Soca for Summer

Bunji Garlin pulled some surprises during his performance at the Soca for Summer concert held at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Saturday night.

It was exactly 1 am when MC Mike Antoine introduced Bunji Garlin and the Asylum but the MC gave away two of the surprises.

The first being Garlin’s birthday, which was on Saturday, and the second — Bunji and Faye-Ann Lyons had gotten engaged.

But that did not stop Garlin from making the occasion a bigger surprise.

Garlin told his audience that for the six years he has been performing professionally, it was the first time he was spending his birthday at home.

“I have been singing all kind of songs for all kinds of people, but tonight I want you all to sing a song for me,” he told them and started the happy birthday song.

Thousands of soca lovers and Bunji fans sang at the top of their voices.

The other surprise came when Faye-Ann Lyons was introduced to the audience. Just before he introduced her, Bunji went around to the keyboard and bass players and whispered in their ears.

The massive audience then heard Bunji introduce Faye-Ann Lyons while the band played “Here comes the bride” to a resounding applause.

But the biggest surprise of the night came at about 2.05 am when Bunji told his audience, “Many of you said he was not coming out of jail, many of you condemned him but some of us kept the faith. Ladies and gentlemen I now introduce to you one of the best voices in Soca Blazer.”

Blazer’s sweet voice rang out through the sound system as he sang his popular song “Everybody love Somebody.” Blazer could not hold back the emotions and stopped singing.

It was the first time he was appearing on a stage to perform since he was released from prison on a murder charge earlier this year. Blazer then thanked the audience for attending and for the prayers they said for him. He was especially thankful to both Faye-Ann and Bunji and heaped praises on Maximus Dan for doing the song with him.

Before Bunji and the Asylum, which included Miss Alysha, Lil Bits, Mista Vibes and Kevin Lyttle, the audience heard from Tony Prescott and Surface, Imij and Co, H2O phlo Knycky Cordner and Synergy TV Soca Star Fireball. Soca for Summer was a production of Neil Iwer George and Terrin Callender of Trinibashment 91.9 FM and Peter C Lewis of Synergy Entertainment Network Limited.