Soca music

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Soca music (also known as the soul of calypso) is a genre of Caribbean music that originated within a youthful subculture in Trinidad and Tobago in the early to mid 1970s, and developed into a range of styles in the 1980s and later. Soca developed as an offshoot of kaiso/calypso, with influences from Indian folk music, cadence, funk, soul, Latin and Highlife.

Soca has evolved in the last 20 years primarily through musicians from various Anglophone Caribbean countries including Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, United States Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, Belize and Montserrat. There have also been significant productions from artistes in Canada, Panama, Guatemala, United States, United Kingdom and Japan.

History

The "father" of soca music

The "father" of soca is a Trinidadian calypsonian named Garfield Blackman who rose to fame as "Lord Shorty" with his 1963 hit "Cloak and Dagger" and took on the updated name "Ras Shorty-I" in 1980 after a spiritual change in direction in 1978. From the early 1970's until August 1977 Shorty promoted himself as a sex symbol and the "Love Man" of the Calypso world. He started out writing songs and performing in the calypso genre. A prolific musician, composer and innovator, Shorty experimented with fusing calypso and elements of Indo-Caribbean music for nearly a decade before unleashing "the soul of calypso", soca music.

Shorty was the first to define his music as "soca" the soul of calypso and changed the beat and musical structure regularly used in Calypso by fusing the traditional Calypso beat with East Indian rhythms starting with "Indrani" in 1972/73 and then his "Love Man" album in 1973/74 (where he did the rhythmic fusion not just in one song but on almost all songs on that album). In 1974/75 with the launch of Shorty's "Endless Vibrations" in which the East Indian instruments were removed and the East Indian influence was played on conventional instruments, calypso music took off in a new modern direction. Soca music was cemented as a new popular music genre when Shorty recorded his second massive soca hit "Sweet Music" in late 1975 for the Trinidad 1976 Carnival season.

Shorty also contributed to the new Cadence-lypso genre in Dominica when he visited Dominica in 1975 and composed a Cadence and Calypso fusion track called "E Pete" that was also included on his 1975/76 "Sweet Music" album. 1976 was also the year that Shorty's close calypso friend and other soca pioneer Maestro recorded his first soca single "Savage" that was also a massive hit for that year. In late 1976 Shorty recorded his Soca defining and promotional album called "Sokah Soul of Calypso" with his Vibrations International band for the 1977 Trinidad Carnival season to help promote his new soca music genre to the world market.

In 1978 after the death of his mother and his close friend Maestro, Shorty made a spiritual change in direction with his soca music and started working on a new spiritual sub-genre of soca that he later christened “Jamoo” the Gospel of Soca. His 1978 album Soca Explosion demonstrates Shorty's change in a new spiritual direction with the Gospel soca offering called "Who God Bless" and the spiritual Chutney-soca offering called "Shanti Om" that became a big Bollywood hit in India after it was copied and plagiarized by Kishore Kumar of India for the 1980 Bollywood movie "Karz" after they had visited Trinidad. On Shorty's 1978 album “Soca Explosion” he also featured an uptempo tribute soca track to his late calypso/soca friend Maestro who sadly died in a car crash on the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway in Trinidad in August 1977.

Regards Shorty's contribution to Cadence-ypso; In 1975 Shorty visited Dominica, and attended an Exile One performance of cadence-lypso at the Fort Young Hotel. Shorty was inspired to compose his own Cadence-lypso contribution about his visit to Dominica, and collaborated with Dominica's 1969 Calypso King, Lord Tokyo, and two creole experts, Chris Seraphine and Pat Aaron, who helped him with the creole lyrics for his composition. Soon after Shorty released a song, "E Pete" aka "Ou Petit", with words like "Ou dee moin ou petit Shorty" (meaning "you told me you are small Shorty"), a combination of calypso, cadence and kwéyòl.[1]

Shorty's 1974/75 hit Endless Vibrations and then Sweet Music 1975/76 quickly brought soca music to international attention and fame.

Soca developed in the late 1970s and grew in popularity in the early 1980s. Soca’s development as a musical genre included its fusion with calypso and Indian musical instruments—particularly the dholak, tabla and dhantal—as demonstrated in Lord Shorty's classic compositions "Ïndrani" and "Shanti Om".

Soca has grown since its inception to incorporate elements of funk, soul, zouk, latin and dance music genres, and continues to blend in contemporary music styles and trends. Soca has also been experimented with in Bollywood films, Bhangra, in new Punjabi pop, in Afro-beats in Africa, Reggaeton/Latin Pop in Central America and in disco and House music in the United States.

