Officially carnival is Monday and Tuesday, those two days of gay abandon before the Catholic feast of Lent.

Preparation for the next one will start on Wednesday (09 Feb 2005).

In a real sense this current carnival has been on the road for the last eight weeks, as signaled by mas' camp activity, steelband jamborees, calypso tents and a growing endless list of competitions.

It may be a Vincentian in Kevin Lyttle and a Barbadian in Ruppee who are promising to take Caribbean calypso to the world.

While the soul is increasingly felt elsewhere, Trinidad still gives calypso its spirit.

And in a move to recapture the soul itself, organizers have introduced for the first time the Groovy Party Monarch competition.

It is a competition where Lyttle and Ruppee would have excelled if they had entered. But for the record Michelle Sylvester became its first winner on Saturday morning (05 Feb 2005).

It was on that same show that Bunji Garlin won the Soca Monarch, and the right to be called the King of Party.

In doing so, Bunji Garlin went into territory where only one man has entered before.

The weekend win was his third hold on the title. Only Super Blue until now had done it more than twice -- a whopping six times.

Super Blue's daughter Faye Ann Lyons was on stage too, and duly placed fourth.

But a wonderful story line is developing as Trinidad is abound with reports of her new romance with Bunji Garlin.

Bunji's influence is as much as Shabba Ranks as it is Super Blue, but his win establishes him as the most dominant man in Trinidadian entertainment for time being

The traditionalist will have their rare glare in the spotlight on Sunday (06 Feb 2005) night in the Calypso Monarch competition.

Chalkdust, a studious historian who has been winning crowns before Bunji was born, is defending again -- having won last year (2004).

His challenges are to come from Sugar Aloes, Cro Cro and Singing Sandra -- singing on the day's social themes, from the island's worrying crime rate to direct political satire.

The next few days give Trinidadians the chance to exhale -- to look at themselves and laugh and to showcase their amazing creative talent.