Caribbean Heat: The Road March Competition

Machel Montano and Calypso Rose

Caribbean Heat blazes onward with an instalment guaranteed to make you stomp your feat as you wine and grind. This week’s edition of our favourite series focuses on the Road March competition of Trinidad & Tobago and the songs that defined many of the Carnival festivals of the last 25 years!

The people of my country are generally very competitive and the Road March race is a perfect example of that facet of our culture. Launched as part of Carnival in 1932, this title is awarded to the songs that are played the most at the various judging points located on the parade routes during the Parade of the Bands – Carnival Monday and Carnival Tuesday – as well as in Kiddie’s Carnival.

Naturally, similar to Carnival itself as well as J’Ouvert and our Soca Monarch competition, the Road March race has been imitated by several other countries across the globe but with far less fanfare. A complete breakdown of the entire Carnival season will be featured in Caribbean Heat in the coming weeks so don’t fret if you’re a bit confused!

Listen to some of the biggest Road March hits of Trinidad & Tobago’s Carnival and observe why nothing beats the original:

Fay-Ann Lyons – ‘Meet Super Blue’

Machel Montano – ‘Jumbie’

Nigel Lewis – ‘Movin’ (To the Left)’

Sanelle Dempster – ‘River’

Super Blue – ‘Bacchanal Time’

Wayne Rodriguez – ‘Footsteps’

Xtatik – ‘Big Truck’

Photo by REUTERS/Andrea De Silva

Thoughts?