An­drea Perez-Sobers

Se­nior Re­porter

an­drea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt

Machel Mon­tano is the new Chut­ney So­ca Monarch af­ter wow­ing the judges with the song “Pep­per Vine” over the week­end, per­form­ing along­side Dru­patie Ram­goon­ai and La­dy La­va in the fi­nals at Skin­ner Park, San Fer­nan­do.

 It was Mon­tano’s first time in the com­pe­ti­tion and adds to his record haul of ti­tles which in­cludes six times as In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca Monarch and ten Road March crowns.

Fol­low­ing the win and en­er­getic per­for­mance Mon­tano told re­porters his de­ci­sion to en­ter Chut­ney So­ca Monarch was in­spired by a so­cial me­dia which stat­ed he would be win­ning the com­pe­ti­tion this year.

“The mo­ment the meme came out, it ce­ment­ed in­to my head that maybe I should try the com­pe­ti­tion once I get a good song. DJ Pri­vate Ryan sent me the rhythm, and M1 wrote the rest. I feel so hap­py, and sat­is­fied.

Dru­patie, La­dy La­va Shiv Shak­ti Dance Com­pa­ny every­body who worked with us. Thank you so much. It’s a feel­ing be­yond the moon,” he said with a smile on his face.

Asked if he would be en­ter­ing the com­pe­ti­tion next year, the new­ly crowned monarch said: “I had planned to make the al­bum that I’ve been try­ing to make for years, a Gram­my al­bum, so I’m hop­ing to take some time to do that. But this was fun. If I have the right song, I’ll be back.”

Mon­tano ad­mit­ted he did not much about the oth­er com­peti­tors but he con­grat­u­lat­ed every­one for bring­ing their A-game to the fi­nals.

Neval  Chate­lal, a for­mer win­ner, placed sec­ond, while nine-time cham­pi­on Rik­ki Jai took third place.

Rik­ki Jai, in an in­ter­view yes­ter­day said he had not been in the com­pe­ti­tion for a few years, so re­turn­ing this year and be­ing able to place in the top three was quite re­mark­able.

“It’s an achieve­ment to walk away from some­thing and just come back in the win­ner’s row. For me, it’s al­ways been the judge’s de­ci­sion that is fi­nal,” he said.

“You do your best, you go out there, you present as best as you can, and hope that every­thing goes your way, and if it doesn’t, well, you know, there’s al­ways next year, God’s will­ing, and you plan and re­build and re­fo­cus and come again, which has been my mot­to all of my mu­si­cal ca­reer.” J

Asked whether he will en­ter the com­pe­ti­tion again next year, Jai said: “There are oth­er things to fo­cus on. I’m not sure if I will re-en­ter.

“The 30th year was a lit­tle bit spe­cial, me be­ing the on­ly sur­viv­ing artist from 1996 to now, you know, I just  thought it would have been nice to re-en­ter, but what next year holds is, you know, let’s just get past this sea­son first be­fore we make any de­ci­sions.”

He con­grat­u­lat­ed Machel on his wins, adding that it would si­lence a lot of peo­ple’s con­cerns about com­pe­ti­tion.

“This could be what change is all about, you know, and some­times this is what is re­quired for a coun­try to un­der­stand that, you know, race has no part in com­pe­ti­tions. Race has no part in cul­ture, you know, the cul­ture be­longs to every­one, every creed, every race,” he said.

`The Queen of Chut­ney ti­tle went to Resh­ma Ram­lal, who col­lab­o­rat­ed with Lil Bits (Shiv­onne Churche Is­sacs) for her per­for­mance.

Ram­lal said she had worked many years to achieve this vic­to­ry.

“I am lost for words. This is some­thing I have worked hard for many years and I was blessed. I aim to keep pro­mot­ing cul­ture and mu­sic world­wide,” she said.

She not­ed that there were a lot of mishaps that she had to over­come: “This is my fifth year in the fi­nals, and I’ve been do­ing com­pe­ti­tion for like 15 years.”

Lil Bits said it was the first time she had done chut­ney and was elat­ed to com­pete and win ti­tles such as Queen of Chut­ney and the Hot103.1 Chut­ney Road March.

“I have al­ways loved chut­ney mu­sic since I was a child. I love East In­di­an and chut­ney cul­ture. Sur­re­al is the best word for win­ning these ti­tles. I am al­so very hap­py for Resh­ma as she was the one that fought for Queen of Chut­ney be­ing a thing in the com­pe­ti­tion,” she re­marked.

CEO of Southex, George Singh said the show went well with about 5,000 pa­trons in at­ten­dance. He added that he would not change any­thing for next year’s com­pe­ti­tion.

He said the com­pe­ti­tion, which cel­e­brates its 30th an­niver­sary this year, had be­come a bea­con of cul­tur­al pride and eco­nom­ic op­por­tu­ni­ty, trans­form­ing lives and es­tab­lish­ing an in­dus­try that sup­ports a wide ar­ray of tal­ents across the re­gion and pro­vid­ing em­ploy­ment for many mu­si­cians, dancers, prop builders, and mu­sic pro­duc­ers.  

“Every per­son who has won Chut­ney So­ca Monarch has said it’s a life-chang­ing ex­pe­ri­ence,” he said. “The op­por­tu­ni­ties for gigs, in­ter­na­tion­al trav­el, glob­al ex­po­sure, and the re­spect they gain are in­cred­i­ble. They’ve be­come mil­lion­aires in their own right and have gone on to achieve great things.”