Advertisement 87
Advertisement 323
Gamal "Skinny Fabulous" Doyle performs "The General" during the Soca Monarch show.
Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle performs “The General” during the Soca Monarch show.
Advertisement 219

Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle upped the theatrics at Soca Monarch a few notches in a performance Saturday night that won him another Soca Monarch title.

The artiste succeeded in doing what not even election violence in 2010 could achieve: getting Leader of the Opposition, Arnhim Eustace, and Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, appearing on the same “platform” in unreserved support for one goal.

But Skinny’s win might be telling of his own skills as a performer or those of his closest rival, Delroy “Fireman” Hooper, who returned after a one-year hiatus and placed second.

Members of Skinny Fabulous' army and a sample of their hardware.
Members of Skinny Fabulous’ army and a sample of their hardware.

Skinny’s performance began with a video of a “newscast” about a “terror attack” in Kingstown. Eustace, then Gonsalves, appeared in the recording expressing confidence in Skinny to quell the situation.

Then, the artiste, who had previously flown into “Carnival City”, Victoria Park, with a jetpack, entered after a helicopter appeared overhead on Saturday, at the beginning of a performance that will undoubtedly leave his production team thinking even further outside of the box for future acts.

Advertisement 21

Skinny’s rendition of “General” was further complemented by the convincing military costumes that his supporting acts wore, and a “tank” that formed part of the props.

Fireman placed second on his return to the competition, after a one-year break.
Fireman placed second on his return to the competition, after a one-year break.

“It’s a good vibe. It’s hard work,” Skinny told I-Witness News of his win, as he thanked Alex Barnwell and the rest of his crew.

“It is just a teamwork thing,” he said in he post-show interview.

The “key” to winning, he said, “is good people around you to bounce good ideas from and concentrate on your song.

“If you concentrate on a song — as in your own song, you must find the gold in it, you must find the treasure as a performer. The minute you start to concentrate on other things, you gone differently,” he told I-Witness News.

Skinny, who has appeared on political platforms on behalf of the ruling Unity Labour Party government, said it was not difficult to get the leader of the two main political parties here to agree to be part of his act.

“You have to go with a rationale and make sure that everybody is comfortable with the content and the approach that you are going to project on stage. And once you can answer all the questions that you know you are going to be faced with, it’s easy to get it done,” the artiste said.

Fireman's fans are beyond redemption. The one who cast the soca spell on them is dead, the artiste says.
Fireman’s fans are beyond redemption. The one who cast the soca spell on them is dead, the artiste says.

Skinny further told I-Witness News that he is not a polarising artiste.

“I am for the unification of St. Vincent. I will never go to the Prime Minister and not go to Arnhim. … In fact, I approached Mr. Eustace first because if I wasn’t able to get Mr. Eustace, I was not going to do it,” he said, adding, “Sometimes, it just helps to say please.”

Regarding the helicopter, Skinny said it “came from a military base, from my military base. I had it parked up in my military base.”

But he later said, “It came from the Caribbean.”

And it took “proper and extensive research” to get a helicopter to be a part of his act.

“… to get a helicopter here, we are not just going to go and say, ‘Hey, can we bring a helicopter?’ We are going to go and do all the research involved so we can answer all the questions when we propose what we propose.”

Fya Empress is carried aloft on top a platform to the stage.
Fya Empress is carried aloft on top a platform to the stage.

But Skinny and his team, for their ability to sway politicians and to get helicopters to fly, might not be as good at keeping their acts secret.

Skinny, during his performance at number 12, two acts before Fireman, the last performer, spoke about artistes who would come on stage and talk about him rather than their song.

It seems that Skinny might have realised that Fireman had gotten wind of his performance and had prepared an appropriate preemptive response.

And, as Fireman’s performance began, it was immediately clear that the “General’s” bombshell was not going to be allowed to ravage Fireman’s domain.

Problem Child caused a "Riot".
Problem Child caused a “Riot”.

Fireman’s performance began with a video of Green Party leader Ivan O’Neil, a real veteran who served in the British Army, dressed in war medals.

