The Sweet Soca Conundrum

Biggie Irie performing Pankatang at the 2014 Sweet Soca Finals dressed for the top spot...he is no longer the best man but the bridegroom-photo credit-barbadostoday.bb

Congratulations to... 
Biggie Irie on winning his first Sweet Soca competition in Barbados but Sanctuary with Mega Monday was my winner, which in my opinion the strongest sweet soca concept and lyrics wise. His 'highway overload' idea can be applied to any Caribbean Carnival culture in or outside the region. This song needs to be heard on Eastern Parkway in a few weeks time and cross the Savannah next year. Sanctuary must be commended for putting together a great performance on his first showing among the big boys as he is more known for his writing talents. Alas crowd response was on the criteria and  neither performer, performance nor song -from a man many thought was Trinidadian and many more have but a vague idea of what he looks like-were able to match the presence of the Red Plastic Bag's Roller Coaster  or Biggie Irie's  Pankatang arguably the most infectious song of the season next to Lead Pipe and Saddis' Ah Feeling which I expect to take the Road March but time will tell.

Enter Conundrum...
Biggie Irie one of the island's sweetest voices and a veteran performer remains the only non Trinidadian to capture the coveted Groovy Soca Monarch title the Trinidadian equivalent and predecessor of the Sweet Soca competition. I point out competition because healthy debate can be had about which island was first to develop the genre of slower groovier soca known outside of competition in Barbados for many years as Ragga soca. Such debate might be an exercise in futility but I can think of quite a few songs from the early 90's which would have been Sweet Soca title contenders. Adrian Clarke's Nice Time springs to mind but I digress.
Yes, Biggie in the absence of a Sweet Soca competition in Barbados took a sweet groovy ragga soca to Trinidad and Tobago and infected everyone with the chorus Nah going home. Despite this success abroad and a string of consistent hits and strong performances at home Biggie was unable to capture the coveted Sweet Soca crown as Miss TC took the first two crowns with Hot Sun and Riddim and Whole Day, followed by the stalwart Red Plastic Bag Once Upon a Wine Mikey's We Loose  and veteran Blood piping him at the line in 2013 with Can't Wait a.k.a King of the Stage. The latter competition Biggie was the expected victor with the infectious Need ah Riddim but despite a fantastic performance was out performed by Blood whose costume changes and addition of Sax man Arturo Tappin to the performance took him over the edge, plus his was the refrain everyone sang as Crop Over 2013 came to a close 'Ah can't wait for Crop Over/Carnival to come again.' Thus up until this year Biggie stood as proof to the biblical saying 'a prophet is honoured everywhere except in his own country among his own kin.'

Conundrum Continuum 
The Connundrum does not end here however as Biggie has entered Pankatang and Get Over a duet sung with upcoming songstress Imani which was reserve for the Sweet Soca final for the Pic-o-de-Crop where the latter was sung solo. History would show that Miss TC was unsuccesful at the Pic-o-de-Crop with Hot Sun and Riddum which strangely enough won not only the inaugural Sweet Soca but the Party Monarch-a competition in which the groovier ragga socas were said to be at a disadvantage to the uptempo pulsating party numbers...more on this in another post-that year making it a double monarch but the biggest loser on the Pic-o-de-Crop stage. Blood attempted the same last year when he took the King of the Stage to Pic-o-de-Crop to partner his social commentary. He fared better than TC emerging in the top four but still no cigar. So as one of my now embattled former history teacher's Rev.Charles Morris would say 'History does not repeat itself , People repeat history' and Biggie is set to do just that. The differences with Biggie and the aforementioned however  are Biggie's lack of experience in this competition as both TC and Blood were both perennial finalists, plus Biggie makes no pretenses of being a kaisonian armed with two sweet socas. Admittedly he tried that route last year when Need ah Riddim accompanied by a Mighty Gabby penned commentary took him to Pic-o-de-Crop semis but a missed cue in the latter saw him out of the contest. Biggie has learned from that experience and has instead this year brought the two sweet socas that took him to the crown and reserve for their rightful competition. Outspoken calypso critic Admiral maintains ad nauseam that despite the rules of the Pic-o-de-Crop do not state that it is 'Calypso' competition explicitly, that it is implicitly understood. I, never surprised by a decision in an NCF competition unless it favours the underdog-Still surprised Popsicle was allowed to win-think otherwise. Now only 'time will tell' as we await Friday's Pic-o-de-Crop, The conundrum continues...