The Final Three

The First Annual Reggae Song Competition Finals held on Saturday August 20th 2005 was a hit. The event was the last stage before the big night at the Reggae Soca Music awards.  Again many were gathered at Samuel Delevoe Park in support of all nine contestants. The day was beautiful and this time there was no rain to ruin the momentous beginning of an annual event that will produce music legends. 

As all the competitions before hand the contestants  stepped on stage and performed their first song. However, this  time the contestants had to perform three different times adding  a special section to the musical contest. In addition to the  freestyle part there was a special guest appearance by Mark  Shine. He entertained the crowd playing hit tunes like La  Labamba, Reunited-the reggae version and John Legend's smash hit  Take It Slow adding a spicy reggae mix to the hit track. Mark  Shine, born Mark Lowe, calls himself a 'singjay' and so happens  to be bilingual, singing and speaking in both English and  Spanish, the latter courtesy of six years spent in Mexico. He has  been singing for years and has just released hid third album  Whatz Next. To get more details on this up and coming rising  star log onto www.markshine.com. 

The first song the artists performed was the cover song.  This was the song that would be used as a tie breaker in case  there was one-again. Although all the nine contestants performed  beautifully, three notable cover songs were Been So Long, by  Anita baker, Many Rivers To Cross, by Jimmy Cliff, and You should  Let Me love You, by Mario. Been So Long was performed by Azizah  and it was mesmerizing. Her voice captivated the audience as did  her beauty. Next on the stage was Kev who did his own twist to  Mario's you Should Let Me love You. It was sweet and all the  girls went crazy. And of course Nneka had a graceful performance  as she sang Many Rivers To Cross by Jimmy Cliff. The audience was stunned.

After rocking and supporting, cheering and clapping all  contestants were given a twenty minute break-or were they. Each  contestant had twenty minutes to write a song with the theme Life  without music. This was the Freestyle segment of the show. It  gave the contestants a chance to get their creative skills  working again since the cover song was not a song of their own.  They also were not judged on this segment so it gave the audience,  contestants, and the judges a chance to relax and listen to some  good music written, truly, off the top of one's head. It was  fun. Although the girl's went crazy over Kev during the cover  song, the freestyle by Chaun Vernon had everyone, especially the  girls screaming-literally.

The third part of the show was the last and final part  before the winners were announced. Here all nine contestants  sang their original piece from the semi-finals and the crowd and  judges determined who would be among the final three. The music  played and all nine performed. There was nervousness and  happiness in the park. Although all nine wanted to be part of  the first three Reggae Song Competition Winners there could only  be three-this time around. The three contestants to perform at  the Reggae Soca Music Awards are; Journalist-Dwight McIntosh,  Kev-Everton smith, and Nneka-Nneka Hanchard. Congratulations to  all contestants for making it this far and for the top three winners best wishes and luck to all of you!

By contributing writer Laura Ebanks  Click Here to Read Our Report on The Reggae Song Competition Semi-Finals