10 advance to final of Carib Soca Monarch

Ten semi-finalists have been shortlisted to advance to the final of the 2018 Carib Soca Monarch competition slated for February 17, following the hosting of the semi- finals in Linden on Saturday evening.
There was intense competition, which progressively heated up, between 15 semi-finalists as the event got underway at the Linden-Georgetown Municipal minibus park as competitors battled to secure a spot in the final with a grand prize of $1.5 million at stake.
Of the 15 semi-finalists, those who made it through to the final in no particular order are Brandon Harding singing “Alive”; Colwin “Lil Colwin” Blair (“Leave Me Alone”); Jonathan “Lil Red” King (“Water, Paint and Powder”); Melissa “Vanilla” Roberts (“We Run Things”); Shellon “Fluffy” Gallay (“Bam Bam”); Roshauna Fraser (“Show Me”); Samantha Grant (“Ah Playing Mas”); Alisha “Sasha Melody” Hamid (“Love Off”); Diana Chapman (“Get Ready”) and Roger “Young Bill Rogers” Hinds (“De Money Power Dance”).
Performers who did not make it to the final following Saturday’s competition are Stanton “Cardiac” Lewis with “Welcome Guyana”, Quacy “Avalanche” Coates with “Life”, Keron “Norek Mas” Sam with “Power Soca”, Colwyn “Soca Cwyn” Abrams with “Soca Rage” and  Delon “Soca Del” Azore with “Take A Bounce”.
As seen from the list, Lindeners did not disappoint in their hometown, as five made it to the final (Harding, Blair, Gallay, Fraser, and Chapman). Participants were judged in on lyrical performance, diction, stage performance, party appeal and crowd response among other criteria. The evening’s chief judge was Shawn Bola. Also heating things up on stage and entertaining the crowd were the Heat Wave Band and Selector Winston.
The competition is being hosted by the Ministry of the Presidency, Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sports in collaboration with Carib Beer. The final of the competition will be hosted at Jubilee Park, Georgetown on February 17, 2018.