Soca IS Calypso!

[Mosiah]

despite the origin of the name, isn't it possible that the two forms are now distinctly different? i believe they are! but then, who am i? and i certainly don't care two hoots about primitive music forms!

[Historian]

Interesting

which begs the question - is dancehall reggae?

Good question, Mosiah. Hopefully, there will be some input on this question from other regular members of this forum .

[Gamma]

is dancehall reggae?

[Historian]

"Soca"

Historian, I was of the view that soca and calypso were the same, until a fellow ite on this very forum point out the difference to me. Those were the days people supported their points, unlike what we've sunk to.

I'm not certain who it was, I hope him come forth and both of you debate it. Let me get a drink.

I understand what you’re saying, Lazie. However, the fact is that, from the very beginning, the name “soca” was applied to that music with the idea that the “so” referred to “soul” and the “ca” referred to “calypso”, hence, “soca” or “soul calypso”.

[Lazie]

Historian, I was of the view that soca and calypso were the same, until a fellow ite on this very forum point out the difference to me. Those were the days people supported their points, unlike what we've sunk to.

I'm not certain who it was, I hope him come forth and both of you debate it. Let me get a drink.

[Mosiah]

which begs the question - is dancehall reggae?

[Historian]

I’m surprised that none of the so-called music experts on this forum saw it fit to correct an erroneous statement made by another poster yesterday that “calypso is not soca… first thing.”

I just saw this particular statement a minute ago, and hopefully I will stimulate some discussion about Trinidad’s national music form with this new thread.

The fact is that calypso is, to a great extent, soca! Soca actually means “soul calypso”, and soca music is, in reality, an evolution of traditional calypso, a more modernized form, so to speak.

Arrow’s “Hot, Hot, Hot”, with its rock guitar styling and thumb slapping and plucking bass line and driving bass drum, in my view perfectly reflects the deliberate attempts during the 1980s and 1990s to make the traditional calypso approach more attractive to a wide audience. While there was nothing really new about the horn arrangements in that recording, the lead guitar and bass patterns were certainly different than what emerged from the soca recording studios prior to 1983.

Calypso, despite the early success of Harry Belafonte, never had a mass following outside of the Caribbean community, and (again, in my opinion) the shift to the more “chart friendly” soca was an effort to make the genre more chart oriented.

By the way, the live version of Belafonte’s “Day O” is worth listening for its jazzy approach to an interpretation of a traditional calypso tune.

P.S. On a slightly different topic, are readers aware that the massive rock ‘n’ roll hit of several decades ago, “Louie, Louie” was written by a Jamaican fisherman?