Tomorrow night the new Carib soca monarch will be crowned at the National Park and it will likely be one of the singers with the “wining up” songs, as one of the contestants put it; there are just too many of those songs.
Okay, there are a few other songs with different messages; even one on domestic violence, but even the singers of those lyrics do not sound too confident about winning the crown. They admit that while their messages may be potent it may not win them the crown.
However, that is just our bet. By early Monday morning we will all know. It certainly won’t be Adrian Dutchin, he pulled out, remember? He has won it so often, this year he boldly declared that he wanted to give someone else a chance.
Today The Scene gives a preview of the remaining six contestants.
Shellon ‘Shelly G’ Garraway is no stranger to the Guyanese public. Remember that song “Touch me” with its saucy video? Shelly G told The Scene that was her “hit song”. Who could doubt her? It was certainly a song that drew a lot of intention.
Tomorrow night she will belting out “Work It” and with some laughter in her voice she said the song is all about “wining up.” She said it is all about partying and having fun at Mash time with some “daggerin” in between. So The Scene asked her what she meant by “daggerin” and she said it was just another word for wining. But if we are to go by the Jamaican interpretation, where the word originated, the word refers to sex. In fact, the Jamaican government is currently seeking to ban songs with racy lyrics such as ‘daggerin’ and ‘rampin’. But Shelly G has probably put her own spin on it.
Shelly G, who has been singing professionally for five years, said she has always been in the top five. This year she is aiming for the coveted crown. The singer, who gave birth to her daughter, Athia Anneka Johnson, five months ago, said she is confident of winning because the competition has “kind of grown on me and I am more comfortable with what I do”. She said singing is her profession and she has a few new singles out like, “Bruck me up”, “Bad Gals” and a collaboration with Fojo titled “Swing it”.
Twenty-four-year-old Mark Baston has competed before in the junior calypso and actually won in 2006 with his piece, “True Identity”.
Tomorrow night it would be “Festival Fever” and he said the song is about enjoyment after hard work and he is telling revellers to forget about the stress of life and come out have fun on Mash day. Baston, who has been singing since he knew himself, said singing is his way of life as there are many singers in his family and singing is in his blood.
The confident young man, who feels he has all it takes to be crowned tomorrow night, said music is his everyday life as he works at Platinum and Brutal Track Studios when he is not performing or competing He was in high in praise for his fans whom he said have supported him over the years and he encouraged them to come out and support him as he would be performing to the “best of my ability.” He could not leave out his mother Bridget Nelson, who is the trainer for all of Region Four’s junior calypsonians, and who he said has been instrumental in his development in the music industry
Roger ‘Brains’ Hassell may be best known for the popular Brains Watch World advertisements, but if you are going to be at the National Park it is all about “Wine On Me”. The song is self-explicit as there has to be wining and people once again are encouraged to forgot life’s hardships and have fun at Mash time. He acknowledged that there are many songs in this year’s competition similar to his but noted that he recorded his song since early last year and only decided to enter the competition the day before the closing date for entries.
“Is then I hear all the wining-up songs,” he said.
This is his first year in the competition and he feels that because he will be opening the second half of the show he has a better chance of hyping the crowd and taking the crown. He said the break would give him enough time to be fully prepared and get his props on stage.
Brains performs with Brutal Jammers and he also works in the Brutal Tracks studio but he said because music is not paying he has to do his “hustle on the side.” He revealed that he sells items to suit each season.
Up to mid week he was still looking for sponsors but said he prepared to invest whatever money he has as he is confident about winning and when he does he may buy a car or open a “lil business.” He said he is not intimidated by anyone while pointing out that the only edge some may have ahead of him is stage presentation as he does not have the kind of resources to invest in anything extravagant
If anyone is a veteran in the competition, it would be Clifton ‘Passion’ Adolphus who is in his fifth year.
His song, “No Judge”, speaks to the competition in terms of the mistakes that would have been made in the past and how competitors pander to judges instead of entertaining the “people.” He told The Scene the competition is supposed to produce entertainers “not acrobats and stunt men.”
Passion has been in the finals in all of his appearances in the competition but he has never placed and this year he is not that confident that he would do any better as he says his song, while it has a good story, would not be the favourite for the judges. “But I will be performing for my people and I will ensure that people enjoy themselves,” he said.
He said at the end of the day it is not the judges who would purchase his CDs but rather it would be the “people and I will be performing for them”. No judge is going to make him swing from the zinc top, he said. Regardless of whether he does better than previous years, Passion said he would continue competing as it is an avenue for him “to showcase my talent”.
When he is not singing, something he has been doing for 15 years, Passion is at his day job at the Len’s Variety Store.
The Fire Clann is made up of two cousins, Osley ‘Spider’ Hopkinson and Compton ‘Driva’ Boyce and they are warning that there will be a “Tsunami” come tomorrow night.
But Hopkinson cautions that the fans are going to be protected as the “Tsunami” will be targeting the competitors who will have nothing to answer mother nature and will in fact be washed away, allowing the Fire Clann to easily sweep the crown. While this is the first time they are entering the competition together, Hopkinson said he was in the inaugural competition when he was made the “sacrificial lamb” as he was the first performer on stage.
The two are confident about winning. Hopkinson said they are full-time musicians and they have a mini-studio called Fire Clann and also work along with other studios. Their studio assists in recording Guyanese and taking Guyanese music to a higher level.
Hopkinson told The Scene that he has been “warring for Guyanese music” and as a result he is not considered to be a favourite in some circles. He pointed out that almost every other industry has representation in some shape or form but musicians are left on their own with no one fighting for them. He said some people feel that Guyanese music is not “up to scratch and I am upset about that. When you perform at a show people expect you do it for free because according to them you need the promotion and when they do pay it is nowhere near what is paid to the international artistes,” Hopkinson said. He mentioned that Guyanese artistes are sometimes forced to purchase their own water when performing as they are told that the water provided is only for the international artistes.
But come tomorrow night he would be fighting to win the crown and since Fire Clann was bringing a “Tsunami” then the others don’t stand a chance.
It will also be “Wet” when the Purrsonality hits the stage tomorrow night. While their stage name represents their different personalities, these ladies wanted to emphasise the “purr” hence their spelling of the word.
While there are usually four ladies in the group, only Ashanti Low and Balinda Cummings will be on stage tomorrow night; Ashaka King and Ewanna Paul are not available.
The group only became a reality six months ago and Ashanti told The Scene they are happy that they have reached the soca competition final on their first try. The song, “Wet”, is written by close friend, Simeon Hardy, and Ashanti said it was just hours before the closing for entries that they entered the song.
The song is all about getting wet while you “wine, dance and sweat; it has hidden messages, basically.”
The group has also recorded its first song, “PHAT”, which stands for pretty, hot and tempting, said to be a groovy soca. Ashanti said tomorrow night they plan to perform to the best of their ability and they are confident about doing well. When they are not singing they are not school as Balinda is in her final year at the University of Guyana, while Ashanti takes classes at Global Technology.
(samantha_alleyne2000@yahoo.com)