Source Soca music reaches millions in US | The Trinidad GuardianSoca music reaches millions in USPublished: 28 Oct 2010
Millions of television viewers in the USA received a taste of soca music last week, and will hear more over the coming months as the hit collaboration by soca superstar, Machel Montano’s and Latin hip-hop star, Armando “Pitbull” Perez is being used in several popular television shows. On October 18, one minute of the song was used in episode four of Hawaii Five-0, which aired on CBS at 9 pm. The following night, 80 minutes of Alright played during episode 206 of the series called Parenthood at 9 pm on NBC. Additionally, 55 seconds of Alright will be heard during episode 424 of NBC’s Friday Night Lights, which is yet to be aired on the network and will also be shown on Direct TV.
Grammy-nominated music supervisor for all three shows, Liza Richardson, is also a DJ on new music radio station, KCRW based in Santa Monica, California. Richardson referred to Montano as an “icon” and said it was “a privilege” to use his music on this scale. “It was important to have music with a flair to accommodate the scenes, something that you recognise if you’re familiar with the artiste. As a DJ and music supervisor, I have a keen ear for sound. Machel Montano’s music is that eclectic sound known all over the world. This song is popularised commercially with Pitbull on the track, but the distinct rhythms are Machel Montano. Machel is an icon and it was a privilege to showcase some of his music on a grand scale with the two shows,” Richardson said.
Originally entitled Awrite (Ramajay) and recorded for Montano’s album 34th disc, the song was remixed and released as the first single from Pitbull’s forthcoming album, Planet Pit. The remix has been playing extensively over the last three months on US mainstream and Latin radio stations across America. Last week, Montano returned to the US, where he is building a new state-of-the-art studio, and was informed of the groundbreaking development. “While on hiatus from Carnival 2010, I used the time to work on getting soca music more mainstream airplay and visibility. The results of these efforts are only just beginning to manifest out here and we can look forward to bigger and better things as time goes by.
This might seem like a small accomplishment, but these shows are watched by millions of people and all babies must creep before they can walk,” Montano said. Hawaii Five-O is an American procedural crime drama based on an original series which aired between 1968—1980. Like the original, the new version follows an elite task force set up to fight crime in the state of Hawaii and premiered on September 20, exactly 42 years to the date from the premiere of the original show in 1968. According to Nielsen ratings for the first week of the 2010-11 TV Season, the show set a new industry record when an additional 3.374 million people watched the very first episode via DVR within a week of its broadcast on September 20.
Those viewers added to the 14.213 million people who watched the H5-O unveiling that first Monday of the season, for a grand total of 17.587 million viewers. Parenthood is a one-hour drama inspired by the box office hit of the same name. This re-imagined and updated Universal Media Studios/Imagine Television production follows the trials and tribulations of the very large, very colorful and imperfect Braverman family. The show recently topped Nielsen’s DVR Viewer Ranking with a 45 per cent increase to capture 31 per cent of viewers aged 18 to 49, and an overall viewership of approximately 4.8 million viewers in the USA.[/QUOTE]
