Trinidad & Tobago music legend Machel Montano premiered his personal documentary in Kingston Jamaica this week at a screening for invited guests at the Carib 5 Cinema.
‘Like Ah Boss: Journey of a Soca King’, features appearances from Dancehall giants such as Sean Paul & Beenie Man, is directed by Bart Phillips, who has also helmed in-depth documentaries for Paul Mooney, Don Cornelius and Stevie Wonder, and Che Kothari, Montano’s manager.
The focus centres primarily on 2015, the year Montano vowed to exit the International Soca Monarch competition by going out “like ah boss.” He won the title on his way out, then performed a gruelling schedule of international dates.
The project took Montano’s team eleven years to complete and still, by his own admission, tells only part of the story.
At the Q&A following the screening, hosted by Yendi Phillips, Montano talked about the challenge he faced putting the documentary together, choosing what parts of his life to document and what to leave out.
“This was quite a challenge for us. It took us 11 years to do this and it’s just part of the story. This isn’t even the whole story. This is just what we could’ve done.’ He also teased a follow up to this in the not too distant future.
The film follows Machel and his team as they embark on sixteen shows in seven days, the audience is taken on a roller coster of events which show the dedication and structure of the team needed to execute a schedule that is gruelling as it is exhilarating.
We also get to hear Machel’s personal thoughts on some of the most provocative incidents in his life and career, the lawsuits, the fast lifestyle which has now evolved into wellness and meditation and also his 2020 Valentines day wedding to partner Renee Butcher which was doubled as the the final edition of his annual concert series, ‘Machel Mondays’, held on February 17, 2020, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Trinidad, with Bride, Groom and all attendees wearing white.
Having a Jamaica premiere for this biographical film is especially endearing, Montano told the star-studded crowd that the island is close to his heart, he attended school here at Mona Basic School, Kingston as a child and was part of the early days of Jamaica Carnival alongside calypso legend Byron Lee who led the first Jamaica carnival road march.
Montano is currently on a global Encore tour following his record-breaking 12th Road March title with the next major stop in West Africa — Karnival Kingdom in Ghana, 23–28 April — part of his push to expand Soca’s footprint in the African diaspora
Like Ah Boss is scheduled for a Digital release on May 29th across all platforms.
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