Five North Americans and three Guyanese nationals have been selected among the 36 to participate in the semi-final round of the 2021 Chutney Soca Monarch.
At the close of registration on Friday 15th January, 65 artistes had registered for the event.
After the screening which took place on Saturday, 36 artistes will now move to the second stage of the annual competition.
A social media post by CSM organisers Southex, revealed that of the 65 registered artistes, 13 applications came through agents in Canada, USA and Guyana.
The semi-final round will be pre-recorded and packaged into 2 segments and will be aired on 30th and 31st January through ‘Official Media Partners’, CNC3, Sangeet106.1 and through various social media pages which includes Facebook and YouTube.
A ‘text 2 vote’ element is being reintroduced in 2021 to make the event more interactive and more exciting for the viewing public that will now be open to persons across the globe.
Southex said the fact that the show will be pre-packaged and open only to an ‘online’ audience presents many opportunities that were never before possible. Over the years, Carnival’s biggest audience has now become the ‘online’ audience, and this presents opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean artistes to showcase our culture to the world. These artistes will be our cultural ambassadors that will fly our flag for the next year.
“A spectacular TV production is being planned, as the fact that the event is being pre-recorded and packaged, and recorded at an indoor venue, presents us again with a host of opportunities to make the event look better and make it a better TV product. The event will be fashioned to a similar format as other internationally renowned TV shows such as AGT and Voice, and will be fun and exciting to look at. The ‘text2vote’ element will also add to ensuring that the event is interactive and getting with full audience participation.”
“Our biggest challenge this year will be sponsorship. However, that being said, we are confident that we will be able to achieve the goals that we have set. We are still presently in talks with our annual sponsors the NLCB and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism that have been very supportive over the last 20 years of this event. Producers are also looking at setting up a link for people to be able to donate to the event if they wish to do so. It must be reiterated however, that the event will remain ‘free’ to the viewing public. The option to donate will be voluntary.”
The grand final of the CSM will also be pre-recorded and packaged and will be aired on Carnival Saturday 13th February 2021.
The 36 Artistes that have been selected are as follows –
CANADA
JOEL DAVIS – CONNECTOR
NAVIN YANKARAN
KEITH BISHOP
NEW YORK
DAMIAN SOOKRAM
PRINCE JP
GUYANA
VANITA WILLIE
VICADI SINGH
TONY CUTTZ
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
SALEEM BEHARRY
DADDY CHINEE – RICARDO MELVILLE
RASIKA DINDIAL
RIZ & THEATRICS
SURENDRA RAMOUTAR
DERRICK SEALES
NIGEL GOBIN
RUSSEL MOHAMMED
RAJESH SYLVESTER
PRINCE NAVIN PRABHOO
KRISHNA RAMDASS
SANGEETA HARRYPERSAD
AMIT SAGRAM
ANTHONY BATSON
NEESHAD SULTAN
DR TUNES – KESS RAMROOP
MR NICE VIBES
JAIRAM DINDIAL
VEEJAI RAMKISSOON
RESHMA RAMLAL
SHIVA LAKHAN
NISHA RAMSOOK
ADESH SAMAROO
EDWARD RAMDASS
CHERISH RAGOONANAN
DUBRAJ PERSAD
KENNETH SUPERSAD
AVINASH SOOKRAJ
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