Who will emerge unscathed from the ‘firestorm’?

Name: The Soca Monarch Competition

The Scene: National Park, Georgetown.

The Cast: Soca Artistes.

The Goal: The Soca Monarch Crown.

The Action: Fight to see who will get the crown.

Everything it seems is ready. The plans are made and Soca lovers are looking forward to a ‘firestorm’ as the fight for the Soca Monarch title climaxes at the National Park later this evening.

With a number of brash newcomers and seasoned campaigners all plotting to unseat current Soca Monarch, Malo, whose reign comes to an end today and who is likely planning how to keep his crown, a lot of action is expected.

But will they deliver? Well, given the recent history of the competition and the energetic performances last year, the action this year could possibly be kicked up a notch.

And according to coordinator of the event, Nigel Worrel, the competition is “expected to be really hot”, with the competitors pulling out all the stops. As such, he said, the finals have been labelled ‘firestorm’. To get into the National Park will cost an adult $1,000 while it’s half that for children and those under 12 years will enter free.

With all the hype surrounding the event, it is easy to forget that for some, the dream ended last Saturday night in Linden as they were given the heave-ho out of the competition. A few hundred persons were on hand in the mining town last Saturday to witness the elimination of five of the contenders for the Soca Monarch crown.

Booted out were Carlos ‘Lucky B’ Williams, Orlando ‘Bones Man’ Johashen, Amanda ‘Destiny’ Lynch, Colbert ‘Tweeta’ Mcleod and Winston ‘Flyer’ Gray. More was expected of ‘Bones Man’, who had leaped to third place last year and also captured the best newcomer prize.

But the focus is now on the finalists and as always there are a few big names. In this regard, something big is expected of Adrian Dutchin and Malo should bring the goods too. And there should be some surprises too! But that’s for everyone else; as for me, I’ll be looking out for Vanilla.

(myster_gaulbert@yahoo.com)