For Deh Love of Soca
Co-written by Shawntay Henry and Ajayi Pickering-Haynes
Soca is our pride; it’s our heart.
If you didn’t know it, we are here to let you know that soca music is more than a genre, it’s a feeling. The most freeing feeling there is.
As a Virgin Islander, my relationship with Soca is personal. It started from a very young age as a steel pan-ist in the widely acclaimed Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra on St. Thomas. Being apart of a group that played the best arrangements of yearly hits by Soca moguls like Machel Montano, Kes, Olatunji, and Destra Garcia has made me appreciate this music genre for far more than the hips I’ve seen it jive and the smiles I’ve witnessed it put faces on. It is an audible manifestation of the relentless confidence of Caribbean people; a confidence the world just can’t seem to shake.
Similar to Ajayi, my relationship with soca has a degree of history. I grew up in a Trinidadian household, where soca was embedded in us from a young age too; I mean like before we could walk. Every time soca was played, it was during times of celebration, moments of happiness, and excitement. Then, there were moments where I remember family and friends all gathered in living rooms just singing, dancing, and drinking for no reason at all. It was a time for all of us to come together and leave all of our worries and stress behind, and instead, fellowship with one another.
I couldn’t think of a more perfect time to bring someone on this platform with me to celebrate the culmination of the most unorthodox Virgin Islands carnival. Both Shawntay and I had plans of venturing back to the Virgin Islands this past week, but God had a different plan. Carnival was completely virtual this year and this fact is proof that at the epicenter of THE most important cultural commemoration of the year is deh music! If rain don’t stop deh carnival, why would corona? It is often the one time of the year where we can unapologetically wear the pride of what it means to truly be Caribbean on our sleeves.
It’s true! Every rhythm, every melody, every cadence, every verse, every chorus ignites a fire in me that has the ability to rejuvenate my spirit and provide a sense of peace and comfort that no other genre can do, besides Gospel of course. Whether I am cleaning, getting dressed in the morning for work, dropping my daughter to school, pre-gaming, working, I am always, and I do mean always, listening to Soca. “Its like a feeling ah cyan control” every time I am listening to the King of Soca himself, Machel Montano, watching Nailah Blackman perform live, or wining down the road for Trinidad Carnival Monday and Tuesday to the sounds of Kes, which I had the pleasure of attending for the past two years. You see, Soca music has the ability to bring people from all walks of life together. I tell people all the time, Trinidad carnival is fun, yes; but the experience overall, the energy of the people that crowd the streets and fetes of Trinidad is unmatched. This energy and experience came during seasons of my life when I always seemed to need it most.
Absolutely! Carnival whether that be in Trinidad, St. Kitts, Antigua, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any Caribbean island, just wouldn’t be the same without it! Although the origins of Soca itself, aren’t quite linked to the Virgin Islands, it is certainly one of the most appreciated and highly anticipated sounds among carnival revelers for the festivities along with that of Calypso, Kaiso, Quelbe, and scratch band derivations. In fact, carnivals of the world couldn’t exist or thrive without it. So, while we may be "playing mas”, understand that we aren’t playing much of a game at all, we take this love very seriously.
I don’t believe this truth requires much more of an explanation. Here’s a playlist created by a dear friend of mine and I to help you capture the most freeing feeling there is, Soca!
