Rowlee Mudda Count makes it to Chutney Soca finals

SEETA PERSAD

His 2018 offering may have been labelled offensive and inappropriate, and even led to the the Telecommunications Authority (TATT) warning radio stations that the song’s lyrics breached the Draft Broadcasting code, but Nermal “Massive” Gosine passed the test at Saturday’s Chutney Soca Monarch (CSM) semi-finals.

Gosine’s Rowlee Mudda Count has made it to the finals of the event which takes place on January 27 at Skinner Park in San Fernando.

The other finalists announced yesterday by the competition’s organisers included: Veejai Ramkissoon, Rikki Jai, Adesh Samaroo, Kenneth Supersad, Nishard Mayroo and Neval Chaitlal, Veekash Sahadeo and Ravi Babooram, Imran Beharry, Shivan Ragoonath and Slammer Cutter and Saleem Beharry.

They will be going up against the defending champions Ravi B and Omardath Maraj.

Gosine’s song was well received at the Liv Nightclub in La Romaine at the semi-finals. He performed at about 2 am on Sunday morning but had the crowd in a frenzy.

He showed off his new dance which he has named the “fork dance,’ and told the audience he was a fearless soldier.

Another finalist who found himself embroiled in controversy, Kenneth Supersad also stayed true to his promise to perform De Raj Story at Saturday’s semi-finals, despite being threatened with litigation.

For his parody which he said promoted faithfulness and compassion, Supersad was threatened with litigation by the lawyer representing “Raj,” a man who skyrocketed to popularity thanks to a video of him being accused of cheating. Supersad was asked to stop peforming the song. Nine-time monarch Rikki Jai had a message for the Minister of Finance in his Both Ah Dem offering.

He said no one could stop Chutney Soca.

“So they pull sponsorship and quickly made a u-turn, but this is our culture and it must go on,” he said. He promised stiff competition for joint 2017 winners Ravi B and Omardath Maraj at the finals.

The three women at the semi-finals - Kavita Maharaj, Nisha Ramsook and Kavita Ramissoon- thrilled the crowd but failed to advance to the finals.

There were 33 contestants at the second round of competition which began at 10 pm on Saturday.

There will also be no million-dollar prize at this year’s competition as Government has slashed the event’s funding by 75 per cent.

The first prize will now be $500,000.

It was also announced that the competition was cancelled because of a cut in state sponsorship but this changed when Finance Minister Colm Imbert offered $1 million towards hosting the annual Carnival event.