In my post about the holiday festitivities, I mentioned Soca music, then did a bit of investigating because music is such an integral part of Caribbean culture and traditions.
Soca is a musical form that mixes the slower beat of American soul music with the upbeat tempos of calypso. Soca began in the 1970s, and by the middle of the 1980s it had become a part of the music scene of Carnival.
Wikipedia states that soca is a form of dance music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago. "It originally combined the melodic lilting sound of calypso with insistent percussion (which is often electronic in recent music) and local chutney music."
Chutney music is indigenous to the southern Caribbean and combines soca and elements of Indian songs created for film.
Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the African slaves imported to the islands in the 1600s. As in the South, music was a form of communication among the slaves, who often were forbidden to talk to each other. Calypso combines story-telling and imaginative use of instrumentation, reflecting contributions by European, North American, and various Caribbean cultures.
Soca is an original style and sound of Caribbean music blending - like the islands themselves - the sounds of many peoples. History aside, soca is great dancing music and central to Carnival, which is coming up soon.
Don't you wish you were here in St. Croix dancing with us?!
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