True, most of North America is freezing and many will love to fly to hot weather islands. Months ago thousands of carnival fans – calypso, steelpan, soca and costume – residing in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and New York booked flights to go to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival. Many are already in Trinbago.

Trinidad’s Carnival is only a month away, February 13-17. Calypso tents are opened, bands are competing to be selected for the panorama finals and soca is hot.

Soca artists have been selected for both the Groovy Soca and Power Soca semifinals. A change in the high profile competition no longer the reigning monarchs to defend their title. “The decision to change the rule of defending the title was guided by a decision to align the competition with best practices in the global entertainment industry, where the reigning monarch is not obligated to defend their title,” a release from the organizers said.

Therefore, it appears that Machel Montano and Kerwin Du Bois will not defend their respective title.