Terminology

Soca simply means the "soul of calypso", but the name has nothing to do with the fusion of soul music and calypso. Soca's history is multi-faceted. Regarding its name, Lord Shorty initially referred to his musical hybrid as "sokah", stating in a 1979 interview with Carnival Magazine that "I came up with the name soca. I invented soca. And I never spelt it s-o-c-a. It was s-o-k-a-h to reflect the East Indian influence."[2]

Related genres

Soca music has evolved like all other music over the years, with calypsonians experimenting with other Caribbean rhythms.

Some examples are the following:

Steelband soca

Steelband soca: also referred to in Trinidad & Tobago as Pan-kaiso are melodious Calypso and Soca tunes composed for or about the steelband. The first calypso to be composed for and about the steelband was Lord Kitchener’s “Beat of the Steelband” from 1946. The reason why this sub-genre is referred to by most Trinbagonians as pan-kaiso is because it existed long before the 1970’s when Calypso birthed Soca. However the term Pan-kaiso was only branded in the 1980's when Lord Kitchener’s pan songs for and about the steelband dominated the annual Steelbands Panorama competitions. Steel pans are types of a drum often used in soca and calypso music; it became so popular that it became its own musical genre. The steel pan originated in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the late 1930's. Steel pans are usually handmade, bowl-like metal drums crafted from oil drums so that different drum sections produce different notes when struck. Steelbands are groups of musicians who play songs entirely on steel drums. There are many types of steel pans, each with its own set of pitches.

Chutney soca

Chutney soca: original early soca fusion pioneered by Lord Shorty that includes traditional Indian instruments; mainly performed by chutney musicians but also performed by soca artists.

Parang soca

Parang soca: a combination of calypso, soca, Parang, Venezuelan and Latin music, Parang originated in Trinidad and is most often sung in Spanish. In contrast Parang soca is mostly sung in English with sprinklings of Spanish words and phrases. The first Parang soca recording was done by calypsonian Crazy in 1978.

Ragga soca

Ragga soca: a fusion of Jamaican's former artistic lyrical delivery know as "ragga" and soca. It is dancehall and contemporary calypso, which has an uptempo beat with moderate bass and electronic instruments. The first massive ragga soca hit was a Trini and Jamaican combination track from 1993 called "Dancehall Soca" written by the calypsonian Preacher and arranged by Trinidadian producer Kenny Phillips for the popular Jamaican band Byron Lee & the Dragonaires that featured Preacher on vocals and Admiral Bailey doing the raggamuffin chanting.

Groovy soca

Groovy soca: made trendy by Robin Imamshah with his 1990 composition "Frenchman", this popular style focuses on melody in soca, partly because of criticism of soca's ubiquitous 'jump and wave'-only lyrical and musical content. It features sensual vocals over mid-tempo soca rhythms, and very often elements of zouk and ragga soca. It should be noted that early soca music of the 1970's as pioneered by Shorty and others were also mostly at a groovy soca pace.

Power Soca

Power Soca: was created in the 1990's by a combination of soca artists from Trinidad & Tobago and some of the other more northerly Caribbean islands who prefer a faster tempo of soca for their Carnival festivities. What mainly allowed the speeding up of the music was the use of drum machines that became more affordable and popular with soca producers during the 1990's. In Trinidad the jam & wine soca craze of the 1980's was speeded up by the use of drum machines which led to the jump and wave soca craze of the 1990's started by 9-times road march champion Super Blue. In 2005 T&T's uptempo brand of Jump & wave soca was rebranded as Power soca by organizers of the International Soca Monarch competition when the Groovy soca competition was introduced. Typical Power soca tracks are high energy and have BPM’s (beats per minute) of 155 and above.

Bouyon soca

Bouyon soca:, sometimes referred to as jump up soca, is a fusion-genre that typically blends old bouyon rhythms from the '90s and soca music. Bouyon soca, is a term coined by non-Dominican producers and musicians who wish to attribute the current success of bouyon music to other islands. In its native Dominica, the concept of bouyon soca is unheard of. Bouyon is a very specific and original genre and is very much distinguishable from its "colleague" soca.

While there may have been the occasional fusion, bouyon has always maintained a very clear, recognizable and obviously different style from soca. This style of bouyon music was originated in Dominica, but is also very popular in Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Instrumentation

Soca music is based on a strong rhythmic section that is often recorded using synthesized drum sounds and then sequenced inside computers; however, for live shows, the live human drummer emulates the recorded version, often using electronic drums to trigger drum samples. The drum and percussion are often loud in this genre of music and are sometimes the only instruments to back up the vocal. Soca is indeed defined by its loud, fast percussion beats. Synthesizers are used often in modern soca and have replaced the once typical horn section at 'smaller' shows. Electric and bass guitars are found very often and are always found in a live soca band. A horn section is found occasionally in live soca bands mostly for the 'bigger' shows. It usually consist of two trumpets and a trombone, with saxophones being part of the section from time to time. Invariably other metal instruments may include cowbell or automobile brake rotor.