O’Neal said the Opposition Leader and the Prime Minister had conspired with Skinny but that he (O’Neil) will send the undertaker –a reference to Fireman’s song, “Undertaker 21-0” — to take care of the “fake general”, which sent the crowd into further euphoria.

Fireman’s performance did not have much in the way of theatrics with only a few actors dancing and a man, depicting a gunshot victim, standing in a coffin.

But the crowd’s response did prove that Fireman is still well-loved in the soca art form, as chants of “Fire! Fire!” — the artiste’s name, and ‘We just can’t change!” a hook line from Fireman’s song, erupted long before the artiste was announced or appeared on stage.

Problem Child's rioters.
Problem Child’s rioters.

The artiste used his performance to pay tribute to community activist, Stuart “Rudy” Louie, one of his relatives and a former Roses Crew member, who was shot and killed in Gibson Corner last year.

And, Skinny told I-Witness News, he was happy that Fireman had returned to the competition.

“I will tell you a secret. For a lot of people this was a walk in the park. They said, ‘Ah, you have it, you have it.’ I respect all competition and all artistes in the competition but Delroy Hooper, I will always consider him the most formidable competition out there,” Skinny said.

“I am not going to proclaim years over Fireman. He has been there before me. I am not going to try to proclaim showmanship over him. There are things he can do that I can’t,” he said.

But when asked what things, Skinny responded: “ Well, I am learning too. So, maybe the things he can do I am now beginning to do them too. But I would never try to downplay his significance back then and the significance he still has right now.”

Asked about the fact that Fireman, with his limited theatrics, placed second, Skinny said, “When we do something, we do it properly. If I am looking for an impact, might as well achieve the impact I want. Not just what I see on a movie and film it over and wish I could do it.

“I spend months researching how to get it done. So, I am not going to come up here with a cardboard tank,” he said.

Ask how much such a performance cost, Skinny said he could not give a figure.

But the artiste’s elaborate performance has won him a new Nissan Skyline compliments Coreas Hazells Inc. and EC$25,000 in cash from the Carnival Development Corporation.

Lornette “Fya Empress” Nedd-Reid’s “Earthquake” was not enough to shakedown Skinny and Fireman as they continue their rivalry for dominance of soca here.

Fya Empress, who was second last year, placed third this year, while Shertz “Problem Child” James was fourth with “Riot”.

(More photos on our Facebook page)

3 replies on “General Skinny deepens command of soca land”

  1. Teacherfang (@Llijame) says:

    TeacherFang says:
    June 21, 2013 at 6:36 PM
    Skinny dun win by default. The competition is non-existent. This have to be the worst bunch of Soca songs I have heard for sometime.

    All Skinny has to do is to show up. Its ova!!
    …………………………………………………

    And showed up he did! Unfortunately, its ova until these fools come up to Skinny’s level, theatrically that is. It would be criminal and downright asinine of me to say that Skinny’s had the best song of the night…you would have to put a gun to my head to in order for me to select a song that do qualify as “best”…but what can be said with little or no hesitation is that Skinny’s theatrics was the best of the night and that won him the crown.

    I thought Problem Child had a great performance…but Skinny’s overall performance was just too much for anyone to surpass. But all in all the songs in of themselves were TOTAL CRAP and most of the performers seem like they were going through the emotions, probably knowing they didn’t stand a chance of winning.

    These Soca competitions have devolved into an exhibition of musical dunces and talent-less show man-ship. It’s all about who have the best props and theatrics and not necessarily the best lyrical or musical composition. And one wonders, how do upcoming, talented artistes with limited resources can compete with the likes of Skinny? Its not like every artiste could have a helicopter as part of their performance nor have a first rate video presentation featuring the Prime Minister. This is madness!

    What’s the point in writing or composing a melody…when you can spend all your time and energy coming up with these elaborate Hollywood-type stunts and WIN?…But I guess this is a cyclical/generational phase we are going through with music and everything else? Yep, everything is cut and paste with no regard for originality.

    Yep, crap in crap out. In the immortal words of Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon fame…I am too old for this S#!t.

    @Lizzie, were you hoping to see Skinny, jump out of the helicopter onto the stage ala Bruce Willis? Yo know what, I was thinking the same thing…but ah guess that was too much to expect?…naaaah!

Comments closed.