Iwer George is the 2007 International Power Soca Monarch, while Bajan artiste, Biggie Irie, captured the Groovy Soca Monarch title at Friday's finals of the competitions at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.
By Wayne BowmanIwer singing "Fete After Fete" and Irie performing "Nah Going Home" each wrested the respective titles from Shurwayne Winchester who placed third in the Power Soca Monarch with "Open The Gate" and fourth in the Groovy Soca Monarch singing "Alequa" although he delivered elaborate presentations that featured troupes of dancers, additional musicians and several stylised props in each of the competitions. Winchester did, however, capture the People's Choice Awards for both competitions.
Iwer and Irie kept their presentations very simple, depending mainly on their raw talent and synergy with the audience to pull off their respective victories. Iwer goes home with $400,000 for his efforts while Irie receives $150,000. Iwer said he was obviously thrilled with this his third victory in the competition and he believes that one of the main reasons he pulled it off is his genuine passion for the soca art form as well as the ease with which he makes the people come alive.
As for Biggie Irie, this is his first major title and he is thankful that the people of Trinidad have accepted him with such open arms and he is going to use his Groovy Soca Monarch title to further establish himself on the world soca arena.
Performing in position number six, Iwer charged onto the stage with his "Fete After Fete" and the crowd immediately began to sing along with hands raised. There were several people on stage with Iwer jumping around behind him as he sang and then began to interact with the audience asking them if they believed that the time had come for him to retire from the performance arena to which the people shouted a unanimous, "No!" Then just as quickly as he ran on stage, Iwer was off and finished with his presentation as he did not seem interested in spending much time hyping the crowd further as many of the artistes have done in previous years most times ending up droning on instead of delivering exciting performances.
Just as simple was Biggie Irie who was dressed in an all white outfit and accompanied on stage by a rhythm section and several dancers as he performed "Nah Going Home". The heavyset singer mesmerised the audience with his smooth crooning as he at times called on the band to cut the music so he could sing acapella while inviting the people to join him. Irie presented a very straightforward performance when compared to some of his competitors who showed up with highly structured performances featuring elaborate props and large groups of people invading the stage that although heightened the excitement of the performances did not add much value to the vocal and musical aspects of the presentations.
Coming in second in the Power Soca Monarch was Nadia Batson and Kees Deiffenthaller who were actually favourites to win the title with their offering titled "My Land".
Winchester placed fourth in thje Groovy Soca battle and took things up a notch for the Power Soca competition in which he had a huge gate placed on the stage through which he entered as did his dancers and other props, which included the King of the Band from the presentation Sahara from Island People Mas; Scorpion King. There were also costumed masqueraders, pannists, tassa drums and African drums passing through the gate to prance across the stage with Winchester who came in third.
Chucky who performed "Turn Around" took the second position in the Groovy Soca Monarch, while Patrice Roberts who failed to place in the Groovy competition with "Sugarboy" came in fourth with her performance of "Light It Up", a song that she recorded as a duet with Machel Montano, but performed all on her won for the finals. Another favourite in the Groovy competition, Crazy failed to place with his performance of "Cold Sweat" in which he sat on a throne while four ladies took turns in giving him lap dances and spraying him with water guns as he sang. Blazer too was a popular act in the Groovy Soca category that failed on the night as the quality of his vocals was lacking.
Later in the night Machel Montano HD kept the crowd entertained while they waited on the results.
The results were announced shortly after Montano ended his performance at 4.32 a.m.
