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The
mother of all musical styles coming from Trinidad and Tobago is Calypso.
Music legend Ras Shorty I. developed the
slaves’ sociocritical and satirical songs into the pop form of Soca.
"Soca comes from ‘Soul of Calypso’, and its emphasis is more on
the music", says Shorty’s son Sheldon Blackman who has been
carrying on the family band "The Lovecircle" after his father’s
death.
Calypso’s
musical offspring turned out to be extremely prolific: it crossbred with
Indian sounds to hatch Chutney Soca, with North American Rap to
procreate Rapso(-ca), and its liaison with Spanish-Indian Parang
produced Parang Soca.
"Our
musical variety derives from the mixture of nations that live
here", explains Bindley Benjamin, Tobago’s deputy director of
tourism and a well-known Calypso singer. "Apart from that, many of
our people are musicians on the side."
And
still, up to now only a single musical achievement from the island state
made the international breakthrough: the steelpan. This instrument built
of oil barrels made it right up to the US charts.
For
the time being, this remains nothing but a dream for Trinidad and Tobago’s
musicians. Monika Schenkel, who has been promoting the island’s sound
in Central Europe for 5 years, knows why: "The lyrics need to get
away from regional topics, and the sound needs to be made to suit the
taste of the international public."
Harry
Belafonte showed us how to do that, a number of his hits having been
composed by Trinidad musicians. And even Mick Jagger regularly visits
the carnival in Trinidad for inspiration in the world’s secret music
lab... |
