IT was more than one week ago that soca star Machel Montano’s composition “Like ah Boss” powered its way to the Road March title and obliterated all competition. The song was played a whopping 390 times at judging points while second place “Erupt”, also by Montano, was played 37 times and Groovy Soca Monarch Olatunji Yearwood’s “Ola” placed third with 22 plays.
In what has also become a bit of a Carnival tradition are complaints by some citizens over the Road March format and calls for it to be reviewed. In one letter to the print media this year, Garvin Walters said Road March “drastically interferes with the rotation of other good quality music” and described the “monotonous” repetition of one particular song as a disservice to both masqueraders and spectators including foreigners.
In a letter dating back to 2012 there was a call for Road March to be judged along the parade route to take away the power from DJs to determine the Road March song. In another letter in 2011, a writer suggested a voting system similar to Chutney Soca Monarch as for decades people have been “grumbling about the soca mafia”.
So is the Road March still the “people’s choice” as it is billed to be? According to Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation (TUCO) General Secretary, Wayne “Kassman” McDonald, it is and the most popular song that wins the title.
To be eligible to win Road March you have to be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and you have to complete a registration form at the TUCO Business Unit at Jerningham Avenue, Belmont before a deadline; this year it was Carnival Friday. Seven songs were registered for Carnival 2015 with the majority from Montano:
Machel Montano and Patrice Roberts – Great Parade
Machel Montano – Like ah Boss
Machel Montano – Erupt
Machel Montano – Pop a bottle
Caston Cupid – Go Down Deh
Fya Empress – Mo’ Bachanaal
Snakey – Cyah Rhyme
It was Montano’s seventh Road March crown after copping the title last year with “Ministry of Road”, in 2011 and 2012 with “Pump Yuh Flag” and “Advantage” respectively, 2007 with “Jumbie”, shared the title in 2006 with Patrice Roberts for “Band of the Year”, and finally “Big Truck” in 1997.
Asked why more artists did not register for the competition, McDonald said everybody knew there were eight to ten popular songs and “most feel what is the use of registering”.
“People facing reality. You will know by before Carnival the three or four contenders (for Road March,” he said.
McDonald said when “Like Ah Boss start to pong, that was it” and two weeks before Carnival “you knew that was it”. He recalled that it was a similar landslide situation for JW and Blaze’s “Palance” in 2010 and SuperBlue’s “Fantastic Friday” in 2013.
“I can’t remember when last we had a close Road March race,” he added.
According to TUCO rules, the Road March is the song which is played the the most during designated judging times at judging points designated by TUCO.
It is the first tune played per music truck at the judging point that is counted. If a truck plays a second or third song while on stage, those songs are not recorded. One TUCO official said a lot of people do not understand how the Road March is judged and at times, may question the results.
McDonald said that dating back to Road March winners in 1939 and in the early years, there was no actual tallying but that the most popular song was chosen. He explained though, that the current system was implemented because TUCO had a problem with the accumulation of scores especially during one contested Carnival year with songs by Iwer George and Austin “SuperBlue” Lyons.
“After that we decided to post people at major venues to record the times when songs were played (and to have artistes) come to register with the organization,” he added.
Asked about possibly reviewing the judging system as some persons have suggested, McDonald said the problem with that was that there was not a better system than what currently exists and the organization could not go on every street corner and judge the songs.
“We are caught within that structure,” he said.
He suggested that the proposal of a better system would be welcomed but that with the current system it is the most popular song that still wins.
McDonald said TUCO officials objectively record the songs, tally them and have a score while some citizens do their own “subjective evaluation”.
“If they have a better method we would be glad to (hear it),” he added.
“It is question of popularity. Let’s be fair. If the most popular song for Carnival is ‘x’ then it is played all over the place. So how (else) could we determine most popular song, how frequently and consistently?” he asked.
McDonald said deejays were not provided with the Road March rules and that they were not interested in the competition but the most popular song. He said he also suspects that masqueraders decide the songs played.
Paparazzi bandleader Tracey Andre, in a brief telephone interview, confirmed that deejays ask masqueraders for choice of song before they cross the stage and that masqueraders make the choice. .
What about the fabled “soca mafia” alleged to be pulling the strings and deciding who the Road March will be? Andre said there was no soca mafia determining which songs were played for her band, saying she could not speak for other bands.
Though the second and third place results for the Road March are also announced there is only one prize and that is for the top winner — a Mitsibushi Lancer motor car. Olatunji Yearwood placed “third” even though he did not register his song “Ola”.
In a telephone interview, Yearwood said while he was familiar with the registration process, he thought his song would have been there automatically. He also said there needed to be more communication from TUCO about the deadline for registration.
Questioned about how the Road March was decided he said:
“I find it is fair. It is the people’s tune”. He said he felt good that the people put him third “at the end of the day”.
McDonald said the organization has never had a situation where someone who had not registered their song, had the most popular song. He also dismissed Yearwood’s statement that TUCO needed to better communicate the deadline for Road March registration, noting that advertisements in the newspapers about the date run over a period of time.
He said Yearwood’s “Ola”, while it was a popular song, was a groovy tune and lacked the “hard pong” and power necessary for a Road March.
Like ah Boss also won Montano the Power Soca Monarch title at the International Soca Monarch competition.
