Seven-time winner of the Chutney Soca Monarch competition Samraj "Rikki Jai" Jaimungal believes he can bag crown number eight when the finals of the competition comes off tonight at Skinner Park, San Fernando.
Jaimungal said his song Ent Yuh Know is based on the plight of the average married man who falls under the dictatorial rule of his wife who bans him from liming with his friends.
The man from Friendship Village said fans can look forward to a good show since he feels the line up of finalists is an excellent one. And this is why he is not letting his guard down or disregarding any of his fellow competitors.
Jaimungal who last won the crown with White Oak and Water in 2011 said he was pleased to see fellow artistes like Raymond Ramnarine and Anil Bheem back on the stage.
Rocking Ramnarine
Crossover artiste Raymond Ramnarine, lead singer of south's popular band Dil-E-Nadan, topped the semifinal rounds of the 2013 Chutney Soca Monarch competition and he's a strong favourite to win the million dollar prize. The 38-year-old last entered the competition 12 years ago, but spent the last few years focused on developing Dil-E-Nadan.
In fetes this year, he's had a great response to his song I Ain't Marridin No More, the story of a marriage gone bad. The decision to enter the Chutney Monarch competition was motivated by thousands of fans who called for his return on Facebook. He said he wanted to bring back a level of respect into Chutney music which he believes "has become a deluge of rum songs." Ramnarine said there were also songs masquerading as chutney that do not have any of the traditional musical instruments on their sound tracks.
Ramnarine said should he win he plans to go into schools and communities and teach the art form as one way of giving back to a society that has shown him so much love and support since he started his career.
Comical Supersad
Kenneth Supersad believes that he has the support of the women at the finals of the 2013 Chutney Soca Monarch Competition. This is Supersad's ninth trip to the finals and his highest placing has been sixth. The radio presenter said he has the edge this year with Bad Talking Woman, a song that takes a comical poke at singers who sing songs proclaiming that they want to be free and single.
"The best thing God ever created was woman. Bad Talking Woman is a tribute to the womankind," he said in an interview.
Supersad has been singing for the past 35 years and some of his more popular songs are Manning-jitis, Chinee Man, Mona Jaan and The Macco From San Fernando.
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