BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE National Carnival Committee held a press conference yesterday morning (Nov. 30) at the ZIZ Studios for selection of the order of appearance for the Beaumont Park Soca Monarch Competition to be held on December 18.
According to Sugar Mas Chairman Clement Ogarro, there were 30 registered artistes from which 23 submissions were made and 13 were selected for the Finals.
In the order of appearance, they are: Hot Rod singing ‘Pork Fro Dinner’; Rico, Righteous and Melbo singing ‘Get Wet’; Easy singing ‘Rudeness’; Mr. World singing ‘Swing Dem’; Queen Anastasia singing ‘St. Kitts’; Xman singing ‘Food All Over’; Konris singing ‘Unstoppable Force’; Ras Kelly singing ‘Black Man’; C-Money and Rukas singing ‘Carnival Sweet’; De Provoker singing ‘Plant Post In Dey’; Shakki singing ‘High For Carnival’, Soca Samuel singing ‘Mommy Love’; and Shakal and Fire with ‘Hurricane’.
Queen Kibbie and T-Bone will be the two alternatives in event that any of the finalists are unable to perform.
Also present at the head table with Ogarro was Deputy Chairperson Shannon Hawley and Beaumont Park representative Keithley Nero. Most of the Finalists were also present to select their appearance number.
Ogarro said the Soca Monarch Competition had a two-year hiatus and for that reason the committee has undertaken its resurgence with a passion.
“Soca Monarch is one of the biggest shows in the Caribbean and we would like to say thanks to Beaumont Park for playing such an integral part in carnival and for being the title sponsor of this show,” Ogarro said
He added that the Soca Monarch Competition, along with all the other shows, would be held at the Football Stadium, which is being dubbed ‘Sugar Mill’.
Nero spoke on behalf of Beaumont Park and expressed how ecstatic they are about sponsoring the event. He said the show is talent-filled with experienced artistes and is encouraging everyone to come out and be part of the event.
Hawley used the opportunity to thank the 23 persons who made submissions and noted that the judges had a very tough decision in selecting them from among the 30 registrants.
She said this is the rebirth of the Soca Monarch Competition and it would be one of the biggest shows for this year’s Sugar Mas. She also said that the Soca Monarch Competition would be reminiscent of the Thursday night segments of the annual Music Festival, with “lots of excitement and jumping around…no sitting down”.
In the judging criteria 40 points will be awarded for Performance, 20 for Lyrics, 20 for Melody, 10 for Creativity and 10 points for Crowd Response.
According to the Deputy Chairperson, Trinidad’s Soca artiste Patch, known for his popular piece ‘Pipe’, would be featured at the event along with St. Kitts’ number one Soca DJ, Magic Fingers Ronnie Rascal.
The winner of the 2010 competition will take home the crown and EC$10 000.
