BAJAN MUSIC is no longer making a big impression on the International Soca Monarch contest in Trinidad.
Now in its 20th year, the event is being taken to a different production level by its producer William Munro, but he’s not happy with some of the soca being produced around the Caribbean.
That’s why the usual five non-Trinidadian artistes in the Soca Monarch finals have been whittled down to three, one of whom was Barbados’ Party Monarch King Mikey.
“I was looking for five finalists from the other islands. We usually allow five to participate in the finals but there are only three because I was not satisfied,” said the Soca Monarch founder and producer who travels across the region yearly to look at soca acts.
He said while he was not as impressed with regional acts as in previous years, he was at a loss as to why Barbadian artistes were no longer offering the top quality music they made between the late 1990s and around 2005.
“I don’t know what happened. I mean, a few years ago Barbados was dominating the airwaves in Trinidad and Tobago.
I don’t know what is happening. There used to be a Bajan invasion and all this kind o’ ting,” said a mystified Munro.
Lots of creativy
“I saw your finalist Mikey at the Party Monarch [competition] in Barbados. I also saw another artiste arrive in a helicopter.
It was dramatic.
“Shows like that make artistes pull out all the stops. They become very creative,” he said, adding that creativity was the essence of the Soca Monarch, especially this year when there were great songs on the night dubbed Fantastic Friday at the Haseley Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
“Oh boy! You had some nice songs, and Machel said he wasn’t ready to give up his throne. He’s a fantastic performer, full of dynamism. They had to come good and I know they’re coming good.
“The only difficulty was among the judges, who had their work cut out – so much so that there were more finalists than we normally have.”
This year, instead of the usual nine finalists in the two Soca Monarch contests, there were 14 in the Groovy Soca segment and 12 in the Power Soca.
Raising the stakes
Now Munro is trying to raise the stakes, which could make competition even keener for the 21st anniversary and probably inspire Bajan artistes again.
“We hope to increase the TT$2 million (BDS$800 000) and to encourage not only the Caribbean artistes . . . . We want to go further than the Caribbean. I am hoping that the government will join with my vision and I would like to pay a US$1 million first prize, which is about TT$6.4 million,” he explained.
He also revealed plans to boost the show’s value via merchandising for the 21st anniversary, while the following year could be the dawn of Soca Monarch, The Movie.
“There is a lot of history to be told,” said Munro, recalling names like his former hard-working associate Mohammed Shabazz, who is ailing, Lennox Sylvester and other individuals and organizations too numerous to mention.
“Staging this show is a tremendous challenge – it’s like preparing for a World Cup, Olympics or Super Bowl. You have to prepare for celebrities coming from all over the world and they have great demands, including top-of-the-line hotels. Some want to come in on private jets.
“Then you have to deal with designers, you have to bring in special lighting, there’s a lot of planning, security costs. It costs TT$25 million (BDS$7.5 million) to put on a show like this,” he explained.
Calling this year’s event “exceptional”, he said Trinidadian artistes had worked hard on sophisticated and elaborate productions, some spending over TT$1/2 million on pyrotechnics and expensive technology.
“It is the biggest event on the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival calendar and attracts visitors from all over the world. We feel it’s a better show than Miss Universe and we’re going to show [that to] the world . . .”
But is the music itself developing?
“Definitely, and I can safely say that from the time the honourable prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago offered the [TT]$2 million last year, it made a big difference.’
“It made the artistes, the arrangers and all their musical producers go back into the archives and come up with some beautiful pieces,” he said.
Tourism benefits
“The minister of tourism also mentioned last year that because of the new buzz that we had, there were over 165 000 visitors coming into the island for Carnival. This year it is a record-breaking 220 000. I’m quoting the minister.
“And most of these tourists are interested in Fantastic Friday, because who cannot get to the stadium can stay in their rooms or go to the bars and watch it on big-screen TV,” Munro added.
Munro also built the only home for calypso in Trinidad and Tobago – leased by the Martineau brothers as the Spektakula forum – and said he formed the idea from the Young Kings show because there seemed to be no real forum for soca music.
“After Ras Shorty, I developed soca and the artistes started singing it, [but] people wouldn’t pay them any mind and at the Dimanche Gras show they would always put them last.
“But something happened at a Young Kings show which I attended and I got an idea. That was the start of the International Soca Monarch.
“If we are the mecca of calypso and soca, why shouldn’t we open [the music forum]?”
