University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting

Home , Acetate disc, Afrobeats, All of My Love, All Time Love, Apocalypse Soon, Assassin (deejay)

GUNS DON’T GLOBALIZE… LAZERS DO: GLOBALIZATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND TRINIDADIAN SOCA

LUCAS ANDREW REICHLE

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MUSIC

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2018

To Anne Thingsaker, for her endless love, patience, and understanding, thank you

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would first like to thank my family. You are my motivation and a constant source of love and appreciation. I would also like to thank my parents and siblings for always being there with moral support and believing in me. I would like to extend special gratitude to my sister

Tisha Marie for spending so much time editing this thesis.

I would like to thank Dr. Eugene Novotney for introducing me to pan, calypso, and soca, you have given me direction and exposed a passion in me for culture and non-western music I did not know existed until I met you. Thank you for sharing your network of contacts that allowed me to conduct research in Trinidad with ease. I would also like to thank the rest of my educators at Humboldt State University for providing me with the fantastic education that got me to where I am today.

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Larry Crook, Dr. Welson Tremura, and all the rest of my professors at the University of Florida, for providing me with the tools and opportunity to achieve this feat. I would also like to express my gratitude for my colleagues and peers at UF for your friendship and for helping me along the way in this process.

This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and insight of all the people I met while conducting field research in Trinidad. Very special thanks go out to Matthew

Dasent for providing a valuable perspective about the local Trinidadian music community and for putting me into contact with Chris Leacock. Thanks to Chris Leacock for providing insight about the complex points and issues discussed in this thesis. More very special thanks goes out to

Keith Maynard for so many things: for being my first friend in Trinidad, for fanning the flames of passion for Trinidadian music and culture, for helping me navigate through the social dos and don’ts, giving me the opportunity to experience carnival to the fullest and for putting me into

contact with Pelham Goddard. To Pelham Goddard whose insight clarified the glaring inconsistencies I was at odds with.

To Michelle Clarke, Gary Padmore, and Rondell Williams and all the pannist of the Phase II Pan

Groove, thank you for opening your space to me and embracing me as if I was one of your own.

To Silver Stars, Invaders, the rest of the Woodbrook community of people that have helped me

along my way and have made me feel welcome in Port of Spain. To Liam Teague, Mia

Gormandy, Johann Chuckaree, Arianna Mitchel, Edwin Gooding, and Tano and Gunda

Harewood, thank you for being such passionate and informative contacts. Lastly, I would like to

acknowledge the soca composers, musicians, and artists that have and continue to make this

amazing music.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... 4

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 9

LIST OF EXAMPLES ...... 10

ABSTRACT ...... 11

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 13

Introduction to Trinidadian Music Research ...... 13 Background ...... 14 Soca ...... 15 Terms ...... 17 Methodology ...... 19 Field Research ...... 20 Richard Forteau and Pan Trinbago ...... 21 Matthew Dasent and The Dairy Bar ...... 21 Keith Maynard and Phase II Pan Groove ...... 23 Analyzing the Research I Conducted ...... 24 Brief Summary ...... 25

2 PRE-SOCA AND THE BIRTH OF SOCA ...... 30

Brief History of Globalization in Calypso and Steelband Prior to Soca ...... 30 Tourism ...... 30 Oil Boom ...... 32 Birth of Soca ...... 33 The Soca Misconception ...... 33 Touring Artists in Trinidad ...... 35 DJs and Discos ...... 37 Analysis ...... 38

3 SOCA IN THE 1980S, 1990S, AND EARLY 21ST CENTURY ...... 51

Soca Through the 1980s and 1990s and the Soca Monarch ...... 51 David Rudder ...... 51 Super Blue ...... 53 Technology and Trends ...... 55 21st Century: Machel, Bunji, and the Groovy Soca Monarch ...... 57 Machel Montano ...... 58

