While he hopes to have a live audience at the grand final of the annual Chutney Soca Monarch (CSM), if he's allowed to do so, CSM founder George Singh said the annual competition is on.
Singh made the announcement on Thursday in a live broadcast via social media.
The competition was completely virtual last year because of the pandemic. Its winner was Imran “GI” Beharry.
Outlining what the 2022 competition would look like, Singh said, “CSM 2022 will be held in a 100 per cent safe environment. We will be guided by all protocols and will follow all the guidelines as set out by the public health authorities.
“All performers on stage, handlers, prop builders of the venue, technical crew etc will be required to show proof of vaccination.”
He added that a CSM queen will be crowned as well as a 2022 monarch.
Singh said the screening will start from as early as Friday and registration also opens then.
“That will continue up until the middle of January. The semifinals will be held in a sterile environment and will be designed for social media, with two-/three-minute clips posted to all of our social media platforms.”
Judges and an interactive, online viewing audience will be part of the final selection process, he said.
“The grand final, however, will be a full theatrical production. The grand-final production – if we are allowed and only if protocols allow – will have a limited audience.”
He said all the competition’s events will be live on national television and will also be streamed to an online audience via all social media networks.
Singh said CSM would erect a palatial Indian stage setting and guest performers will “add excitement and interest to this online event.”
Its international agents will recruit artistes from three territories: Guyana, US and Canada. He added that the agents would be responsible for producing their respective segments and sending them to CSM’s organisers for inclusion in the wider events.
There will also be a text and online voting element, he said.
The competition and its events will be held over a two-month period in January-February next year.
“In closing let me say, corporate TT has been very supportive of this event. It is through the support of corporate TT and the Government that we have been able to witness the phenomenal growth and development of the chutney soca genre of music, not only in TT but across the globe,” Singh said.
“The music of TT now features in every Carnival, in every country. And it is this music that drives these global festivals.
"In this time of social distancing, we are cognisant of the public health protocols but we are also very aware of the responsibility that we have to continue the annual development of the chuntney soca brand of music,” he added.
Asked directly if the live audience would only be composed of vaccinated people, Singh said he is going to be guided by the Government’s protocols on Carnival-type events.
“So if the Government says everyone has to be vaccinated, that is what we will do, and we will tend to l
