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Soca music

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Soca
Stylistic originsCalypso - Music of India - cadence - Soul
Cultural originsEarly 1970s, Trinidad and Tobago
Typical instrumentsBass - Drums - Guitar - Vocals- Trumpet- Trombone
Fusion genres
Chutney soca - Rapso - Kuduro
Other topics
Music of Trinidad and Tobago - TEMPO Networks

Soca or soul calypso is a form of Popular West Indian music originated in the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. It originally combined the melodic lilting sound of Calypso with insistent percussion (which is often electronic in recent music), and the East Indian rhythms of chutney music. That the two would eventually meet is consistent with the mostly African (Black) and Indian demographics of Trinidad & Tobago.

The nickname of the Trinidad and Tobago national football team, the Soca Warriors, refers to this musical genre.

Prominent broadcasters of soca music include TEMPO Networks.

History

Music of Trinidad and Tobago
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Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem
Forged from the Love of Liberty
Regional music

The reputed father of soca was Lord Shorty (born Garfield Blackman), in Trinidad and Tobago, whose 1973 recording of "Indrani"[1] started the trend.[2] In the 1970s he began writing calypso songs for other young calypsonians including Maestro and his cousin "BARON" who had a hit called "SEVERE LICKING" produced by Shorty. A prolific musician, composer and innovator, Shorty experimented with fusing Calypso and the East Indian rhythms of chutney music for nearly a decade before unleashing "the soul of calypso,"...soca music. Shorty had been in Dominica during an Exile One performance of Cadence-lypso, and collaborated with Dominica's 1969 Calypso King, Lord Tokyo and two calypso lyricists, Chris Seraphine and Pat Aaron in the early 1970s , who wrote him some Creole lyrics. Soon after Shorty released a song, "Ou Petit",[3] with words like "Ou dee moin ou petit Shorty" (meaning "you told me you are small Shorty"), a combination of Calypso, Cadence and kwéyòl (as reported in Exile One Gordon Henderson's book, "Zoukland" 1999 edition). It would be Lord Kitchener who would begin the noticeable and accredited transitions, which was developed as soul of calypso...soca music. According to Lord Kitchener's former manager Errol S. Peru, a pioneer in the promotion of calypso & soca music, "Kitch had a knack for Kaiso... anything he composed was instantly a hit."

Like calypso, soca was used for both social commentary and risqué humor, though the initial wave of soca acts eschewed the former. Lord Shorty was disillusioned with the genre by the 1980s because soca was being used to express courtships and sexual interests. Like all things related to sexual freedom, it was embraced because of its ability to reflect the desires of a society that was sexually repressed. Soca music became an expression of sexuality through metaphors in the West Indies. Soon after, Shorty moved to the Piparo forest, converted to the Rastafari movement and changed his name to Ras Shorty I. There he created a fusion of reggae and gospel music called jamoo (Jah music) in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, and now the new century, soca has evolved into a blend of musical styles. Machel Montano's collaborations with Jamaican musicians (Red Rat and Beenie Man), American musicians (like Walker Hornung), Panama musicians (Karamel and Lans) and Japanese artists have pushed the boundaries of modern Soca. Machel Montano would be the first mainstream soca artist to sell out venues all over the world including the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Notable artists

Some notable Soca artists include (non-exhaustively): Superblue, King Wellington, Shadow, Rikki Jai, David Rudder, Machel Montano, The Baron, Krosfyah, Burning Flames, Oscar B, Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, Lavaman, Dexter "Blaxx" Stewart, Alison Hinds, Destra Garcia, KMC, KES, Shurwayne Winchester, Bunji Garlin, Maximus Dan, Fay-Ann Lyons, Jamesy P, Kevin Lyttle, Claudette Peters, El-A-Kru, Square One, Patrice Roberts, Rupee, Nadia Batson, Michelle Sylvester, Dawg E Slaughter, Mr. Killa, Benjai, Iwer George, Tallpree, Ajumu, Sheldon Douglas and countless others. International artists include Kingdom of Soca, Shayne Bailey, Black Dragon, Connector, and Villaz.

