Denise Belfon - PANIC - Ragga Soca Monarch - VA  (2001)
Channel: Visual Art and Production
Date: 23/11/2021

There was a time,  not so long ago, when Ragga Soca was in vogue in Trinidad and Tobago. There were Ragga Soca singers and a short-lived Ragga Soca Competition. The competition had a shelf life of three years from 1999- 2001. Neil "Iwer George" won in 1999 while the man, considered to be the King of Ragga Soca, Bunji Garlin, real name Antonio Alvarez, copped the top spots in 2000 and 2001. 

 "In the late 1990s, a new musical genre emerged in Trinidad called Ragga Soca. Ragga Soca is described as the product of blending Trinidad's indigenous Soca music with Jamaican Dancehall. One peculiarity of Ragga Soca is the borrowing of Jamaican Creole English phonological features into the performance genre.

Initially, there was much opposition to this genre as it challenged notions of Trinidadian identity and self. This paper considers the linguistic innovativeness of Ragga Soca  artists, in particular, their use of Jamaican Creole English phonological borrowings, demonstrating that they have not only created a new performance genre but have used Jamaican Creole English to mediate their Trinidadian identity."  This competition was canceled/lost appeal because of the Soca Monarch Competition and lack of Financial support for what was considered a Jamaican style of music that was loved and followed by the young at heart. The business community was not interested in this youthful exuberance exhibited by these young followers of a misunderstood style of music. People saw the sub-genre as a continuation of Dancehall music that once crippled the calypso industry and had people like Lord Shorty seeking alternative ways to stem the tide of the Jamaican music tsunami that rocked Trinidad and Tobago. 
An abstract from an article written by Glenda Alicia E. Leung. The article was first published 11/06/2009:
1999 - Iwer George - Iwer And Ah Half
2000 - Bunji Garlin - Chant Down Babylon
2001 - Bunji Garlin - Licks