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FRIDAY
Posted: Friday, February 13, 2004

By Terry Joseph

Come noon today, 20 finalists in the Flavourite Supreme Ice Cream Schools Soca Monarch competition will take the Queen's Park Savannah stage sequentially, in order to determine who walks away with this year's title.

The 20 finalists represent half of the number of young persons who participated at the preliminary stage, which selected 33 contestants for the semi-final round before further trimming the group to today's figure.

Their efforts will all be directed toward dethroning reigning schools' soca monarch Aisha Samuel, a student at Success Laventille Composite who, producers Caribbean Prestige Productions International (CPPI) say, is intent on repeating last year's triumph.

Executive producer and CPPI chairman William Munro, who also has on his plate the senior version of the contest and the ongoing calypso tent House of Stars, said the junior contest was consistently turning up quality songs, rich in lyrics and melody.

"Some of these young people are singing soca songs that are intelligently composed and professionally rendered and if you check on their topics, they manage to weave some serious issues into the festival mood of the competition," Munro said.

CPPI has mounted a number of workshops with seasoned calypsonians and several of today's soca stars, all in the effort to raise the level of songs coming from the youth. "These free workshops and seminars have been very successful and you can hear the evidence in what is coming from the mouths of babes," Munro said.

"We believe that you have to secure the continuity of this programme by nurturing the youth and guiding them in the art of calypso and soca. The art-form is forever changing and some of the styles young people are introducing, particularly with their presentation, is very interesting if you are checking the trends.

"Over the years we have seen a shift from the playful type of almost nursery rhyme soca songs to meaningful lyrics and professional approaches to the contest, in some cases, and I don't mind saying this, the adult performers might be able to learn a thing or two from the youngsters.

"In a time when so much blame is being centred on the youth of the nation-and I'm not saying we should not make the point when they slip in behaviour-the junior soca monarch is a refreshing and decent demonstration from young people and one that the media should focus more on, so we could balance the news about how our young people are really going.

"The world looks to Trinidad and Tobago to provide the lead and the example in Carnival events and in the various arts associated with the festival," Munro said, "what we are doing is trying to ensure that the party aspect of calypso has a future and I feel we have been successful at both the junior and senior level in this regard.

"While the grown-ups can chart their own course and do what they feel will bring them the best deal, the juniors still need some guidance and we are using our experience in the entertainment industry to try and offer that guidance and we are already seeing results from our efforts," Munro said.

Admission for today's final is $5 for children and $10 for adults, Munro said prices were kept at that level for yet another year largely due to help from the event's sponsors, Flavourite Supreme Ice Cream, but deliberately designed to attract parents to the shows to see what the youngsters are up to.

"Any parent will be proud of what they will hear today, even if it be from someone else's child, or from a competing school, as it were-such is the quality of the songs that are comprising the final of the junior soca monarch competition this year," Munro said.

A slew of top-flight adult soca singers will appear as guests at today's junior final, all proceeds from which are dedicated to the Cyril Ross Nursery for kids afflicted with the HIV/Aids virus.

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