.30 pm when the promoters felt they had enough support. The mammoth crowd in attendance, was very loud in support of the female performers and the fourth instalment of the Carib Soca Monarch featured surprises from the newcomers and some disappointments for the veteran performers.
For instance, the no-show Dash could not be reached and fellow artistes could shed no light on why he was absent.
Lois Moseley a first timer to the competition as well as a teacher in the Linden community using the stage name ‘Sweetie’ got the thunder when she, third to perform for the night, sent the crowd wild with her song “Don’t Lie Down So”. The simple song with its everyday message appealed to ‘Sweetie’s’ hometown supporters.
Prior to ‘Sweetie’s’ appearance was ‘Super Markey’ doing his song “Mash Dem Up”. He appeared with two dancers but his performance was not enough to impress the crowd or the judges. Nicole Osborne doing “Soca Fever” clad in a sizzling two-piece suit, followed him. She hyped the band and the crowd with her gyrating performance which was good for the show and could be used on the road come Mash Day as well. After ‘Sweetie’ and Osborne the crowd was quiet until the reigning Passa Passa Kings ‘X Factor’ took to the stage with 14 of its 23-member group. While clarity of their song “Don’t Get in Trouble” was poor the crowd was well entertained by their stage performance.
G Money (Jamal Gittens) was another artiste who got some crowd response, however it was roars of laughter since while the artiste was promoting “Flash Light” as the new style of celebrating the lighters used by his team failed for the most part to light up.
Melissa ‘Vanilla’ Roberts with “Queen of the Band”, Wilbur ‘Lil Man’ Levans doing “One fuh de Road” and Rudolph ‘Sweet Kendigo’ Kendall’s “Granddad Trailer Coming” were the only others whose performances were seen as good to the audience.
Stephen Dunbar who was introduced by the chairperson for the night, Mondale Smith, as a policeman by day and singer by night was loudly advised to stick to his day job since his night duty did not suit his voice or style. Nevertheless he made it to the semis.
Lassell ‘Mighty Duke’ Duke coined a new word on Saturday as he stepped up to do his song on HIV and AIDS. During his introduction he drew some laughs as he attempted to highlight ways to avoid contracting the virus, “be faithful to one partner, use a condom and abstanancy”.
The judges for the evening’s competition were all from the mining town of Linden and with the number of performers did not have to work too hard to eliminate the first four competitors. The show ended at approximately 1.40 am on Sunday with the usual MSC Ground after party bashment. The next round of competition is scheduled for Saturday at the Esplanade Ground, New Amsterdam, Berbice.
