The Rounds: Khiomal is new Barbados Party Monarch!

Good Evening Soca Lovers,


I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's Rounds.


The Caribbean bade farewell to yet another Carnival this past week. St. Lucia was ablaze on Monday and Tuesday with Ricky T taking his 3rd roadmarch in a row. If you've been keeping score, that was Container in '06....

, Pressure Boom in '07

and Wheel and Come Again swept everything in '08. That's right my people. He managed to win Lucian Power Soca and Caribbean Soca Monarch too.

So let's recap:

St. Lucia Roadmarch goes to Ricky T, Herb Black's Suzette ranked number 2 and Ilah Man's "Mad So" rounds out 3rd place.

As for the Caribbean Soca Monarch, Bajan Soca Junkie, Mr. Dale grabbed the trophy for 3rd. Lucian Wildman, Ilah Man came second, and Ricky T - number one again! Ricky's girlfriend is expecting their first little one in a matter of weeks. At the Power Soca finals, she told me that the baby started kicking as soon as daddy's victory was announced. Sounds like the whole family will be jumping for joy for a very long time.

Today Barbados corwned a Party Monarch and it's not 2007 defending champion Lil Rick the Hypa Dog. So Congrats goes out to Khiomal Nurse. The Crown looks good on you Babes. In second place was Mikey, and 3rd place goes to the lovely lady Nathalee Burke.

Nurse Karen with Khiomal in Toronto

Lil Rick had to settle for 5th. Word on the ground is that Peter Ram gave and excellent performance. It's clear that the Pyramid entertainment camp put a lot of energy into staging "Carnival Praise" complete with a gospel-style choir led by Biggie Irie. Ram is pretty unhappy about what was reported to be a 14th place finish, as evidenced by his refusal to give interviews following the release of the results.




Closer to home, ScotiaBank Caribana is off to a very positive start, right here in Toronto. Last night's Calypso Monarch competition was a sold out affair. And by sold out I mean patrons turned away at the door and ting. So, let this be a lesson to everybody. Buy up your tickets in advance. Caribana events a sell off!...and make a profit.

Congratulations to Toronto's new Calypso queen. Macomere Fifi dethroned 2007 Monarch, Structure. Fifi's song "Barrack Obama" ( a very popular theme for Calypsoes this year) was also awarded honours for Best Presentation and Best Vocal Rendition. Her other selection Take Back we country earned recognition for Best Melody and Best Arrangement. She can thank Winston Maingot and Oswald James for that.

Congrats also to De Carra for an impressive second place finish and Structure, you're still on the boards! Kudos on third place.

I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Please check out the Nurse Karen Etc blog at mustardseeds dot net for more information on any of the news you've heard here. And remember you can always get the Rounds to go at Soca Therapy dot com. Now back to de Docta!