Bunji Garlin

Who he is

Ian Alvarez grew up in Arima, chanting and freestyling in the schoolyard at Arima Senior Comprehensive from about age 16 and sharpening his skills against other youths on the town's streets.¹ He erupted onto the soca scene in 1999, when he hit the International Soca Monarch stage in fluorescent green hair, outfit and shoes to sing his first hit, "Send Dem Riddim Crazy".¹

Over the years he has reinvented himself several times, from "De Girls Dem Darlin" to the Fireman, the Black Spaniard and today's Viking of Soca. He is married to fellow soca star Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez, and together they run the Viking Band, which is why Trinidad often calls them the First Couple of Soca.¹

Signature sound and key songs

Bunji's sound is ragga soca: rapid, tongue-twisting chants over hard-driving rhythms, with reggae, dancehall, rap and hip-hop in the mix. The Trinidad Guardian notes that he took heavy criticism for years for changing the course of soca this way, following early ragga soca acts like General Grant and KMC.¹ Time has proved him right. His 2013 international breakthrough, "Differentology", won the Soul Train Award for Best International Performance, and it is still the song people outside the Caribbean are most likely to know.¹

On the road he is a force. "Famalay", his 2019 collaboration with Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous, won that year's Road March. In 2023, "Hard Fete" was played 135 times at the judging points to win the Road March outright, ahead of Nailah Blackman and Skinny Fabulous's "Come Home".² Fay-Ann is credited as co-writer and co-executive producer of "Hard Fete".¹

Carnival legacy

International Soca Monarch has been his favourite battleground. His first win came as a tie with Iwer George in 2002 with "We From De Ghetto". He won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005 with "Warrior Cry" and "Blaze De Fire", then again in 2008 with a remake of Maestro's "Fiery", making him a four-time champion.¹ He has said himself that "Soca Monarch is more my thing" than Road March.¹

He keeps contending for the people's crown anyway. In 2025 his "Carry It" finished second in the Road March race with 253 plays, just 14 behind Machel's "Pardy".³ In 2026 his "Still a Road Man" placed third.⁴

Start here

• "Differentology" (2013): the global breakthrough.
• "Hard Fete" (2023): his outright Road March winner.
• "Famalay" (2019): with Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous.
• "Warrior Cry" (2004): classic Soca Monarch Bunji.
• "Carry It" (2025): proof he can still push Machel to the wire.
• "Big Bad Soca": a fiery official video to start with.

Sources

1. Trinidad Guardian: Bunji and Fay-Ann, power in their DNA (2023) (opens in a new tab) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Trinidad Guardian: Bunji is king of the road (2023) (opens in a new tab) ↩

3. Trinidad Express: Machel cops 11th Road March title (2025) (opens in a new tab) ↩

4. Trinidad Guardian: Machel Montano claims 12th Road March title (2026) (opens in a new tab) ↩