Vybe tops Soca Monarch semis

Mista Vybe garnered 261 points for "The Thing" and is being regarded as the frontrunner for the 2006 Road March honours, a contest which appears to be wide open.

Placing second with 259 points was Iwer George with "We Reach," followed by Shurwayne Winchester with his "No Surrender." He scored 258.

However, Winchester was unbeatable in the TSTT International Groovy Soca Monarch Competition semi-final, having attained 269 points to take the lead position going into next month’s finals.

Placing second to Winchester in this competition was Zan, featuring Patrice Roberts, which performed their popular "Always Be."

They got 266 points and two points behind were newcomers in the business, the six-man outfit named Surge.

They did "In Your Timing," a song that is very popular with the ladies. Organisers of the Soca Monarch competition told Newsday that 25 out of the 26 artistes selected to compete in the Soca Monarch competition performed on Sunday with only Calypso Rose absent. Rose is not yet in the country and was replaced with Starr. Notably absent from the finals was Patrice Roberts, whose "Band of the Year" featuring Machel Montano was among the top ten songs selected for that competition.

Roberts had opted to perform with the CD track instead of using the live accompaniment provided by Vincent Rivers and his band, The Unit.

She took that decision in the absence of Machel Montano, who was reportedly in Tobago. Unfortunately, Roberts wasn’t able to perform the song with the gusto that the CD has.

Another notable absentee was Explainer, who chose to perform without Maximus Dan, with whom he recorded the song "All-inclusive Party." He suffered the same fate as Roberts.