While several soca artistes are optimistic about the possible return of the International Soca Monarch (ISM) competition next year, they want the organisers to take a different approach to make the event fairer for competitors and attractive to patrons.
On Tuesday, during a prizegiving ceremony hosted by the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation, Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell said he plans to direct the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to release an expression of interest (EOI) for anyone who wishes to collaborate with the government in organising a new competition similar to the ISM.
Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez, who won the competition four times, welcomed the return of the competition. He said it was a pleasant opportunity when his wife, fellow soca-star Fay-Ann Lyon Alvarez, organised the competition in 2020. Faced with the threat of having no competition, Alvarez-Lyons took up the challenge and pulled it off in 19 days.
Alvarez compared the competition to a heavyweight boxing match and noted that people attend to see high-calibre fights. He said no other event allowed soca artiste to execute that level of showmanship.
“That Soca Monarch ring was basically a showdown of the best. It was difficult for any newcomer to come into Soca Monarch and get to shine because the people who were going to Soca Monarch were not going to Soca Monarch to see any newcomer, they were going to see the existing warriors go head-on,” he said.
Lorenz “Mr Renzo” Adams, a 2020 ISM finalist, said the absence of the competition left a void in Carnival. However, he wants changes to the competition, including less favouritism for certain artistes and song popularity and levelling the playfield by stipulating a $50,000 cap on presentation expenditure.
Adams said many people saw ISM as a big concert with their favourite artistes. However, people grew uninterested when the popular artistes left and the remaining contenders could not maintain the standard. Therefore, the competition in 2025 should be able to attract these superstars.
“I think we should definitely bring them back. Whoever wants to be part of it could come back so any upcoming artistes could have a standard to prepare for although financially we might not be able to compete at their level,” he said.
T&T Promoters Association (TTPA) president Jerome “Rome” Precilla says Carnival needs a Soca Monarch as it breeds interest in the art form. He suggested that the NCC not run the competition and lamented that past ISM organisers depended too heavily on government funding.
“The event must be making money from patron sales, from sponsorship, that it would be able to be self-sustainable and not be totally and solely dependent on the Government for it to work. I applaud the efforts of having Soca Monarch come back and having a private entity like a promoter put on an event like this with the Government support,” he said.
Precilla said the TTPA has capable events organisers who would be interested in hosting the show and making it profitable. He said ISM attendance began to dwindle in its latter years when big artistes began pulling out of the competition and whoever gets approval to host the event needs to devise a marketing plan to attract support from soca lovers.