Soca, it's the heartbeat of the Caribbean. Besides from being one of the most popular genres in the Caribbean, it's the main musical genre at all Caribbean carnivals.
What many might not have known is that Soca branched off from Calypso, yes Calypso! Soca is considered the soul of Calypso, it actually is a sub-genre of Calypso.
Soca emerged in the early 1970's, It was conceptualized by a Trinidadian Calypsonian by the name Lord Shorty (Garfield Blackman). Ironically his name is Lorde Shorty but in reality he is an astounding 6.4 feet tall.
In the late 60's Calypso music was dying and Reggae music was swiftly grabbing the peoples' attention.Because of this Shorty made it his job to steal back the people's attention from reggae to soca. He began experimenting with East Indian rhythms, using instruments such as the dholak, tabla and dhanta (drums) and fusing them with the calypso beat creating a hybrid genre. Lord Shorty grew a fondness for the beat and called it "Sokah" (later changed to soca). Interestingly enough it was called SOCA because of the phrase "soca is the soul of calypso", Soul (so) of Calypso (ca)| SO+CA+= SOCA.
Into the late 80's Shorty acknowledged that his music was not spiritual, the content for soca was not edifying enough. He said that soca was being used to celebrate the female bottom, rather than uplift the spirits of the people
What many might not have known is that Soca branched off from Calypso, yes Calypso! Soca is considered the soul of Calypso, it actually is a sub-genre of Calypso.
Soca emerged in the early 1970's, It was conceptualized by a Trinidadian Calypsonian by the name Lord Shorty (Garfield Blackman). Ironically his name is Lorde Shorty but in reality he is an astounding 6.4 feet tall.
In the late 60's Calypso music was dying and Reggae music was swiftly grabbing the peoples' attention.Because of this Shorty made it his job to steal back the people's attention from reggae to soca. He began experimenting with East Indian rhythms, using instruments such as the dholak, tabla and dhanta (drums) and fusing them with the calypso beat creating a hybrid genre. Lord Shorty grew a fondness for the beat and called it "Sokah" (later changed to soca). Interestingly enough it was called SOCA because of the phrase "soca is the soul of calypso", Soul (so) of Calypso (ca)| SO+CA+= SOCA.
Into the late 80's Shorty acknowledged that his music was not spiritual, the content for soca was not edifying enough. He said that soca was being used to celebrate the female bottom, rather than uplift the spirits of the people
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Shorty introduced Soca to the world with his hit song Indrani, This song clearly highlighted the true definition of soca,
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He ventured off with his family to a Piparo Forest to seek spiritual guidance and influence. On the return of spiritual quest he converted to the Rastafarianism and changed his name Ras Shorty. The father of Soca abandoned his "child" (Soca) and headed towards a new genre called jamboo (Jah Music) which reflected his newly fond spirituality. Although Ras Shorty abandoned soca the impact he made was of such that people gravitated to it and started experimenting with the sound some more.
Just like calypso, soca artists had tendencies to stir up controversy with their lyrics.
On Shorty's first soca album he had a song called Om Shanti. This sound contained hindu chants in its chorus which was seen as disrespectful from the hindu community.
Soca was known throughout the Caribbean but was not recognized by the rest of the world as a true genre but in 1881 a Montserrat singer by the name of Arrow. Arrow did much to popularize Soca internationally with his 1983 number one Soca hit Hot Hot Hot.
This was one of the most beloved Soca songs and was considered a classic, I am sure you would have heard this song some where before.
Arrow set the pace for Soca artists in the 80's and 90's, artist such as Lord Kitchener, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires and Super Blue ( just to name a few) where contending to have the number one soca song in the caribbean. The artist who would be close to do so was an artists by the name Crazy with his hit sound Nani Wine which was just as "Hot" as Hot Hot Hot, and took the caribbean by storm.
As I said before Soca is a subgenre of calypso. Because of the dabbling by various artist trying to find the perfect sound, Soca was subgrouped into two categories, Chutney Soca and Ragga Soca.
Today Ragga Soca is one of the most popular forms of Soca, especially among the youth. Ragga soca is described as blending Trinidad's indigenous soca music(Chutney Soca) with Jamaican dancehall. It's more of an uptempo "dubbing style. Who originally started Ragga Soca was always a hot topic when mentioned. According to IslandMix, Barbados had been the first country to have started Ragga Soca.
A classic example of ragga soca is Ragga Ragga, by Red Plastic Bag (RPB) and Mac Fingall in 1993.
Ragga Ragga was such a huge hit it was played in an Irish movie The Sparrow’s Nest, this song also played at the 1996 NBA finals in Chicago.
Chutney soca music is a crossover style of music incorporating Soca elements and Hindi-English lyrics with Indian instruments such as the dholak and dhantal. It's basically the original soca which Ras Shorty started.
Here is an example of modern day Chutney soca.
Today's Soca
Entering the 21'st century many artists performed Soca but not many made an significant impact like Machel Montano did. Machel is called "Trinidad's Superstar" and he is called that for a reason. Machel has gained worldwide stardom and recognition with his uptempo energetic Soca music. He Has won three International Power Soca Monarch for 5 consecutive years. from 2011-2015 just tying with Super Blue in 2013. Here is a list of Montano's winning songs.
