LINDEN’s Brandon Harding gave an electrifying performance of his soca “Alone” at the National Park on Saturday night to successfully defend his title in the Carib Soca Monarch Competition, but only just after he finished a mere one point ahead of new- comer Stephen Ramphal.
After putting on a vibrant and crowd-pleasing performance at the late night into early morning event, Ramphal was rightly bestowed the $100,000 prize of “Best Newcomer” for an exhilarating performance of his piece, “Soca in Meh Vein.” His second-place finish came as no surprise and it was questioned by none.
Ramphal’s call during his performance for love, unity, and oneness among Guyanese as well as his fellow competitors was a nice touch and very well received. Ramphal took the $750,000 second-place prize after amassing some 446.5 points, while Harding finished with 447.5 points, taking away the $1.5 million top prize.
The $500,000 third-place spot went to Linden’s Oxbert Cain, who goes by the stage name “Vintage”, performing his song “Soca King.”
For three-time champion Jumo “Rubber waist” Primo, however, when his performance was sized up against all the other acts of the night, he found himself left in fourth place.
Guyana Chronicle