SAN­DRA L BLOOD

mindup.slblood@gmail.com

I n keep­ing with the theme for the 2024 edi­tion, the Chut­ney So­ca Monarch (CSM) com­pe­ti­tion, one of the sig­na­ture events on the Car­ni­val cal­en­dar, will be an ex­plo­sion of colour and ex­cite­ment.

Southex Event Man­age­ment Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed, which has been stag­ing the com­pe­ti­tion since 1996, said The Colours of Chut­ney is aimed at “rekin­dling and en­cour­ag­ing a younger, more vi­brant mar­ket to come to the event.”

A re­lease from Southex an­nounc­ing plans for CSM 2024, stat­ed: “New fea­tures will be added that will make this year’s event more of a fete en­vi­ron­ment, while not los­ing the essence of the com­pe­ti­tions on the night. There will be two com­pe­ti­tions in one and a big­ger prize struc­ture.”

While main­tain­ing its white-themed dress code, the grand fi­nale will fea­ture sev­er­al colour­ful in­no­va­tions, in­clud­ing coloured pow­der shoot­ing from can­nons.”

“In 2024, as we cel­e­brate the 29th year of the CSM, we want to bring ‘some­thing dif­fer­ent’ to the ta­ble. CSM is def­i­nite­ly ‘some­thing dif­fer­ent’—a dif­fer­ent kind of Car­ni­val vibe, a dif­fer­ent way for Tri­nis to fete, and a dif­fer­ent way to cel­e­brate our cul­ture and our mu­sic,” Southex added.

There will al­so be a con­densed com­pe­ti­tion with six artistes, each vy­ing for the ti­tles of King and Queen of Chut­ney So­ca, as well as con­cert per­for­mances by Ravi B and Kar­ma, GT the Band, and spe­cial guest artistes Neval Chate­lal, Nishard Mayrhoo and oth­ers.

The re­lease con­tin­ued: “At Chut­ney So­ca Monarch, we want to en­cour­age the in­ter­na­tion­al acts to par­tic­i­pate by mak­ing it eas­i­er for them to bring their tal­ent to the stage.

“This year, we will in­tro­duce three In­ter­na­tion­al Wild Cards. These artistes will be se­lect­ed by the pro­duc­ers and will be giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to com­pete at the fi­nal with a guar­an­teed purse of $30,000.”

An­oth­er spe­cial el­e­ment this year will be an award seg­ment ho­n­our­ing three he­roes of the In­do-Caribbean mu­sic in­dus­try, Ravi B, Rafi Mo­hammed and Rooplal G.

Southex said it will be “the biggest night of the year for the Chut­ney So­ca in­dus­try and by ex­ten­sion, the In­do-Caribbean mu­sic in­dus­try.”

The de­fend­ing CSM cham­pi­ons are Queen of Chut­ney Katelin Sul­tan, 9, and Chut­ney So­ca Monarch Dad­dy Chi­nee.

The CSM se­mi-fi­nal takes place on Jan­u­ary 20, and the grand fi­nale will be at Skin­ner Park, San Fer­nan­do, on Feb­ru­ary 10.