Soca's struggle after 50 years

THE EDITOR: 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the sub-genre of calypso known as soca. It is also the 50th anniversary of hip-hop music. Both genres were born out of organic movements by pioneers who envisioned something but couldn’t fathom what it would be 50 years later.

Regrettably, soca music has not enjoyed the commercial success of hip-hop music. To date soca has produced only two major international hits. Arrow’s Hot, Hot, Hot and Kevin Little’s Turn Me On.

While soca music has the distinct advantage of having the platforms of carnivals regionally and globally as outlets for exposure of the genre, the business structure and the fundamentals of the music industry are glaringly lacking.

Copyright, business managers, the production of albums, all rudimentary elements for international and sustained success in music, are woefully absent from soca music.

Conversely, hip-hop has benefitted from following all the rules and operating within the framework of a tried, tested, functioning and established music industry. The most recent genre to enjoy worldwide acclaim, Afrobeats, is also following what has worked before, leading to tremendous global success.

It is a travesty that a genre of music that is exposed to millions of people through carnivals, not only in the region but in New York, Miami, London, Toronto, has not found a way to be more appealing outside of its seasonal confines.

The recent announcement that this year's International Soca Monarch competition in Trinidad has been cancelled is not as a consequence of Machel Montano’s decision to host a show on the same Friday night when the Soca Monarch was to be held. The Soca Monarch demise started several years ago and it was the same Montano whose presence in the competition gave it a few more years of life.

Prior to Montano’s return to the competition there were attempts at tweaking the show to make it or keep it attractive to its audience. There was the inclusion of reggae and dancehall artistes as guest performers, the inclusion of Hollywood stars as special guest commentators and there was the year the show was sold as an all-inclusive.

Without Montano’s lifeline – and let us not be naive, his presence all but ensured no one else was coming close to winning the crown – the Soca Monarch competition would have already been cancelled. Once that era was over the fate of the International Soca Monarch was sealed.

The absence of the competition should allow for the former competitors, the creators, the producers and all industry players to earnestly build a soca industry that borrows from the success of other genres with similar trajectories. The cancellation also allows for more creativity, avoiding the familiar refrains of "hands in the air," "put them up," "show me your rags," and the predictable repetitions that have numbed a weary audience.

The Soca Monarch competitions in Grenada and St Vincent have grown and remained relevant because the artistes in those countries don’t rely on instructive songs to move their audiences. In fact, most of the songs enjoying success at those competitions are not necessarily built for the Soca Monarch stage.

No commands or instructions are built into the songs, but more a reliance on sweet, captivating melodies, thumping rhythms and catchy hooklines, with the artistes having a penchant for writing songs that reflect the activities taking place in society.

Other islands and wherever soca music is produced suffer from the same dereliction of industry standards and depend on the meagre offerings of the "carnival circuit."

The global success soca music that its practitioners so desperately seek can only come through adherence to the industry norms, by getting out of the comfort zone of seasonal festivals and by expanding the scope of creativity to include topics that are not synonymous with Carnival, waving and wining and jamming.

If changes are not made, using the end of the International Soca Monarch as a catalyst, other genres will continue to celebrate continued success and growth while soca music will struggle to find new ways to instruct a shrinking and dissatisfied audience.

DEXTER MITCHELL

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