Bunji Garlin ...... 61 Technologies and Trends ...... 62

4 TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND CURRENT POP TRENDS ...... 65

Technological Advances and the Global Community ...... 65 Cell Phones, Apps, and TVs ...... 65 Wi-Fi Networks ...... 68 Radio and the Seasonal Nature of Carnival ...... 68 Internet Music and Video Databases ...... 70 The Mobility of the Modern Producer and the Global Community ...... 72 Artists/Fan Relationship and Social Media ...... 75 Major Lazer and Current Pop Trends ...... 78 Trap Music ...... 79 Major Lazer Introduction and Pop Music Trends ...... 82 The DJ and MC Partnership ...... 83 Dubplates ...... 84

5 COMMODIFICATION AND APPROPRIATION ...... 88

Analysis of Globalization ...... 88 Collaborations, Dubplates, Sampling, and Remixing ...... 90 The Cultural Mashup ...... 93 Exposure All Around ...... 96 Commodification and Cultural Appropriation...... 98 Sean Paul’s Accusations ...... 98 The Drake Situation ...... 102

6 CURRENT TRENDS IN SOCA AND FINAL THOUGHTS ...... 108

Current Trends in Soca Music (2017) ...... 108 Afrosoca ...... 108 Problems with the Label “Afrosoca” ...... 110 Far From Finished...... 111 Fisherman Project ...... 112 Religion in Trinidad ...... 113 Final Thoughts ...... 116

APPENDIX

A INTERVIEWS ...... 120

Interview with Johann Chuckaree ...... 120 Interview with Fisherman Project in Facebook Messenger ...... 127 Interview with Mia Gormandy ...... 128 Interview with Pelham Gorddard ...... 128 Interview with Arianna Mitchell and Edwin Gooding ...... 132 Interview with Chris “Jillionaire” Leacock ...... 139

Interview with Devon Matthews ...... 147 Follow Up ...... 148 Interview with Sian Mcintosh ...... 148

B GLOSSARY OF TERMS ...... 150

LIST OF REFERENCES ...... 154

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...... 166

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure page

1-1 The author playing tenor pan on Phase II Pan Groove’s pan truck on J’ouvert morning. The top of Maynard’s head can be seen in the bottom right hand corner (photo courtesy of Anne Thingsaker) ...... 24

4-1 Picture of a Blu brand phone in Trinidad (courtesy of author) ...... 66

4-2 Picture of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” playing on a flat screen in El Pecos restaurant on Ariapita avenue, Port of Spain (courtesy of author) ...... 67

5-1 Youtube comment thread to Bunji Garlin’s “Exodus” posted by Riddimcracker Chunes 91

6-1 2011 census of religious affiliations in Trinidad and Tobago ...... 113

6-2 Chris Leacock’s email response to Matthew Dasent ...... 114

LIST OF EXAMPLES

Example page

2-1 Lead sheet for "Carnival" by Lord Kitchner (transcribed by author) ...... 39

2-2 Melody and bass analysis of “Bionic Man” by Maestro (transcribed by author) ...... 42

2-3 Simplified drum analysis for “No Call Dem Name” by Maestro (transcribed by author) 48

2-4 Bass analysis for various songs (transcribed by author) ...... 48

3-1 Tresillo drum pattern used in groovy soca tunes from the album Heavy Duty (transcribed by author) ...... 60

3-2 Snare drum for “Jump Up” riddim marked outlining a clave rhythm (transcribed by author) 60

Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music

GUNS DON’T GLOBALIZE… LAZERS DO: GLOBALIZATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND TRINIDADIAN SOCA By

Lucas Andrew Reichle

May 2018

Chair: Larry Crook Major: Music

Over the last fifteen years the way music is transmitted, shared, collected, and distributed has been highly unique to its time. What used to take hours of perusing a record store and listening to various records to find that one song that moves you has been replaced by your best friend’s Spotify play list. The effect this has on the way we make music directly effects the finished work. Collaborations take place without ever communicating face to face, beats are shared through websites like Soundcloud.com, and the modern producer/DJ is highly mobile, carrying only a laptop. Musics from around the globe are accessible in the palm of the hand. In the wake of all this change is a newly emerging global community with new habits and tastes, communication on a massive scale, and an exchange of ideas broader than any before. This new global culture deserves a fresh perspective and another examination of where it came from and where it is headed.

