Chutney soca artistes Nermal “Massive” Gosein and Kenneth Supersad, whose songs have generated great controversy in recent weeks, have made it into the finals of the NLCB Play Whe Chutney Soca Monarch competition.
Gosein’s Rowlee Mudda Count has been heavily critized and there have been calls for it to be banned, while Supersad has been threatened with legal action for Raj Story. However, the controversies failed to dampen their performances in the semi final round of the competition at Live Nightclub in San Fernando on Saturday night.
Gosein, dressed in white, had the crowd in stitches as he demonstrated his Rowley Mudda Agricultural Dance.
“We importing plenty, plenty food from foreign. We have to to start helping Rowlee mudda to produce agriculture. We going to start planting our garden,” he said
Supersad wore a blue dress and wig and spoke about a Facebook video of a man caught by his wife with his mistress. A man named Raj who was featured in a video widely circulated on social media sites, threatened to sue Supersad if he continued to perform the song. However, the artiste claims his the song is based on a fictional character and on the advice of his attorneys is ignoring the legal threat.
Although their songs were well received by the crowd, it was the duo Nishard Mayrhoo and Neval Chatelal singing Masala whotopped the semi final round of the competition, while newcomer Vijai Ramkissoon, singing Suno More, was a close second
In a Facebook post, George Singh, CEO of Southex, organisers of the competition, said 34 artistes competed in what was a tough semi final battle.
“There were many new faces at this year’s competition and there was a lot of energy and hype inside the club. The venue was packed to capacity as from very early on there were long lines to get inside,” he said.
Singh said Southex is working closely with service providers to ensure there is a grand show for the finals on January 27 at Skinner Park, San Fernando, where the finalists will try to dethrone 2017 champions Ravi B and Omadath Maharaj.
The finalists are:
• Nermal Gosein
• Veejai Ramkissoon
• Rikki Jai
• Adesh Samaroo
• Kenneth Supersad
• Nishard Mayrhoo & Neval Chatelal
• Veekash Sahadeo & Ravi Babooram
• Imran Beharry
• Shivan Ragoonath & Slammer Cutter
• Saleem Beharry