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The CDC says the Soca Monarch Semi-finals will now take place on Monday, June 27, 2022. (iWN file photo)
The CDC says the Soca Monarch Semi-finals will now take place on Monday, June 27, 2022. (iWN file photo)
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Vincy Mas 2017 will see the introduction of a Soca Monarch semi-final.

The finalists will be chosen through this show, rather than judges listening to an artiste’s music recorded on a CD.

Chair of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), Ricardo Adams told iWitness News on Tuesday that the semi-finals will be a picnic-style event, held outside of Victoria Park.

He said a number of persons have had an issue with the judging of the soca monarch based on the submission of CDs.

“Therefore, you might have somebody who might not have as good a CD but is an excellent performer, has a very good song, but doesn’t necessarily have the opportunity to make it to Victoria Park finals,” Adams told iWitness News in Kingstown at the media launch of Vincy Mas 2017, which will also see the shelving of the regional pageant, Miss Carival this year.

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He said the soca semi-finals would provide an opportunity “to expose more artistes, more of the young and upcoming artistes, who can then come in and make their mark, improve their craft and be able to stand a chance to compete, because performance will then also count, apart from the song on a CD”.

Adams said the CDC is yet to work out the logistics about the number of finalists, but told iWitness News, “Realistically, we cannot have a show that goes 10 hours long.”

The Soca Monarch show, which is usually scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. often ends at dawn the following day, after the Ragga and Power Soca segment.

Adams told iWitness News that soca lovers might love such a show, but added that one of the main issues might not even be the additional cost of a show of such a length.

“When you ask a performer, let’s just say Fireman. When you ask Fireman to come to Victoria Park at 8 o’clock with his entourage of dancers and performers, but he goes on stage at 5 o’clock the following morning, it is unfair to the artiste, it is unfair to his performers, it is unfair to judges to ask them to be awake at 5 o’clock in the morning to judge. It’s unfair to the producers of the show, who have to be working for 10 hours to ensure that at 5 o’clock we still produce the same quality of performance as we did at 8, 9, 10 o’clock the night before,” Adams told iWitness News.

He said such a situation is also unattractive to patrons who might watch the show at Victoria Park but might not want to participate in the revelry as well as those paying to watch it at home.