IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

Rocking Party - Wednesday 14, July-2004
Bacchanal Time judging and recording at the Garfield Sobers Complex last Sunday was like a mini-Party Monarch show.
And it would be no surprise if many of the finalists of that popular contest came from Bacchanal Time.

The Party Monarch entries rivalled those of Pic-O-De-Crop and leading the pack of Party Monarch competitors was Edwin Yearwood who brought the Bacchanal Time massive to its feet with his infectious Invasion. The sweet music continued with Donnella and her groovy In The Mood, a successful follow-up to her last year hit J’ouvert Party.

If Captain Sawyer is not chosen as a finalist, it would only be because he kept going in and out of key in Bashment Symphony. But his theme and his dancing were good entertainment.

There’s no keeping out Khiomal with his pulsating Strong Back, nor Ramases and his exciting choreography in Spellbound, and if Edwin could enter twice, Sugar Cane would take him again.

The girls were represented by Natahlee and Keann in their Bacchanal Time debut, singing Festival and Calling All De Netball Girls, respectively. Leisha with her Outstanding Bumper – song and anatomy – created a storm, even with her remarkably restrained performance.

Both Eric Lewis with Hard Ears and Timmie with Worser Dan Dat are obvious picks for Party Monarch Finals. The Fuh Real Dancers pulled out all the stops in their Immortal Images making up for the ghoul theme choreography for Lewis’ rendition.

Some tent members entered both Party Monarch and Pic-O-De-Crop, and these included the indisputable hit maker Peter Ram who continues to churn out catchy, topical lyrics in songs for both contests. His Barbados Will Never Fall earned him an encore and brought the audience to its feet yet again in spontaneous reaction to the song that could earn him his second award for the Best Nation-Building Song.

While the concept of Come Down, his second Pic-O-De-Crop song, was good – a J’ouvert jam encouraging love and unity, and featuring the Israel Lovell Dancers and drummer – its rendition left a lot to be desired. Ram couldn’t seem to keep in the correct key, and this, more than anything else, might keep him out of the 18.

It would be hard if he is kept out of the Party Monarch with Bajan Girls Look Good, but while the performance was good, it was difficult to understand clearly what he was singing, and so he might lose valuable points if the judges thought so too. The enjoyable choreography from his dancers, coupled with the rhythmic beat, earned him his second encore.

There was also Supa D, who sang Get Up and Early Submission for Pic-O-De-Crop and for Party Monarch, Steel Jam, in which he used three of the St Leonard’s Pan Extreme members to augment his song and message.

Kid Site continues to straddle the party ably and provides social commentary in items such as These Are The Old Songs – a clever use of the titles of past calypsoes to comment on the issues of this year; and Pirates, about the types of pirates other than those who steal music. What was lacking in melody was compensated for in clever lyrics. Dem Paros, popular on the airwaves since its early release, was his Party Monarch entry and the audience was quite happy to be his backing vocalists.

Classic continues to prove himself the master of double entendre with Everybody Got To Sell (he’s not selling his self for a soul) and Gimme a Woman Anytime, the latter at once his Party Monarch and second Pic-O-De-Crop song.

In her debut in Bacchanal Time, TC proves to be the one with the best pair of social commentaries, in lyrics and melody. Her Sisters Of The Caribbean and Bring A Song made good listening, and were well-delivered in her typically confident way. Her Party Monarch entry, De Gardener, was thematically similar to Foreigner Frank’s Lawn ’Em Down.

Romeo entered only the Pic-O-De-Crop contest with Heat, about his unfortunate disaster, and the uptempo Pan Again in which a keyboard solo by George Jones made up for the absence of a live pan player.

Unfortunately Madd’s The Pine Raid was not entered for Party Monarch, as was the group’s intention, but it went down well nonetheless, especially as the performance was being recorded.

The Undesirables continue to make their mark with the double entendre De Key. Picture three prisoners in Glendairy with cellphones, who contribute to Crop-Over with their song.

The special appearance of a puppet in the tent added to the comedy for which the tent is known.

MC KB Kleen argued a case for his tent members and kept the large audience entertained with his arsenal of fresh and spontaneous jokes. He took the opportunity to launch the Keep It Kleen anti-litter campaign, inspired, he said, by the elders of this community.

Site forgot his lines dat night like shite, and de old songs needs more brass and de bassline needs to be changed. i still convinced de crown gine back to BLACKROCK

"Kid Site continues to straddle the party ably and provides social commentary in items such as These Are The Old Songs – a clever use of the titles of past calypsoes to comment on the issues of this year; and Pirates, about the types of pirates other than those who steal music. What was lacking in melody was compensated for in clever lyrics. "

n e 1 know a link i can hear these 2 tunes? sounds pretty interesting.

salty

Rocky stickin

i;ll get dem on imix by friday de fed ex man musse bajan and teef de cds like rasshole

now i'm ready for Crop Over..yes yes TC , maybe she can win the crown.

"In her debut in Bacchanal Time, TC proves to be the one with the best pair of social commentaries, in lyrics and melody. Her Sisters Of The Caribbean and Bring A Song made good listening, and were well-delivered in her typically confident way. Her Party Monarch entry, De Gardener, was thematically similar to Foreigner Frank’s Lawn ’Em Down".