Hit songs

Some soca songs that have become worldwide hits:

Some R&B, hip-hop and pop songs said to have been heavily influenced by calypso include:

Soca music has evolved like all other music over the years, with Calypsonians experimenting with other caribbean rhythms.

some examples are the following:

  1. Rapso : Eastern Caribbean dialect hip-hop with smooth calypso melody and bold lyrics
  2. Chutney Soca: Original Soca performed with a more Chutney styled form; mainly performed by Chutney musicians
  3. Ragga Soca: A fusion of Jamaican Dancehall and Soca (Chutney music replaced with Dancehall music) so it is Dancehall and Contemporary Calypso, which is an uptempo Calypso beat with moderate bass and electronic instruments. A Trinidadian form of performing Dancehall Reggae.
  4. Parang Soca: A combination of Calypso, Soca, and Latino music. Parang originated in Trinidad and is most often sung in Spanish.
  5. Steelband-Soca: Steel Pans are types of drum often used in Soca and Calypso music; it became so popular that it became its own musical genre—Steelband. The steel pans are hand-made, bowl-like, metal drums that are crafted so that different sections of the drum produce different notes when struck. Steelbands are groups of musicians who play songs entirely on steel drums. There are many different types of steel pans, each with its own unique set of pitches.
  6. Bouyon Soca or "Dominican Soca" is a style of Soca music from Dominica. It uses more prominent elements of Bouyon music.
  7. Rockso: a futuristic-sounding, North America- and Trinidad-based 'mutant' style of calypso. It recontextualizes elements of calypso instrumentation, with a heavy focus on a wide range of lyrical 'flows' (delivery) and topics, various song structures, bass-heavy drum patterns, quirky sound effects, and an urban music sensibility. Unlike soca, its exponents gear it less for seasonal competition and more for general, year-round play, while promoting such calypso standbys as 'extempo' (lyrical freestyling).
  8. Groovy Soca is the name of a growing style focusing on melody in soca, partly due to 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 ragga soca.


Soca has also been experimented with in Bollywood films, Bhangra, and new Punjabi pop, as well as Disco music in the United States.

Instrumentation

Soca music is based on a strong rhythmic section done by a drum set. The drum and percussion is often loud in this genre of music and is sometimes the only instrument 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.

While the Trinidad-born steel drum is known as the official instrument of the Caribbean -- and the only new instrument invented in the 20th century --, its waning presence in soca music, along with its coopting by other nations, has many soca and calypso purists concerned, and has prompted an occasional presence in the music, particularly in the slowed-down, melodic Groovy Soca and production-focused Rockso genres.

In Media

See also

References

  1. ^ Shorty, Lord. "YouTube: Lord Shorty - Indrani". Lord Shorty (Ras Shorty I). Retrieved 15 August 2009. SOUNDTRACK {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |trans_title=, |month=, and |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Riggio, Milla Cozart (2004-12-03). "Calypso Reinvents Itself". Carnival: culture in action : the Trinidad experience. Routledge. pp. 220, 221. ISBN 978-0415271295. There were, clearly, several tributaries of rhythm and sound that contributed to that torrent of song that in the 1970s came to be called "soca." Several persons are considered to have contributed to its genesis and development: Ras Shorty I, Maestro, Arrow, Merchant, Kitchener, Spureblue, Sparrow, Calypso Rose, and Eddy Grandt in the 1970s and 1980s, and Preacher, Ronnie McIntosh, Machel Montano, Allison Hinds and Square One, Krosfyah, Sound Revolution, Sanelle Dempster, Bunji Garlin, and a host of other voices and bands in the 1990s. Two voices that have claimed authorship of the soca genre stand out: Eddy Grant and Lord Shorty (or Ras Shorty I as he came to be called in the late 1970s). {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |separator=, |trans_title=, |trans_chapter=, |laysummary=, and |lastauthoramp= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ > "ou petit by grammacks". ou petit. Retrieved september 10, 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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