As Grenada gears up for its Soca Monarch show tonight, figured some of you might want to educate yourselves about the two gents who currently wear the crown. I read A LOT! Every now and then, I find something you might wanna read too. When I was watching these two brothers from a historic Grenadian musical family struggling to get a little respect from the crowd at the 2009 Trinidad International Soca Monarch it occurred to me that most of you know absolutely nothing about Luni Spark & Electrify. They make great music, put on a quality show...and are now hoping to win their 3rd consecutive title together.
Happy Reading: Will it be the champs again? Courtesy: SpiceIslander.com
Sons of Grenada’s first Female Calypso Monarch making strides in the Soca Arena Born in the historic parish of St. Patrick in the northern part of Grenada to the first female calypso monarch - Cynthia Ogiste “Lady Cinty” and Thompson Ogiste are two (2) of Grenada’s most promising Soca artistes - Kellon and Kelson Ogiste, known in the Soca Arena as Luni Spark and Electrify respectively. Growing up in a quiet and humble environment in an atmosphere that breeds Soca and Calypso music, the brothers acquired an appreciation and love for the art form. After ensuring that education really formed the foundation of their future, Luni Spark and Electrify decided to endeavour into the Soca industry....
Grenada's own soca singin twins, Luny Sparks and Electify, have been coming consistently harder with great music for the road. As they prepare to defend their 2008 Soca Monarch title, the timing couldn't be better to let the world know who they be!!!!
Have I ever mentioned how much I wanna go to Spice Mas? It's been more than two years since I last went to Grenada, so I'm ready!!!! I've been knocking on some doors...and I'm not ready to give up. I must take a jump with de Jab Jab crew!
Let me get back to the news. Last weekend soca and dancehall artiste Brother B dropped his sophomore album at home in Greenz. It's called "One Step Ahead". It features collaborations with Luni Sparks & Eliectrify, and Vybz. There's production by Jimmi King (King Beats), Doggy (Doggy Productions) and Toronto's own White Wine.
The album is expected to appear on all your favourite online retailers by August. So check for it, and support your boy! After all, Brother B is celebrating his 25th b-day this summer!
For more info on the album or the artiste check out the "Brother B" fan page on Facebook.
I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's rounds. What a big week in the world of soca. While most of you were recovering from a wild and wonderful caribana season…so much of the Caribbean was smack dab in the middle of the action. Carnival still abounds! So this edition of the Rounds is all about RESULTS.
First to Antigua: It's no secret that Claudette "CP" Peters is still her nation's soca queen. She's dancing all the way to the bank this week after winning both the Groovy and Tempo Party Monarch competitions. This is the 4th year in a row that she's won the Party Monarch title. But this year, her Tempo win with "Bring It On" lands her automatic entry into Trinidad's international soca monarch competition in February. There, CP will compete against TnT's top acts as well as reigning monarchs from across the region like Khiomal, Ricky T, and Skinny Fabulous!
Moving along, Monday and Tuesday was all about Red Hot Flames in the Red Hot St. John's Antigua heat. Oungku called it! Antigua's new Road March is none other than Musical Bomb a.k.a Scyattah.
Over to sunny Barbados... There's this guy de people and dem refer to as De General. Known for consistant hits with his legendary band Krosfyah, Edwin Yearwood is smiling after an oh-so-successful Crop Over. The song is called Handle Yuh Business. And it's obvious - that is PRECISELY what he had in mind when he performed his way into 1st place at the Peoples' Monarch show last week Thursday.
Then Monday was the big finale…The Grand Kadooment parade. Why stop at one title when you can have two? Edwin walked away with Tune of the Crop as well. (For the non-bajans out there…that's Road March. This is the 4th ever Road March win for Mr. Yearwood. Congratulations Edwin – Handle Yuh Business!
Grenada is in the height of Spice Mas right now! On Wednesday, Yaga Miser became the brand new Groovy Soca Monarch. His performance of "Someone to Love" beat his closest competition (Terror Kid) by 19 points. Last year's winner, Scholar, chose not to defend his crown.
In the Power Category, the the action took place on Friday. Luny Sparks and Electrify took top marks with Clear D Way. Mr. Killa in 2nd and Mr. Legs 3. For you Lavaman fans, I should note that your boy withdrew his name from the competition due to a discrepancy over the rules that came to light at his Village Soca Monarch performance early in the week.
(Let's be real...that's what the management is saying in an official statement released to the media, but the evidence speaks for itself.) Lavaman was performing at the Village Soca Monarch earlier in the week. He had the crowd real going crazy. He instructed the fans to go down by the judges. So they did - the only problem is they were carrying chairs, torches and big flags. As he sang SPLASH wet up, wet up, the judges got a public bath. Needless to say...they didn't like that too much.
It was a real scene. See it for yourself.
I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's Rounds. Please leave me a comment online at the Nurse Karen Etc blog at triple w dot mustardseeds dot net. Now back to de docta!
Read more...
