It’s great to see how happy and passionate you all are about
Carnival Monday & Tuesday, the “Fetes, J'Ouvert and
the joy it brings to Tinbagonians. When we hear of
Carnival, we think of the energy and vibrancy that comes along with its music.
The most popular during this period is that of calypso and soca music.
Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the time of the African slave trade where it was used as a means of communication and mockery of slave masters. The golden era of calypso was between 1914 and 1920 when the first recording was created that subsequently gave birth to the first calypso tent. One cannot simply refer to calypso without mentioning the most prominent figure in the art, that is, Lord Kitchener who dominated the industry until the 1970’s.
Following this, outside music influences from Jamaica, the rest of the islands and America resulted in musical fusion leading to a more upbeat, less socially conscious version of the art now known as Soca. In today’s Carnival soca has been the more dominant of the two, but many still believe calypso will always have their place in the event.
Do you think this is true? What can be done to keep the art form of calypso alive, without taking away from the newfound soca ? Do we do enough to promote our local music and use it as a stepping stone for tourism? What more can be done?
Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the time of the African slave trade where it was used as a means of communication and mockery of slave masters. The golden era of calypso was between 1914 and 1920 when the first recording was created that subsequently gave birth to the first calypso tent. One cannot simply refer to calypso without mentioning the most prominent figure in the art, that is, Lord Kitchener who dominated the industry until the 1970’s.
Following this, outside music influences from Jamaica, the rest of the islands and America resulted in musical fusion leading to a more upbeat, less socially conscious version of the art now known as Soca. In today’s Carnival soca has been the more dominant of the two, but many still believe calypso will always have their place in the event.
Do you think this is true? What can be done to keep the art form of calypso alive, without taking away from the newfound soca ? Do we do enough to promote our local music and use it as a stepping stone for tourism? What more can be done?
Yep this is true, without Calypso there will be no Soca. Marshall Montano said this same thing at his concert early this year for Marshall Monday. If was nice to see him pay respect to Lord Kitchener and the others before him.
ReplyDeleteYes but the problem is that most of this generation do not know much about Calypso or that they do not care for it. I was there for Marshall Monday as well and I really liked that he actually took the time to stop his music and play some calypso so that his audience would hopefully leave there with a better appreciation for the art, as well as giving them a little history lesion on it.
ReplyDeleteI would most definitely say that we take full advantage of our music in promoting it for tourism. If we were not doing this our artists like Kes, Marshall and Bunji Garlin to name a few would not be where they are today. They would be stuck performing in Trinidad and other Caribbean countries, but instead they are doing songs with other big artists such as Pitbull, they have sold out concerts in New York and even having their songs played on popular TV shows. So in that aspect I think we have done plenty, its just up to the rest of the world to take notice.
ReplyDeleteIt was only this year that the iTunes store added Soca to its list of music categories. It took them far to long to do this but the most important thing is that they did it, which means that they are starting to see the amount of raw talent that 2 small islands posses.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Calypso will always have its place in Carnival as being the platform for creating and paving the way for Soca Music.
ReplyDeleteI think that through education/school can help preserve it's art form and by employing the ones who sing it to promote it to the young generation. this can only be done through the assistance of the government and the willingness of a people to make it a career. By teaching the younger ones is a start which can only lead to results.
Also, I think promoters and soca artistes such as Machel Montano, Kes the Band, Bunji Garin and others do a great job at putting our music on the global stage. With that foreign exposure that they get it can only encourage people to want to visit our country. I am sure that what they are doing has a positive effect on other Soca Artistes. But off course with Government intervention at lot more can be achieved.
What younger generations perceive as "soca" would be those such songs, sung by artistes, that promote a very raw sexual aspect that is all too well associated with carnival today. If the word "soca" really means "soul calypso", then i would not class most of what is broadcasted as "soca" but rather another name. Probably someone can help me come up with a name for it :)
ReplyDeleteThere are, however, radio stations that broadcast calypso and soca music in it's true form both on a local and international platform, so there is good exposure. The point raised about foreign influence is a good one but I think the influence falls more-so on the demographic. I say this because dancehall and rap music are, in my opinion, the more dominant genres of music broadcasted year round and accepted by youths of today whereas soca & calypso will be played more frequently (if not exclusively) around carnival time and may not be accepted by the numbers of the dancehall / rap genres.
Ever noticed that calypsonians use current and/or past social & political affairs in which to produce their music? These people are well educated and observant performers that talk about issues of importance in their music, instead of the "jump, wave, wine" type of music of today. So, in essence, only well educated people (I'm not referring to only school education but also to knowledge gained through local & international news, social & political affairs, etc) will be best suited to preserve the art form that is calypso.
To summarize:
- Our carnival culture is well marketed through events promoters, radio stations and by our very own local artistes that strive to spread our carnival culture worldwide. With all artistes' continued drive to offer what we have on a world stage, we can only move up in standings. From an artiste's perspective, both Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin have brought soca to the world. The Mighty Sparrow, however, also entertained the world over with his brilliant calypso music. So, the artistes on their own promote the industry as a whole, internationally.
- Yes, the art form of traditional calypso is slipping away from us with the passing of our legends but it can be saved by encouraging those interested youths to carry on the great legacies of those that built the industry. This can be achieved , in my opinion, through an addition to the existing schooling curriculums to include performing arts and local history. An all round educated mind will be better able to produce music to edify the mind.