Reign­ing Chut­ney So­ca Monarch cham­pi­on, Machel Mon­tano, will re­turn to de­fend his crown when the fi­nal of the com­pe­ti­tion takes place on Feb­ru­ary 8 at Skin­ner Park in San Fer­nan­do. This was con­firmed as Southex launched the Chut­ney So­ca Monarch last evening, with Guardian Me­dia’s Sangeet 106.1FM be­com­ing its of­fi­cial part­ner. It will be a day-night event start­ing with a pre-show at 4 pm. The show will end at 12 mid­night and, for the 11th year run­ning, will re­main free to the pub­lic.

The semi­fi­nal round will take place on Jan­u­ary 30 at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, with 25 artistes to be se­lect­ed.

The Chut­ney So­ca Monarch al­so an­nounced it will add an­oth­er ma­jor ti­tle that will be up for grabs at the Grand Fi­nal of the 2026 Chut­ney So­ca Monarch. Five years ago, the Queen of Chut­ney So­ca was added, and over the last five years, five dif­fer­ent Queens of Chut­ney So­ca have been crowned.