I'm Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay's rounds. I'm sure you've figured it out by now. Dr. Jay is off in Trinidad for his annual pilgrimage to the soca mecca. Last week the Caribbean Prestige Foundation released the finalists for this Friday's soca monarch competition.
As predicted it will be a truly international competition with entries from six different Caribbean nations among just 20 contested spots. Unfortunately, Zoelah did not make it. But Problem Child will be there to represent SVG. St. Lucia's Ricky T is having a great season in Trinidad. The lehgo me riddim can be heard pumping from every sound system…given some extra stamina by Machel's "Jamishness". So it's no surprise that Ricky will be doing it big for Saint Lucie come fantastic Friday. For Antigua, Tizzy will be in the groovy category showing them why she's hot. Grenada's reigning soca monarchs Luni Sparks and Electrify are in power along with Carricou's sexy Nnika Francis.
Barbados posse…Biggie Irie will be defending his groovy monarch crown against the Soka Junkie hesself, Mr. Dale.
As for Trinidad's contigent. Toronto's own Kerwin Dubois, scored at the very top of the groovy category. Kerwin is a Trini Artist, but he living here now…so we claiming him now. Especially since he's got two smash hits in Gyal Farm and Hear me now. Always, a solid artist and producer, it warms my frigid canuck heart to see him gettin his shine.
Some of you might not remember that this is the traditional carnival season all over the world. In the Caribbean, it's party time in Aruba, Martinique, and Dominica as well. Dominica held it's soca monarch competition just last night!
This weekend, the Carnival prizes were finally handed out from St. Kitts Christmas Carnival. As a smaller carnival in a smaller island the money isn't quite as impressive as what Trinidad's winner's can expect. But I'm sure King Konris was happy to get his meagre four grand for winning soca monarch anyway.
A word to the wise, when you singing soca, whether big or small…earnings are earnings. And this is the time of year when our favourite artists need to be careful about putting away some cash to pay their taxes. If you think about it, when Machel Montano HD commands one hundred twenty five THOUSAND TT dollars per gig. And he's performing nearly every night. You better believe the tax man is paying attention. I had to laugh when I read an article in a Trinidad newspaper warning self-employed persons of their responsibility to report their income. Self-Employed is really just a code word for "Allyuh big balling, stinkin rich, superstars making me cough up 100 US Dollars for an all-inclusive fete." Not too often that I empathize with tax collectors…but after buying all my fete tickets. I tend to agree.
I'm Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay's rounds. Please text me your comments to 9-3-5-9-3-5 or leave them online at (Nurse) Karen (Etc) at triple w dot mustardseeds dot net
August 12, 2007 Dr. Jay’s Rounds Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Everytime time Caribana finish, I feel as though summer nearly done. Once my skin get bun up from playing mas, I figure it’s time to roll over and await the inevitable cold season. Well, not so on the sunny shores of the Caribbean. De hottest time of the year, NOW start! Monday was the Grand Kadooment in Barbados, the final climax on the Crop Over calendar. Mas players were a little upset that the big parade was soaked with rain, but they made the most of it anyway. The soppy weather slowed down the pace from a jump to a chip, and Mr. Dale went home as road march king for Soka Junkie. Over in Antigua Lord Satalyte made up for his second place finish at soca monarch...by leaving all competition in his dust come Carnival Tuesday. Antigua’s new road march is a chune called OK Papi. It’s one them songs nobody knows the right words for, but they love it bad! For all the carnivals this year, we got to enjoy seeing a few new faces in the limelight. Seems like the people have spoken and it’s time for something new. Down at Spice mas they tried something new LAST week, when they held the first ever Village soca monarch competition. Ten soca artists were selected to represent their home towns, competing for soca supremacy. The inaugural Village Soca King is Lavaman with his smash hit Ah Cyah Hear. He beat out Tallpree’s “Trees” and Berbice with “Traffic”. Gouyave posse, I hate to say it, but you weren’t placing in the village show, and the luck wasn’t THAT much better on the national stage. Mr. Killa has been officially dethroned of both his soca monarch titles. At the Groovy competition, Wednesday , Killa had to give his crown to last year’s Calypso King, Finley “Scholar” Jeffrey. Landing himself with a measely 8th place finish for his country-style soca tune, Rider. This weekend, insult was added to injury as Killa had to settle for third place in Power Soca behind Luni Sparks and Eliectrify and Inspector. Up here in Ontario, some of us continued to jump up at Hamilton Caribbean carnival yesterday. Glue guns and safety pins gave last week’s Caribana mas a last hurrah in the sunlight. If your feet, still have a little bounce left next weekend…head over to Ottawa for the grand finale of Caribe-Expo…The parade is on Saturday, just be sure and dry clean yuh costume! I’m Nurse Karen and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. Please text me your comments at 9-3-5-9-3-5. Now back to de docta!
Do you have news you think we should know about? Do you want to share your opinion about something your read on (Nurse) Karen (Etc). Call de Nurse for free from anywhere in the US or Canada! Click below to connect her phone to yours...
