Ten to fight for Princess’ crown

It is the battle of the giants Sunday night as the quest for royalty plays out in real life.

Princess Monique Hector will be under siege with her numbers “Homegrown Terrorist”, and “SVG Is Tops”. Those have already taken her to a hattrick of calypso queen titles. {{more}}

It will be an all-male assault with Kenneth “Vibrating Scakes” Alleyne, in the final. He romped through in flying colours with ‘First Class Citizen,’ and ‘Nobody muzzling me.’

Many persons were irked when Scakes made it to the semifinals, based on what what was regarded as an inadequate rendition. But he tightened the screws and gained his advance on merit. Glenroy ‘Sulle’ Caesar with ‘Pull ‘Gainst,’ and ‘Reparation’ went through the course with smooth familiarity.

It will be a busy weekend for him. He will be in the high-energy Soca Monarch show tomorrow Saturday also at Carnival City. A versatile artiste, Sulle has broken into the Soca arena, his fortitude in the calypsos segment already having been documented.

How much stamina he has left to deal with Sunday’s more sedate affair will be left to be seen.

Fitzroy ‘Brother Ebony’ Joseph was an obvious selection with his numbers ‘Good old days,’ and ‘Teach dem.’ Clifford Goodgi, known in the entertainment sphere as Wayne Keane, erased all doubts of his vocal ability with ‘Lara retribution,’ and ‘Hungry man jam.’

Dennis Bowman will also have a hectic weekend. He progressed with ‘Pinocchio and ‘Ideal man.’

But he may be a tired man on Sunday having performed at the Soca monarch showdown the previous night.

Bowman was the 1997 Soca monarch, so he knows something about royalty. Any one of the 11 finalists will be counting their chances in the final. Michael ‘Black Messenger’ John will be looking to crown his career with this year’s title. His songs were: Rhythm Of Love,’ and ‘Vision of truth.’

Grantley ‘Ipa’ Constance, is one who has been hovering around the pinnacle for the longest while. He will be thinking that it is time enough he breaks the jinx. His numbers are ‘The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste”, and ‘Politics Mashing Up The Country.’

Kenrick ‘Bum-E’ Bowens is again in the finals for the second time in his relatively short career. His numbers are ‘One Caribbean’ and ‘Allergies.’

Gosnel ‘GC’ Cupid made the list with his songs ”That is not good governance’ and ‘One for old George and Butcher.’

One in with as good a chance as any is Vincent ‘Groovy D’ Kennedy. He sang ‘See ma and come live with me,’ and ‘Yo go buy that.’

Ten other semifinalists however failed to get the judges’ nod. They were Marlon ‘Gams’ Williams: ‘Send them fools a little further,’ and ‘Cyar hurt I,’ Earl ‘Exposer’ Isles: ‘We killing we self,’ and “Come foh you world,’ Theodore ‘man Tabbit’ Matthews: ‘Memories,’ and ‘Reflections,’ Jamille ‘Singing Jammie’ Wilson: ‘Halla tree,’ and ‘Ah dis yo war,’ Wendell Rastaman I’ Lewis: ‘Mr. Lynch’ and ‘Make it violence free.’

Alexis ‘Lexie’ Joseph with ‘the media gone crazy,’ and ‘This carnival, John Dougan: Nation in pain,’ and ‘Tricksters,’

Derek ‘Sick’ Alexander with education revolution’ and ‘wait and see,’ Thaddeus ‘Observer’ Duncan: ‘campaign trail.’ And ‘No more negativity,’ and Kingsley ‘Hero’ Roberts: ‘Dreams come true,’ and ‘Judgement day’ all failed to make it to the final.