General > Entertainment & Culture Discussion
I proud
WestCoast:
ok, but i believe that the modern soca beat was a by product of the music fraternity in Trinidad and not the other way around. I have never heard of that beat being popular and credited to africa origins/music. Musicians in Sierra Leone say that during the late 19 century, sailors brought Calypso music to the coast of africa.
(for the lawyers...this is my opinion)
Here is the opinion of The Roaring Lion.....
"While most authorities stress the African roots of calypso, in his 1986 book Calypso from France to Trinidad, 800 Years of History veteran calypsonian The Roaring Lion (Rafael de Leon) asserted that calypso descends from the music of the medieval French troubadours."
Palos: a Point of order
--- Quote from: palos on February 22, 2008, 05:49:03 AM ---And here I was tinkin all dis time dat Endless Vibrations was de tune ALBUM dat started it all.
Dis site rell educational wee.
--- End quote ---
Bakes:
--- Quote from: Ryan on February 22, 2008, 01:00:42 PM ---I gonna add my 2 cents here ( kinda outta timin' and nowhere near as well researched as some of the other comments in this thread ;D).... even though we come up we always looking for d origins and evolution of soca, it actually sounds very similar to alot of west african music thats been around for years. To a non-trini it wud be pretty hard to tell d difference.
--- End quote ---
You're describing soca music as it sounds today...after 20 years of continued experimentation and evolution. Back in it's infancy it didn't sound that much like West African music.
Swima:
--- Quote from: Bake n Shark on February 22, 2008, 12:41:09 PM ---
--- Quote from: palos on February 22, 2008, 06:35:01 AM ---
--- Quote from: pass(10trini) on February 22, 2008, 06:10:48 AM ---
--- Quote from: Big Magician on February 22, 2008, 04:26:59 AM ---soul calyspo
--- End quote ---
Why do people always believe Soca is a mixture of U.S music and calypso. Soca is a fusion of Indian and Calypso music. :beermug:
--- End quote ---
Perhaps because the person who coined the term described it as soul of calypso?
--- End quote ---
He actually described it as "the soul of calypso". Shorty was searching for music with a higher spiritual leaning (soul). However as Swima has implied, there was already other music very similar to what we today call Soca, due to the various experimentations that were taking place at the time. You had Maestro experimenting with Calypso and Cadence (Cadence-lypso) and Wellington fusing Calypso and American Funk for instance. Shorty was the first to really define his music and with Indrani in 1973 and Endless Vibration (not just the song but the entire album) in 1975, Calypso music really took off in another direction. Later in 1975 Shorty visited his good friend Maestro in Dominica where he stayed (at Maestro's house) for a month while they visited and worked with local Cadence artists. Sadly a year later Maestro would die in an accident in Dominica and his loss was palpably felt by Shorty, who penned "Higher World" as a tribute.
Two years later Sweet Soca Music was released, with the runaway hit, Om Shanti leading the charge. The incorporation of the Indian elements was obvious on this song, but had been there from the very start thru the influence of arranger Pelham Goddard (among others), who grew up in St. James and as a boy was an active participant in the Hosay festivals of his youth. Shorty called his music SoKa, and gave his famous description of it as incorporating the two disparate cultural elements. Sadly, times being what it was, many at home rebelled against this notion of adding anything 'Indian' to Calypso...and many admonished him to "stop trying to be Indian". Even many Indians themselves were offended (first by Indrani...this 'creole' fella talking about this woman who is basically ah indian 'ho'), now by the near-blasphemous use of 'Shanti'. Suffice to say the song was both revolutionary and controversial in it's impact.
Those against the name 'SoKa' gained momentum when the press started describing the music instead as SoCa...and from there the Soul and Calypso nonsense started...there was a decided push to discount the Indian influence. Shorty eventually conceded the fight, figuring that winning the war (pushing his music higher) was more important than winning the battle (over nomenclature). When Sugar Bum Bum came out shortly before the end of the decade...and everybody started focusing more on shaking their ass rather than shaking up the way they thought...Shorty then gave up the Soca ghost, packed up his family and moved them to Piparo and started focusing on Jamoo...with which he sought to make an even more complete break from Secular music.
--- End quote ---
Yuh real get on with dat post. Last year i got the best of Shorty, I see it have a best of Maestro in Kams waiting fuh me. Dem fellas were geniuses, I doh care what anyone say.
:applause:
Bakes:
--- Quote from: Swima on February 22, 2008, 01:50:19 PM ---Yuh real get on with dat post. Last year i got the best of Shorty, I see it have a best of Maestro in Kams waiting fuh me. Dem fellas were geniuses, I doh care what anyone say.
:applause:
--- End quote ---
yeah man even for all de li'l knowledge I garnered over the years, I too didn't really appreciate the genius that was Shorty until I started listening to the songs as an adult...it was a near spiritual experience. This was made all the more sweeter because the melodies were very familiar to me, even though I had forgotten them. Some months ago I clicked on Endless Vibrations and listened to it for the first time since I was a very young boy...instinctively I remembered everything from the chord patterns to the crescendo of the horns. I went back and read some of the tributes that came out in 2000 upon his passing and I felt a deep sense of loss...not only because Shorty was dead, but also because for all those years between my childhood and when he passed, he was among our midst...and like too many, I too didn't really appreciate the contributions he made to our culture. Losing a cherished item is one thing, losing it after realizing that while you had it you didn't appreciate it, that somehow cuts even deeper.
I'm still re-discovering Maestro's music...
--- Quote from: palos on February 22, 2008, 06:35:01 AM ---
--- Quote from: pass(10trini) on February 22, 2008, 06:10:48 AM ---
Why do people always believe Soca is a mixture of U.S music and calypso. Soca is a fusion of Indian and Calypso music. :beermug:
--- End quote ---
Perhaps because the person who coined the term described it as soul of calypso?
--- End quote ---
Palos ah owe yuh an apology man, I read what yuh say and thought yuh said he described it as 'soul calypso'...which is why I started my post with "actually...". but you on point.
Deeks:
I thought Maestro died on th highway in TT!!!
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