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Sisters of Soca
Date: Saturday 30th July 2005
Venue: Kool Haus, Toronto
Promoters: Island Style
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For the 3rd and final installment of Island Style's 2005 Caribana Soca Festival, Sisters of Soca, there was actually a theme where the following questions was asked, "Who is the Queen of Soca? Or does it really matter? Shouldn't we be celebrating the power of the music, moving forward as a united front?" And the answer... Music is A Mission Not A Competition! Just brilliant right... we tell you, don't sleep on Island Style promotions... they in this game for a good minute now!

TJJ arrived at the Kool Haus around two-ish after leaving nuff drama up at Wild Water Kingdom, where Carnival In Yuh Backyard was being held. We talking real Young & Restless soap opera drama... over 1,000+ folks on the outside around 11:30pm cannot get into the fete... police and security telling everyone to go home, ticket or no ticket in hand... and more folks still arriving! We will continue with this story when we post the pictures from this event.

Back to Sisters of Soca... Maximus Dan was on stage when we reach inside, performing alongside Destra & Atlantik. The crowd was loving the vibes. Now, the Kool Haus had just over half of it's full capacity, which was strange to see when you think of the line up for the night... 5 Big Bands, 15 Soca Artists and 3 DJs! We talking about Alison Hinds & Sugar Bank, Destra & Atlantik, Roy Cape All Stars, Imij & Co. together with top artists like Faye Ann Lyons, Denise Belfon, Shurwayne Winchester, Maximus Dan, Hitman... with Bunji Garlin and the Asylum Band added to the mix last minute! We could think of only two logical explanations... 1. Carnival in Yuh Backyard was simply the hype for Caribana Saturday night... and 2. Glow fete was at the Kool Haus on the Friday night and Fire Fete II was going to be at the Kool Haus as well on the Sunday; and knowing Caribbean people, they like to mix it up!

We not sure what time performances kicked off, or which performances we missed, but after Atlantik and The Asylum bands gave the crowd all the soca vibes they could, there was still one more band and a couple more artists to perform. We talking 4am at this point, and partygoers looked totally burnt out... especially after jumping up in the hot sun at the Caribana Parade all day! While Roy Cape was setting up, a lot of folks decided to call it a night, including TJJ, so it was a quick food stop and homeward bound. Only the true hard-core Caribana feters could tell you how Roy Cape All Stars and the remaining line up performed as TJJ was counting sheep.... 1 sheep... baahaha.... 2 sheep... baaahaha.

Large up all of the Soca fraternity on the inside... how nice it is to see Shurwayne along side Roy Cape and Ghetto Flex along side D'Hitman backstage. Faye Ann, we loved how you gave the crowd that jolt of energy! Gail Ann, nice everytime! And big, big respect to Ian Wiltshire of Island Style for making it all happen! Trini Jungle Juice had a ball at Island Style's Soca Festival!!! Next stop... Fire Fete II.