Jesse Ramdeo

The can­cel­la­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca Monarch com­pe­ti­tion has left for­mer win­ners and past com­peti­tors rat­tled and dis­ap­point­ed.

For the first time in three decades, the com­pe­ti­tion, which is typ­i­cal­ly held on what has been dubbed “Fan­tas­tic Fri­day,” will not be part of the 2023 Car­ni­val cal­en­dar.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia on Thurs­day, ISM di­rec­tor Ge­of­frey Whar­ton-Lake said a lack of fi­nances was the rea­son be­hind the de­ci­sion.

Whar­ton-Lake al­so ex­pressed dis­ap­point­ment that the Gov­ern­ment was un­able to give the event the mon­ey it had asked for. He re­fused to give the amount but Tourism, Cul­ture and the Arts Min­is­ter Ran­dall Mitchell sub­se­quent­ly told Guardian Me­dia the ISM man­age­ment asked for $10 mil­lion and turned down Gov­ern­ment’s of­fer of $3 mil­lion.

Yes­ter­day, for­mer ISM chair Fay Ann Lyons-Al­varez said it was a sad day for the art form.

“It is re­al­ly sad and we would hope this would be rec­ti­fied in the fu­ture, giv­en what ISM means for artistes now and artistes of the fu­ture, this move could be clos­ing off a plat­form for the fu­ture Bun­jis, Su­perblues and Machel Mon­tanos,” Lyons-Al­varez said.

“The com­pe­ti­tion has con­tributed to and pro­duced the best of the best in the coun­try.”

Back in 2020, Lyons-Al­varez stepped down from her po­si­tion over what she said were the un­time­ly green lights giv­en to plan and pro­ceed with the event. In a so­cial me­dia post­ing then, she stat­ed, “I be­lieve in giv­ing the pub­lic a So­ca Monarch they de­serve and with lim­it­ed time, it be­comes hard­er to ac­com­plish.”

Iw­er George, the 2020 Pow­er So­ca win­ner, mean­while said the show has to go on.

“I just feel like it’s an­oth­er one bites the dust. In my life in this en­ter­tain­ment busi­ness, there is a lot of good events that play an in­te­gral part in Car­ni­val that is no more. Kitch­en­er tent is no more, Spar­row tent is no more, In­som­nia no more, Glo is no more, Any Hours is no more, and we still get back from that. It’s go­ing to be some­thing else just now.”

Asked whether or not the ab­sence of the So­ca Monarch plat­form this year will im­pact op­por­tu­ni­ties for young and up­com­ing artistes, George, said, “Every show is plat­form for young artistes in my view, es­pe­cial­ly in the pres­ence of so­cial me­dia, be­cause back then, ISM was the on­ly show that a man used to get to sing in front a cam­era but so far, every show that went for Car­ni­val, the world was able to see it so I don’t see it af­fect­ing young peo­ple in any way. I can’t say it is nec­es­sar­i­ly a blow to the art form, as there are plen­ty shows now with in­ter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion.”

In 2021’s vir­tu­al com­pe­ti­tion, Dar­ryl “Farmer Nap­py” Hen­ry copped the Groovy So­ca Monarch ti­tle with his song Back­yard Jam.

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, he opt­ed not to com­ment on this year’s can­cel­la­tion.

Ba­jan so­ca artiste Al­i­son Hinds said while the plug was pulled on this year’s edi­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca Monarch, it now presents an op­por­tu­ni­ty for or­gan­is­ers to go back to the draw­ing board and in­ject new ideas and con­cepts to make the event as at­trac­tive as it pre­vi­ous­ly was.

Hinds said, “Yes, it is sad that there is no show this year. How­ev­er, like I said, the crowds had been be­com­ing less and less over the years so I think they can work on the event and take the time to make the next show an im­proved ver­sion.”

Mar­vin “Swap­pi” Davis, the 2019 Groovy So­ca Monarch win­ner, de­scribed the ISM as be­ing a bless­ing to the art form from its in­cep­tion and ac­knowl­edged it as be­ing crit­i­cal to up­com­ing artistes and paving the way for ca­reer growth.

He, how­ev­er, dis­missed sug­ges­tions in some quar­ters that the show’s can­cel­la­tion was as a re­sult of Machel Mon­tano’s mar­quee event be­ing card­ed for the same night.

“I be­lieve that we have one point some­thing mil­lion peo­ple here and it have peo­ple who will go to his show and he will have his crowd and all re­spect to him, but So­ca Monarch will al­ways be So­ca Monarch and if you’re a true so­ca fan and so­ca lover, you will be at So­ca Monarch or even at Machel’s show,” he said.

“This is a coun­try with a dif­fer­ent mix of peo­ple and cul­tures and So­ca Monarch is a cul­tur­al show, so I be­lieve peo­ple will come to the show re­gard­less of what is hap­pen­ing on that night.”

Al­so shar­ing a sim­i­lar point of view was two-time Pow­er So­ca Monarch win­ner Ron­nie McIn­tosh, who said news of the ISM’s can­cel­la­tion came as no sur­prise to him.

“When I heard noth­ing in De­cem­ber and noth­ing ear­ly Jan­u­ary and mid­dle Jan­u­ary, I knew it was off, so it’s dif­fi­cult to say now So­ca Monarch is can­celled three weeks be­fore Car­ni­val. I know it wasn’t com­ing off and that’s sad too and that has noth­ing to do with Machel Mon­tano do­ing his show on the Fri­day, So­ca Monarch is a dy­ing brand for the last five years, so peo­ple have to face that re­al­i­ty that So­ca Monarch has been dy­ing.”

Ca­lyp­son­ian Ed­win “Crazy” Ay­oung mean­while took to his Face­book page to ex­press his dis­ap­point­ment over the show’s can­cel­la­tion.

“The Moth­er of all Car­ni­vals in Trinidad and To­ba­go say a big no So­ca Monarch, big dis­ap­point­ment for we,” he said.

Trinidad and To­ba­go Pro­mot­ers As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent, artiste and two-time So­ca Monarch fi­nal­ist Jerome “Rome” Pre­cil­la felt the move could close doors for those seek­ing to es­tab­lish them­selves in the so­ca in­dus­try.

“As an artiste, it sad as a mem­ber of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s pub­lic who loves Car­ni­val. It is very sad be­cause So­ca Monarch is ours, is we thing. It’s some­thing that gives young and up­com­ing artistes a plat­form to show­case their tal­ent,” he said in a video post­ed to so­cial me­dia.

“So­ca Monarch has been viewed by peo­ple around the world in the tens of thou­sands, the hun­dreds of thou­sands, the per­son who wins So­ca Monarch is known as the cham­pi­on of so­ca around the world. That per­son is al­lowed to trav­el the world, get gigs, even the per­son who don’t win get so many op­por­tu­ni­ties and opens so many doors, so it’s a great plat­form for the artistes to show their tal­ent. So, it’s a sad day to see we not go­ing to have So­ca Monarch.”