While the Trinidad-born steel drum is known as the official instrument of the Caribbean, its waning presence in soca music, along with its coopting by other nations, has many soca and calypso purists concerned. It has since enjoyed a slow resurgence, appearing more in soca music, as well as in the slowed-down, melodic groovy soca and production-focused rockso genres.

Worldwide hit soca songs, or songs that incorporate soca music

In media

In 2014 the Apple's iTunes Store became the largest online store to recognize calypso and soca as two of its formal catalog genres.[3]

International Soca Monarch Competition

The International Soca Monarch Competition is a soca music award show that is held annually in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital, Port of Spain. This competition is the most well-known event for soca artists and soca lovers all around the world. The International Soca Monarch Competition was originally developed by a cultural benefactor named William Munro who aspired to create a new, unique and exhilarating experience where Soca artists from all the different Caribbean islands could let their talents shine through to billions of people worldwide. A colleague of Munro’s, Gregory Fernandez was the first person to invest in The International Soca Monarch Competition by contributing TT$35,000 to get the show where Munro wanted it to be.[4] After much conflict, debate and planning, the first show took place in 1993 at The Spectrum in Port of Spain where the first place winners were awarded a considerable sum of TT$25,000. This was possible thanks to Trinidad and Tobago’s official Government and their undying support of the International Soca Monarch Competition. Renowned Soca artists such as Machel Montano, Kerwin Du Bois, Patrice Roberts, Superblue and Destra Garcia have all performed and won Groovy Soca Monarch and Power Soca Monarch awards in the past. The 2014 International Soca Monarch Competition awarded Machel Montano the first place prize in the Power Soca category after a highly enthusiastic and energetic performance of his huge hit “Ministry of Road”.[5] Kerwin Du Bois came in first in the Groovy Soca Monarch category, becoming the first artist in many years to dethrone Machel Montano from his superior reign of first place in that category.[5] Today, the extremely competitive event awards first place winners with $2 million, provided by various sponsors as well as the Trinidad and Tobago Government. Corporations and organizations such as KFC, Ford, Monsters Energy Drink, Caribbean Airlines and the Hyatt Regency and many more are all sponsors for Soca competition.[4] With the intention to “take culture to a brand new level”,[4] the International Soca Monarch Competition gives a chance for many talented Soca artists to display their gifts and showcase the work they have been putting together for the past year. These artists are able to widen their fan-base and achieve extreme amounts of fame by showcasing their songs and talents through such a widespread event that is becoming more and more popular as time goes on. The Soca Monarch Foundation is now starting to be recognized by many people of different cultural backgrounds rather than just Caribbean backgrounds, which gives hope to the idea that Soca music is quickly becoming universal. Even though The International Soca Monarch Competition is located in a place where Soca music was birthed and continues to be most popular, it not only attracts a lot of attention from people who live in Trinidad and Tobago but has expanded to peak the interests in Westernized countries such as Canada and America.

The competition has recently gained so much worldwide attention that the concept of “Soca Tourism” has emerged. This newly developed “Soca Tourism” phenomenon is greatly supported by the Trinidadian government.[4] Every year, the competition is aired on the televisions of those living in Trinidad and Tobago and is streamed live through various websites, making it easier for people all across the world to watch live as the most important moments in Soca history take place. As the Soca Monarch Foundation continues to expand their ideas, the next innovative idea is to develop a Pay-Per-View notion that will allow people to receive good quality live streaming of the show on their televisions and not only on computer screens, tablets and smart phones. Since many individuals do not have the luxury to easily travel to Trinidad and Tobago during the year, the feature of being able to watch the Soca Monarch Competition on televisions at home will be a huge success since Soca music is becoming more prevalent in the lives of a diverse amount of people today.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jocelyne Guilbault. Zouk: world music in the West Indies. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  2. ↑ Jocelyne Guilbault. "The Politics of Labelling Popular Musics in English Caribbean" Trans 3, 1997
  3. ↑ ‘Historic moment’ for Caribbean music
  4. 1 2 3 4 "International Soca Monarch 2014". Socamonarch.net. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  5. 1 2 Bonn, Donstan (2014-03-01). "Machel retains Power Soca Monarch | Trinidad Express Newspaper | News". Trinidadexpress.com. Retrieved 2014-04-07.

External links

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