How is the new global community shaping the music being made and what effect does the music have on shaping the global culture? What are the ramifications of the cultural mashup the internet and other trends are facilitating? What other elements, musical or external, are facilitating the emergence of the global community?

The perspective presented here is from the lens of the Trinidadian popular music, soca, as well as the DJ trio Major Lazer and other artists from in and around the Caribbean. I have collected this information by conducting two field research trips to Port of Spain, interviews with

Trinidadian locals and transnationals, and by examining a variety of music databases. My analysis reveals that accessibility to a variety of international musics and music from the popular music market influences music being produced in local markets, like Trinidad. As we take a look at the various globalizing elements that have shaped soca historically as well as currently, trends emerge among soca artists and producers that are worth further examination.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Introduction to Trinidadian Music Research

When my wife and I disembarked at the Port of Spain airport for 2012 carnival, we were immediately inundated with all things Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). The airport shops were filled with T&T flags, scarlet ibis magnets, and steel pans everywhere. Not the type of pan you would see filling a pan yards or playing in recital halls at your local university but tourist toys and trinkets.1 Mini diatonic pans reminiscent of the old “ping-pongs” of the 40s, statues of pannists made of wood and wire, pictures and posters of calypsonians of old, all lined the walls and filled display cases along our walk out of the airport heightening my already mounting excitement for the upcoming experience.2

Although my connection to Trinidadian culture was primarily from academic steelbands in the U.S., I had become familiar with some calyspo and soca music through pan and took a strong liking to the soca genre. The anticipation to see and hear Super Blue-esque music like

“Barbra” and “Signal for Lara” contributed heavily to my excitement. My expectation of soca music to still sound like the 160bpm brass driven band music of Super Blue from the 1990s was naïve. What I heard as we were unpacking at our guest house on “The Avenue” was music that grooved similar to Sean Paul style Jamaican dancehall and American/Euro electronic dance music coming from semi-trucks towing trailers full of huge house rattling speakers.3 Soca had changed and I was blindsided by how drastically different it was. I immediately began asking myself questions like: How did this music evolve so much in such a short amount of time? What

1 “Pan,” often referred to as a steel drum by the international community, is local colloquial shortening of steel pan.

2Ping-Pongs were the predecessor to the modern tenor pan.

3 “The Avenue” is a Trinidadian colloquial for Ariapita Avenue that runs through the community of Woodbrook Port of Spain.

were the catalysts for this change? And if this music changed this much in the last 15 years, what has it sounded like in the 20 years before Super Blue? Thus began my journey down the rabbit hole.

Background

World War II brought a steady flow of Americans and American popular culture to the shores of Trinidad with the establishment of the Waller Air Force base in 1941. Since then a cross-cultural exchange has been occurring between Trinidad and the US. By looking at

Trinidadian popular music history up to present day music production, this thesis reveals how technological advancements and globalization shape and reshape the various musical elements used in music production in a local market like Trinidad as well as how it affects the international popular music market.

This thesis examines the various evolutionary steps soca has taken throughout its history in relation to various musical trends in the popular music market. It also examines the various technological developments that accelerated its evolution. Developments in music technology – consumer products such as new record formants, hardware like the Roland TR-808, and software

(Protools, FL Studio, Serato) – are also discussed in relation to the impact they have had on music production and how it has shaped music.

A large focus is placed on the development of communication technologies, internet media databases, cloud account websites (the Internet in general) and how they used by both consumers and producers. This then leads to an examination of music trends from the popular music market over the past ten years in relation to how it has assisted in the dissemination of marginalized music from the Caribbean. As the Internet becomes available to a wider variety of cultures across the globe a rapid globalization occurs. This raises the issue of cultural appropriation as new interactions between cultures and cultural elements become accessible and

inevitably appropriated. Sean Paul’s accusations of cultural appropriation are discussed followed by a discussion about the need to reimagine the way in which we are talking about cultural appropriations.

