tidings
Yvonne Webb
ONE of the first carnival shows to be held at the newly renovated Skinner Park, San Fernando, will be the grand finale of the Chutney Soca Monarch 2023 competition, which will return with a live, in-person show.
The 2023 finals are set for February 4 and the show’s promoter, Southex CEO George Singh, is promising a spectacular event, the likes of which chutney/soca fans have never seen before in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I understand that Skinner Park will be available and I’m looking forward to getting back on the big stage. I am very excited about Chutney Soca,” said Singh in an interview with Newsday.
Udecott, which has undertaken renovation work at Skinner Park, announced on November 21 that the park is almost ready to host cultural and sporting events and will be officially handed over in January.
The 2022 version of the show, which was held virtually, saw GI Beharry win the title for the third time in a row, while Ramraji Prabhoo was crowned the Queen of Chutney Soca.
More than 50,000 also watched the show, the largest Indo-Caribbean event in the Western Hemisphere, online.
In another metric from YouTube analytics, Singh said the show also reached more than 155,000 accounts — the show’s highest viewership in a 12-hour period.
The next few years, he said, “The production is going to be over the top. I mean, our production is always over the top, but this show is going to be one of the biggest we’ve ever done. It’s going to be great.
“You know how Carnival 2023 is being promoted as the mother of all carnivals? Well, this is going to be the mother of all Chutney Soca shows.”
Singh said the planned event will honor soca chutney legends and icons, but preferred to keep their names close to their chests for now.
He said the show will have an international flavor, with guest artists from Suriname and Guyana.
“Our host will come from Canada and we have participants from the Netherlands. We also have artists registered from the USA.”
To accommodate all the guest artistes, including local singer Rasika Dindial, Rakesh Ramkaran, Neval Chatelal, among others, the contestants will be kept to a maximum of ten.
“Because we’re doing ‘legends and icons,’ there’s a whole segment dedicated to that aspect of the show.
“So it’s not just a competition. It’s a full show and we want people to come out and enjoy soca chutney like they did before the pandemic.”
The semi-final is scheduled to take place on January 14 at a venue yet to be decided.
