Bowman wins Best Song Competition at NY Vincy Mas launch

Fri May 9, 2014

Denis Bowman emerged as the winner of the Best Song Competition of the launch of Vincy Mas 2014, held in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday night, May 3, 2014, at the Matrix Lounge. It was organized by Level Vibes Production, led by the indefatigable Ainsley Primus.{{more}}

In front of a full house and three judges – Curtis “Willie D” Williams, Hudson Primus, and Roxanne Chambers, Denis Bowman, with his song “To Build Airport,” took the title from last year’s winner John “The Truth” Dougan. On the way to the title, he defeated a cast of 12 formidable performers. Only David “Chang I” Morgan, who placed second, and Curtis “Curtis C” Vincent, who placed third, came close to Bowman’s outstanding performance.

With his normal solid delivery, meaningful lyrics, good melody, and excellent stage presentation, Bowman captured the full attention of most members of the audience. He had them singing along with his song, most of them hearing it for the first time. At the end of his performance, the audience erupted in loud applause.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, Bowman commented that he is “very excited about winning the new song competition, especially because it was a last minute decision to enter. I think this competition started some seven years ago and it’s my first time entering, which makes me even more excited.”

He highlighted the fact that he felt “very happy to see the crowd enjoying the song and my performance. This has given me more confidence for the upcoming shows. I am honoured to be the proud holder of the Soca Devil Trophy 2014. I want to thank Level Vibes Production for another job well done.”

Bowman, originally from Kingstown Park, is no stranger to the stage and calypso competitions. He started singing from the age of 16 years. He was lead vocalist for three bands: ENERGY in which he sang for five years, BLACKSAND for 11 years and X-TRACT for three years.

He is currently a member of the Dynamite Calypso Tent in New York. He was SVG’s Soca Monarch in 1997 and placed third one year before that. He has also performed in SVG’s Calypso Monarch competition for many years. In 2013, he placed third in that competition with his popular song “Chatoyer.” Furthermore, Bowman has performed in many places in England, Canada, USA and throughout the Caribbean.

At last Saturday’s launch, the thirteen artistes performed in this order: Dennis “Honey Boy Bells” Jackson with his song “Bells Coming,” Vincent “Groovy D” Kennedy with “Love Love Love,” Phil “Phil Patch” Baptiste with “Jump,” Montgomery “Gomery” Frazer with “Wine up on me,” Mervin “Bob MC” Bobb with “Go back inday,” Curtis “Curtis C” Vincent with “In my arms,” Tyrone “ Fabulous T” Pierre with “Jump with me,” Denis Bowman with “To Build Airport,” Francis “Stryker” Brown with “Twerk,” Kenroy “Jakie” Jack, David “Chang I” Morgan with “Who is afraid”, John Dougan with “Only one time,” and Dansel “Storm” Scott with “Karr vex.”

Ainsley Primus, mastermind behind the launch of Vincy Mas in New York, was once again very pleased and excited by the success of the launch. He stated that “The music quality was high, especially the production aspect. We had a good balance of calypso, power soca, and ragga soca.”

Primus added that “the feedback from the fans is that they enjoyed the show which was well organized. There was a lot of time for fans to enjoy themselves after the show. And I am very glad about that.”

The launch of Vincy Mas in New York occurred simultaneously with the launch of Vincy Mas in SVG. In his message to the organizers of the launch of Carnival in New York, which was read by Consul General Selmon Walters, Cecil Mckie, Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture, stressed that the “…launch activity is a clear signal of ownership of the national carnival product by Vincentians living in the diaspora which compliments in a major way, ownership by Vincentians living at home.”

Mckie went further to emphasise that “Collaboration with the Carnival Development Committee will allow you to conduct training and development programmes for the artistes and judges and identify strategies to unearth the interest of potential calypso and soca future stars.”

The quality of the event was enhanced by paying tribute to “SVG’s oldest calypsonian – Baha.” His granddaughter, Alicia Seals-Cain, played steel pan renditions of the national anthems of SVG and the USA. The audience was entertained by guest soca artists Scorcher and Lively, and by DJs Super Eyes and EZ Sounds. The MCs were Bennett Straker and Soca Jones.

Level Vibes Production, which coordinated the event, consists of Ainsley Primus, Patrick “PJ” James, Cyphus “Super Eyes” Cuffy, Marissa “Lady M” Gregg, and Jeffery Hinds.

Vincentians in New York are now looking forward with great anticipation to Saturday, June 7, 2014, when the Dynamites Calypso Tent based in New York will face the judges at Café Omar, in preparation for the SVG National Calypso Competition. Before that big show, the Dynamites Calypso Tent will hold its opening night on Saturday, May 17, 2014, at the Matrix Lounge in Brooklyn.