Maddzart put on an entertaining and intriguing performance during Dimanche Gras to retain the Calypso Monarch title on Sunday night.
The version of “Gravy Train” that the artiste performed was significantly different from what he had sung to entertain calypso lovers during the tent season.
The song was a mockery of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) as it prepares to make a bid for a sixth term in office.
The song initially said that the party could not come up with six reasons why it should be re-elected to a sixth consecutive five-year term in office.
General elections are widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline, and the campaigning is expected to intensify now that Vincymas is over.
Maddzart suggested that many of the people who advocate for the ULP’s re-election do so because they are on the gravy train.
His performance included characters such as “Ass 2 Fan”, “Sand Dolls”, “Rod Knee” and “Looter” coming on stage to “drink” “gravy” served up by “Comrade” from what appeared to be a chamber pot.
The song took a twist when the artiste, whose real name is Reaon Primus, got to the third verse, saying, “if Fireman could bring Skinny, I cud bring Comrade”.
He was referring to the winning collaboration between the two power soca heavyweights the previous night, when Fireman was defending his Soca Monarch title.
As he began the third verse, Madzart called over “Comrade” then proceeded to sing that “in the interest of time and keeping the show alive / this verse is reason three, four and five”.
He said he was going to be “the best party defender / cuss everybody stink like Vincy Powa”, a ULP hardcore defender who was among the patrons in front of the stage.
Maddzart, however, said “Comrade” “cyah do me like yo do Man Sick. He had nothing to show now election coming he get”.
At the end of the verse, Maddzart moved off stage, disappearing behind the “gravy train” prop as “Comrade” came centre stage, skanking.
As the interlude concluded, the back vocalists began singing in a chanting manner, “We wah hear reason number six!”
Maddzart then reappeared on stage as “Comrade” even as “Comrade”, who had been on stage during the entire presentation, moved behind the “gravy train”.
The artiste, singing as “Comrade”, said “when Maddzart tell me way all ah dem say / ah put him on the gravy train right away…
“Is by the cups I does give out gravy / My top supporters they getting more than enough / If you want a cup, yo have to support me. / In other words, you got to vote for cup.”
“Comrade” sang that reason number six was that he was trying to win six straight. “I trying to win / Before they spoil and turn yellow, I give you plantain/
“Now, Victoria Park, let me tell you something / Just like me, Maddzart winning again…”
Comrade continued singing that after he increased the prize money, everybody had come back into the ring.
“But the Comrade say, try next year again. Cause no flipping song tonight beating Gravy Train.”
Maddzart proved that his 2024 win — when he became the first and only artiste in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to win Road March, Soca, Ragga, and Calypso Monarch — was not a fluke.
Upstage Xperience takes all top spots
Madzart defeated a number of former monarchs, including fellow Upstage Xperience members, Lornette “Fya Empress” Nedd, who placed second with “Children of the Drum” and their tent leader, Shanuelle McKezie, who sang her way into third place with “Ghetto Mentality”.
Zamfir “Zangie” Adams, a four-time winner — including a hat trick — returned to competition after a few years’ absence. His voice was as melodious as the days he last won in much the same way that his onstage presentation has not evolved.
Zangie, who opened the night, was accompanied by a La Gracia Dance Company-themed presentation that included a lot of dancers on stage, all dressed in the national colours.
Zangie’s “My Nation” tied for fifth place with Maxwell “Tajoe” Francis, a two-time monarch who is better known for his lyrics rather than his singing ability and diction.
Tajoe’s “Change For What” sang the praises of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves in a song in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines was a woman, “Vincy”, who was considering the advice she had received to change her physician.
“Change for what? / I sticking with my Doc!” she concluded as Tajoe made a case for the re-election of Gonsalves and the ULP.
Dereck “Man Sick” Alexander, who might have left some calypso lovers wondering if he is schizophrenic, did not feature among the top performers Sunday night.
Man Sick sang the praises of the ULP in “Nothing God to Say”, a composition in which he said critics of the government have nothing good to say about it despite all that it has accomplished during its 25 years in office.
However, calypso lovers would remember that just a year ago, the same artiste sang that he had nothing to show after five in a row, saying that it was time for the ULP to pack up and go. Sunday night, one patron at the front of the stage cussed the artiste from the time his song was announced to when he quit the stage after his rendition.
Yet another wondered if he had since gotten something to show, had gotten a seat on the “Gravy Train”, or was just simply being a calypsonian — goading as he sees fit.