Chutney Soca Monarch is coming to Canada this Summer!

BY STEPHEN WEIR

There will be a Soca Monarch contest held during Toronto’s Caribana weekend, and this year it comes with a healthy dose of T&T Chutney! Shortly after it was learned that there would not be a Toronto Caribbean Calypso Monarch contest this year because of a lack of contestants, a Trinidad based company announced it is working with Canadian publisher/promoter Amit Gos­sai, to bring the Chutney Soca Monarch (CSM) to Toronto.

“The Chutney Soca competition in Trinidad gets 5,000 to 10,000 spectators. This is our first year in Canada, and I am hopeful that we will get 4,000 to 5,000 through the door,” Mr. Gossai told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper.  “We are in the process of nailing down a location, once the deal has been signed. I can’t say where it will be, but I will tell you it will be held in Woodbridge, 3 pm to 9 pm on August 4^th.“

Southex Pro­mo­tions, the owners of the Chutney Soca Monarch Competition, have inked a deal for the first Chut­ney So­ca Monarch (CSM) to come North. Southex CEO George Singh made the announcement dur­ing a press con­fer­ence in May in San Fer­nan­do, Trinidad.

Singh said in a media briefing that af­ter 24 years, CSM con­tin­ues to be one of the most pop­u­lar and suc­cess­ful events in T&T’s Car­ni­val. He said that the Canadian partnership is “anoth­er op­por­tu­ni­ty to mar­ket the Chut­ney So­ca brand.”

Meanwhile back in Canada, Mr. Gossai says that the August 4^th event will not only help brand Chutney music, but it will also help Canadian Chutney singers gain some traction in Trinidad. “To be honest we are doing this to promote local Chutney Soca artists to the Caribbean market. Canadians have taken part in Trinidad Chutney Soca competitions in the past, but none of them have been able to progress up the ladder because the judges didn’t know who they were, and or even what their songs were. It is not as though the T&T radio stations are playing their music!”

Mr. Gossai reports that he wants to bring a dozen performers to the stage for the Canadian Monarch Competition.  He has already found 10 Canadian and international singers to commit to the contest.  “We are offering prize money to the top three artistes. The winner also gets an automatic bye to the final round of 2020 T&T CSM!”

“We really want to link up with the organizers of the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival. We understand that while there will be Calypso performances in the festival, there isn’t going to be a Monarch competition.” Mr. Gossai said.  “We’d love to be part of Carnival. We have already talked to Joel Davis (Connector) the last winner of Canada’s Calypso Monarch to take part in our CSM.  We will have more announcements soon, so as they say, “Watch This Space!”