NOW that he has successfully defended his Carib Soca Monarch crown as promised, Linden’s Brandon Harding is looking to take his talent far and wide, and put “Guyana on the map” with his music.

Harding gave an electrifying performance of his Soca “Alone” at the National Park, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, to successfully defend his title in the Carib Soca Monarch competition.
“I’m going to put Guyana on the map, regionally and internationally,” Harding pledged, moments after his Soca Monarch win.

Though in the lead up to the competition finals it was thought that Jumo “Rubberwaist” Primo would’ve been Harding’s biggest competition, it was actually newcomer, Stephen Ramphal, who gave Harding the biggest run for his money, finishing a mere one point behind.
Ramphal had an exhilarating performance of his piece, “Soca in Meh Vein”, and his second-place finish came as no surprise and was questioned by none.
Jumo fell short in his delivery when it mattered the most, notwithstanding his song “Tribute” being among the best of the night, and he ended in fourth position when the dust settled in the competition.

Harding admitted that he was not afraid of how close he came to losing to Ramphal, adding “I said Ramphal could’ve won because I respect him as an artiste, but I did my best, I prayed, I did this one for my uncle Oscar Harding, he passed away two weeks ago, he was my manager.”
Harding said he would not commit to being back to defend his title next year, but knows that whatever he’s doing, when the time comes is going to be big.
“It’s not something that I would answer now, but I’m never afraid, there’s always a possibility of me coming back to defend,” Harding said.

Like Ramphal, this year, last year Harding was the newcomer at the competition that took everyone by storm.

Since then the recently re-migrated Harding has been busy performing at several events internationally.

“Since I won, I left the country due to bookings out the country and I went to a few other countries performing. I’ve been to Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Vincent, Barbados, Antigua and the USA. It’s been busy out of Guyana for me, but I’m now back, I’ve moved back home,” Harding noted.

“It is my career, this is what I’ve been doing from the time I know myself. This is the only thing that I know, music. This is the only thing that I live.