The discussion about the title is reaching the next stage. Reigning Soca Monarch 2008 Bunji Garlin said in an interview, that Fay-Ann did the best show at Queen’s Park Oval last Friday:
“I like to feel victory and I didn’t get that last night. After seeing Fay-Ann’s performance, I told her: You win. You beat me tonight.”[Newsday]
The Trinidad Express’ commentator Gary Cardinez goes even further:
Clearly it seems that a performance based on singing, melodies, delivery and music will not give an artiste the edge.
It has reached the stage where artistes have to come up with out of this world theatrics to win the International Soca Monarch title. Early in the game we referred to these massive presentations as “best village performance” now we have to find a new high tech name for them. What does an exploding car suspended 100 feet in the air about 300 feet from the stage have to do with Bunji Garlin’s performance of “Fiery”? [Trinidad Express]
Fay-Ann said that she won’t be part of the competition again:
“No matter if my song is as high as the Berlin Wall I am not going to enter, as I felt I was cheated by the judges, who obviously view women as second best to men. [Guardian]
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If Gary Cardinez knew anything about Maestro, he would not ask such a stupid question. Maestro was knocked down and killed by a CAR in 1977 Gary, a CAR…. C-A-R… car. And just in case he is wondering who Maestro is – Maestro is the calypsonian who sang the original ‘Fiery’ in 1976, before Bunji Garlin was born.
While Fay-Ann’s performance was near flawless (she almost fell off the surf-board), Bunji’s performance was inspirational. I personally know of people who were moved to tears during Garlin’s performance, I also heard of commentators’ ‘pores raising’… These are things that you cannot put on a score-sheet, my dear people. There was simply no comparison to the fire and passion oozing out of Garlin on that night – none..
Iwer George, whatever people may think of him as a lyricist – is an exceptional performer, always a force to be reckoned with. His performance contained even less flaws that that of Fay-Ann, so his second placing is not a surprise.
As for the whole ‘Best Village’ argument… man, the days when a man or woman would just go up on stage and sing and dance are gone. Theatre is now as important to the performance as the performance itself. The singer sings his or her song, while the actors/actresses/props tell a story behind him or her. We have been seeing props in the Calypso Monarch for years and nobody complained, so what is the problem now? If you think Fay-Ann should have won, then say that, but do not disparage Bunji’s use of props and pyrotechnics. That’s part of the performance.
The difference between Bunji Garlin and the two runners up (Fay-Ann and Iwer) on that night is like the difference between Lara and Chanderpaul. As a batsman, Chanderpaul is just as effective as Lara, and by the time he retires, he may even supersede Lara statistically – but that extra lethal, stinging, intangible ‘thing’ about Lara that ignites such a wide range of passionate emotions – that is what Bunji Garlin had on Soca Monarch night. There’s no category for that on a scoresheet.