Soca

Soca, a popular music genre from Trinidad and Tobago (along with other Caribbean countries), was created from musical experimentation and incorporating musical elements from other genres into the production of calypsos. It is a malleable and constantly evolving genre that stays up to date with current trends in the popular music market while still maintaining a sense of

Trinidadianess or as I will refer to it throughout this thesis: One for in tradition and one foot in innovation. One factor that perpetuates the evolution of soca historically is that after carnival is over and lent begins, singing and playing calypso or soca music is considered sacrilegious. One of my informants, Johann Chuckaree, explains this in depth:

…if you delve into the history of carnival, carnival it was farewell to the flesh before Lenten season, before Ash Wednesday. So basically because of Trinidad and Tobago’s strict Catholic background once Ash Wednesday came about no calypso for 40 days, no pan, no wine and jam, no nothing for 40 days. So all of a sudden that historical aspect is coming and kickin’ us a little bit because now a days, yes we’re still a very Catholic county, we accept all religions in Trinidad and Tobago, we are a rainbow nation, but the fact of the matter is that stigma is still there a little bit. People are up and down “should we play soca during lent? Should we not?” 40 days pass and you don’t hear soca and after that it is very difficult to get soca music throughout the year. They have some radio stations that have Friday evening jams straight soca, Saturday and Sunday or on public holidays. But to tell you I could switch on the radio right now and hear a continuous hour of soca, probably not.4

This was a sentiment that was echoed by the majority of informants interviewed during my field research. Another factor influencing the continual evolution relates to music producers’ desire to capitalize on the latest advancements and trends in music technology and production.

4 Johann Chuckaree, interviewed by author, is the leader of the tenor section for Phase II Pan Groove but also assist with composing, arranging, production, marketing and distribution for the group. He sets up Phase II’s live stream of pan yard rehearsals leading up to Panorama. He is a percussion teacher and all-around musician and product and business development specialist for the company Indigisound.

As Peter Manual remarked in “The Riddim Method: Aesthetics, Practice, and Ownership in

Jamaican Dancehall,”

An oft-noted landmark in the production of riddims occurred in 1985 with the release of Prince/King Jammy’s and Wayne Smith’s “Under Mi Sleng Teng”, whose riddim was generated entirely on digital keyboards, including, according to some accounts, an adaptation of a pre-packaged rhythm on a Casio… Sleng Teng’ showed how any aspiring producer with a keyboard synthesizer, sequencer, and drum machine, or access to these, could generate a new riddim, without having to spend money on studio time or studio musicians… the use of digital techniques has greatly increased with the rise of personal computers, music software, and more sophisticated synthesizers 5

In the case of dancehall, technology played a vital role in the evolution of the genre and allowed opportunity for marginalized communities in Jamaica to participate in the music making process.

I suggest that the same occurred in Trinidad as advancements in music technology provided new opportunities for soca music producers.

Yet another variable that influences the ongoing development of hybrid musics like soca is access to and influence from the popular music market via sources like the Internet, American television programming, and radio broadcasting. For instance, in an interview, Pelham Goddard explains how the American television program Soul Train had a strong impact on the local

Trinidadian music market in the 1970s.6 The pervasiveness of the international popular music market and the corporate music industry persists today in Trinidad.

As artists try to maintain their relevancy and longevity in the popular music market, a certain amount of reinvention and adaptation occurs as a result of trying to adhere to the conventions or new trends established in the popular music market or imposed by the corporate music industry. Sugar Ray’s proverbial “sell-out” or Madonna’s constantly evolving style are

5 Peter Manuel and Wayne Marshall, “The Riddim Method: Aesthetics, Practice, and Ownership in Jamaican Dancehall,” Popular Music 25, no. 3 (2006): 452.

6 Pelham Goddard, interviewed by author.

two examples. Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus traveled to Jamaica in an attempt to reinvent himself and his music. He immersed himself into Rastafarian culture, and released a reggae album, Reincarnated, produced primarily by American music producer and DJ Wesley “Diplo”

Pentz, emerging from the experience as Snoop Lion. This kind of reinvention can be seen in soca music as new elements come into favor on both the local and the international market. Soca’s evolution is perhaps necessary in order to maintain the interests of new generations of fans.

