Derek Achong

So­ca su­per­star Machel Mon­tano has been crowned this year's Ca­lyp­so Monarch.

Mon­tano main­tained his form from the pre­lim­i­nary and semi­fi­nal rounds to claim his first ti­tle with his catchy com­po­si­tion " Soul of Ca­lyp­so" at the end of the Di­manche Gras show, a short while ago.

His per­for­mance, which had the au­di­ence in the Grand Stand at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah on their feet through­out, was ar­guably the most mem­o­rable, en­er­getic and high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed in the com­pe­ti­tion in re­cent mem­o­ry.

His vic­to­ry makes that first per­son af­ter Win­ston "The Mighty Shad­ow" Bai­ley to win the three ma­jor Car­ni­val ti­tles- Ca­lyp­so Monarch, the Road March and the now-de­funct So­ca Monarch ti­tles-dur­ing their mu­si­cal ca­reer.

His moth­er Eliz­a­beth joined him on stage to re­ceive his prizes- an over­sized cer­e­mo­ni­al $500,000 cheque and a ma­roon Suzu­ki Grand Vi­tara, which he gift­ed to her.

In a brief in­ter­view, Mon­tano, took a hia­tus from Car­ni­val this year as he pur­sued his Mas­ter's De­gree in Car­ni­val Stud­ies from the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T (UTT), not­ed that he will de­fend his crown next year.

In sec­ond place was 2011 win­ner Karene As­che fol­lowed by Rod­er­ick "Chuck" Gor­don, who won back to back ti­tles in 2014 and 2015.

Kurt "The Last Bard­john OF Ca­lyp­so" Allen, who was a crowd favourite with his so­cial com­men­tary "De First In­ves­ti­ga­tion".