Machel Montano has successfully defended his Road March title, placing first and second in the annual Carnival competition. Montano, who also won the Power Soca Monarch on Friday, placed first with his song Like a Boss, which played 390 times at judging points across the country and second with his power soca song Erupt, which played 37 times. Groovy Soca Monarch Olatunji Yearwood placed third as his song Ola was played 22 times.
In a release yesterday, the Trinbago Unified Calypsonian Organisation (Tuco) said Montano’s win, though by a large margin, was surpassed by the song Palance in 2010 by J.W and Blaze and Fantastic Friday by Super Blue in 2013. Montano has won the competition seven times. The record for most Road March wins belongs to deceased calypsonian Lord Kitchener, who won the competition 10 times. Montano ranks fourth in terms of number of wins.
Yesterday, Montano told CNC3 he was happy to secure another win, noting it was not the first time more than one of his songs had finished in the top three. He said Like Ah Boss was actually made for the 2014 Groovy Monarch title but they decided to hold it back because they felt Happiest Man Alive would bring it and it didn’t.
“...So we always like to keep a bullet in the chamber just in case yuh know, because we really want to succeed, not on a competition level but we want to even compete with ourselves and make sure that we could do the best thing for the country to smile, to make everybody smile and share that happy moment...” The results for Downtown Carnival competition were also released by Port-of-Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee.
Ronnie and Caro’s Ah Come Back Home (Large Band), Mas Passion’s Maskerade (medium) and Rosalind Gabriel and Village Promotions’ A Tribute to Cito Velesquez (small) were the winners. Tim Kee expressed his appreciation to mas bands and spectators for participating in Carnival, saying mas had “come back” to downtown. He said the number of bands passing the South Quay judging point had doubled from last year, with big bands such as Tribe and Island people making a return.
He also praised collaborative efforts between the National Carnival Commission (NCC), corporation and former National Security Minister Gary Griffith for the return of mas to downtown. “We were successful, more spectators and the stands were filled more than at other judging points,” Tim Kee said.