Terra D Governor takes Soca Monarch crown

by Curlan Campbell

• Terra D Governor secured crown on Bacchanal Friday in Power Soca Monarch
• Soca artiste and songwriter hails from Chantimelle, St Patrick
• Kellon & Kelson Ogiste better known as Luni Spark & Electrify came second

Shem “Terra D Governor” Bernard had the whole audience at the Grenada National Stadium in a frenzy, waving white flags with his signature ace of spades emblem, chanting “Today we go mash it up” during and after his performance of his song ‘Ultra Instinct’.

Prior to making his appearance, the crowd’s anticipation was built by the start of the sound of the violin playing which was quickly followed by background singers reciting “Today we go mash it up” before appearing on stage.

Dressed in all white, like an army general he marched on stage and commanding the attention of the crowd before immediately starting his performance. Hailed by many as one of the most energetic performances of his career, Terra D Governor secured the crown on Bacchanal Friday in the Power Soca Monarch, amassing 262 points. He completed his performance by rushing through the crowd and was carried away by his loyal fans on top of a prop in the shape of a makeshift plane.

Despite not being able to compete against 2019 Soca monarch king Boyzie and competitors such as the duo Lil Natty and Thunda and others, all of whom opted out of the competition, Terra D Governor had tears in his eyes during an interview after being crowned signalling that this was a worthwhile victory worth celebrating. “It was a lot of work and I am just grateful and happy. It’s been a while,” he said.

Terra D Governor, soca artiste and songwriter hails from Chantimelle, St Patrick. This year solidified his second victory in his musical career since crossing over into soca in 2004. In 2011, he was crowned “Soca Monarch King” of Grenada in the National Soca Monarch competition with ‘Last Days’.

He said a lot of work has gone into his performance, especially in the making of props and displays, which made his performance more convincing. But he has expressed disappointment that the limitation on the type of props and crew needed to make it happen was hindered because of restrictions. “There are a lot of things that must be put in place, especially for the artiste in terms of the limitation of props you can have on stage and they only gave us 15 passes and I had over 30 people and I had to reduce them. Now, this is all about making Spicemas look great, so I think we should be allowed to put on a show for our culture because it is more than the competition hence the reason I am here. After all, the world is looking.”

The second position at this year’s Soca Monarch went to the duo Kellon & Kelson Ogiste better known as Luni Spark & Electrify after amassing 252 points. They spared no expense to decorate their set with props that made it seem like a tsunami had hit the National Stadium. The duo was dressed like the marvel character Aquaman with their background dancers complimenting their aesthetic look of the lost city of Atlantis as depicted in the Marvel movie. They thrilled the crowd with their flare, charisma and stage presence.

“Is a show we are here to put on and we did our very best and we were happy with the execution and we went out there and did our best,” said Kellon Ogiste. His brother, Kelson was equally satisfied with their performance. “We always give 100% and we are celebrating 20 years this year and we decided that we are going to enter 2 competitions despite the odds and just put on a great performance.”

Third place winner Kendel ‘Lednek’ George, was among the favourites competing at Bacchanal Friday, causing fans to display karate moves against barricades in front of the stage.

His performance of ‘Morjab Combat’ took inspiration from Mortal Kombat, a martial arts video game franchise, turned fantasy film. In keeping with the theme and aesthetic look, Lednek, was also dressed as ‘Raiden’ one of the characters of the film, with his white and blue outfit accompanied by his background dancers performing various martial arts skills, which added a unique dimension to his performance. However, only one point separated the second and third place winners.

The following are the rest of the results and points for Soca Monarch: