An­ge­lo Mar­celle

Syn­er­gy So­ca Star (Sea­son Four) has reached the semi­fi­nal stage and just one con­tes­tant has got­ten the nod for the fi­nal thus far. Ayan­na La Bor­de moved in­to pole po­si­tion for the Feb­ru­ary 5 fi­nal, which would be held at the Jean Pierre Com­plex, Port-of-Spain. The semi­fi­nal round was staged at the St James Am­phithe­atre on Sat­ur­day and ten bud­ding so­ca stars sang their hearts out be­fore a packed au­di­ence. Judges Paul Richards, Car­ol Ja­cobs and Carl "Beaver" Hen­der­son were giv­en the task of steer­ing the text mes­sag­ing vot­ing process.

Con­tes­tants had two songs to present, their own com­po­si­tion, which they sang in the first round, and a ca­lyp­so, giv­en by the pro­duc­ers, in what was called "the Chal­lenge Round." Since the re­sults will not be re­leased be­fore this ar­ti­cle is pub­lished, the aim is to com­ment on those who I be­lieve have what it takes to be in the fi­nal. Tri­ni Bar­bie (San­cha Sci­pio) came out siz­zling in her sil­ver skin-fit­ting pants and top to per­form her se­lec­tion Car­ni­val I love you, which sound­ed like a spin-off from a De­stra item, a re­sem­blance that could work in her favour.

Bar­bie, though, needs to work on her breath con­trol and fit­ness as her lack of sta­mi­na be­came ev­i­dent mid­way through her per­for­mance. Her sec­ond item–Denyse Plum­mer's Nah Leav­in' was bet­ter ex­e­cut­ed and should move her up the plac­ings. I thought the night be­longed to Chynee (Richard Valen­tine) whose own com­po­si­tion–Wan­na Be like–was a tremen­dous crowd-pleas­er. The artiste, dressed like Raiden from the video game Mor­tal Com­bat, com­mand­ed the stage like a pro­fes­sion­al so­ca artiste. He was full of con­fi­dence, invit­ing the crowd to fol­low his up­ward claw ges­tic­u­la­tion while shout­ing "Fyah." It was a sight to be­hold as the en­tire au­di­ence was syn­chro­nised in this act.

All three judges com­pli­ment­ed Chynee on his per­for­mance and Richards called on pro­mot­ers to grab this tal­ent. Al­so giv­ing con­vinc­ing per­for­mances were 645, Ayan­na La Bor­de, and Der­son (An­der­son Nel­son).

Five more fi­nal­ists will be cho­sen live on Syn­er­gy TV on Mon­day.

Con­tes­tants are vy­ing for a Dai­hat­su Terios from Toy­ota, phones from bmo­bile and a scoot­er from Scooterz. Live en­ter­tain­ment at the semi­fi­nal was pro­vid­ed by Olu­tu­ji, TC, Pe­ter C Lewis, and Ju­nior Davis.

More In­fo:

For­mer win­ners:

2006: Fire Ball

2007: Umi Mar­cano

2008: Blue and OG (tie)

Con­tes­tants in or­der of ap­pear­ance:

1. Tri­ni Bar­bie (San­cha Sci­pio)

2. Ayan­na La Bor­de

3. Der­son (An­der­son Nel­son)

4. De Niro (Anil James)

5. 645

6. Chynee (Richard Valen­tine)

7. Mys­tic

8. Ladies Man

9. Steve & Chris

10. Iden Ti Ti