Terms

Throughout this essay two entities will be referred to frequently: the corporate music industry and the popular music market. I am making a distinction between the two whereas the corporate music industry refers to the U.S. based media entities that are now represented by the oligopoly Sony, Warner, and Universal, which control 80% of the music being produced, distributed and promoted. The popular music market refers to the international community of people who are the consumers and creators of music. Although there is a symbiotic relationship where one influences and enables the other and visa-versa, this distinction is important because these three corporations have had a major impact in what is being promoted/distributed and at times have had socio-political agendas they try to maintain. Although the community of people that make up the popular music market wield purchasing power, the community is made up of billions of people from around the globe and do not have the consolidated demand to influence what is being produced, promoted, and distributed on a massive international scale.

The events that allowed these two entities to emerge came to pass as technology developed and made products (like records and players) affordable to the average consumer.

Likewise markets for consumer products emerged as nations began to industrialize giving their population enough purchasing power to indulge in luxury goods (e.g. Trinidad and Tobago’s “oil boom”). Simultaneously, industrialization also affords those same communities the opportunity

to travel to and live in foreign countries. This created pockets of transnational communities that barter their cultural goods with local culture and other transnational cultures.

Another term that will begin to appear frequently after discussing the Internet is the term global community. The global community refers to the community of people that emerged due to rise of Internet communications on a massive international scale. One of the earliest and most basic examples of Internet communities that I remember from the late 1990s were chat rooms.

Chat rooms are virtual spaces where people with access to the Internet congregated online to discuss, in text, whatever the topic is for that specific room (e.g., tulip lover, or funny cats). The most current and widespread examples (as of 2018) are social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social Media sites function like sophisticated chat rooms where users subscribe to a database and build their own space that is connected and interlinked to other users by following or friending them.

Other noteworthy examples are message boards like 4chan where users can remain anonymous while discussing various topics and create specific subtopics in the form of

“threads.” Online gaming communities like World of Warcraft and the forums attached to these online gaming communities are platforms where gamers from around the globe come together and interact in a virtual world.7 Many of these games have permanent grouping functions called

“guilds” where sub-communities of people are formed and interact on a daily basis to achieve in- game goals.

All these examples are communities within the global community but they are all intertwined. The depth and breadth of the global community is too vast to address in this thesis but as soca artists begin to utilize online resources and databases like Youtube.com and

7 Internet sources on Reddit and Battlenet forums claim 12 million subscribers worldwide to the World of Warcraft in 2010.

Soundcloud.com, the concept of the global community becomes more and more vital to understanding how technology and globalization shape consumers and producer trends in the 21st century.

Methodology

My experience with soca music comes from ten years of playing and arranging soca for steelbands and also seven years of listening to and staying current with trends in soca music via

Internet publications and broadcasts of the Soca Monarch. A large part of the data for this thesis comes from two field research trips to Port of Spain, which involved observations of the local music market. I took a plethora of interviews with local musicians, composers/arrangers, business owners, and school teachers, as well as with Trinidadian transnationalists. It should be noted that my field research in Trinidad was limited specifically to Port of Spain and does not reflect the perspective of the entire populace of Trinidad and Tobago. I have also consulted and consolidated a vast amount of scholarship and journalism pertaining to Trinidadian soca, music and culture.

I chose soca as the focus of my thesis due to the limited and often dated scholarship found on the genre, most of which ends with the artist Super Blue, if he is mentioned at all. Most soca scholarship focuses on the perspective of the singer/performer and their lyrics; this thesis prioritized the perspective of music producers, musicians, and arrangers. An interview with Chris

“Jillionaire” Leacock, DJ and producer with the group Major Lazer, allowed me to understand the dynamic relationship between today’s international popular music artists and the popular music market, the corporate music industry and its influence on soca, and the Trinidadian music community historically and currently. It also highlighted the impact of international influences on the genre and the Trinidadian community at large, as well as the complex relationship between the artists, their fans, and technological advancements that have changed the way we all

interact. The goal with this thesis is to provide fresh and updated information on soca music for music students and to call the attention of scholars to this highly hybrid and underrepresented music as a topic deserving of far more scholarly attention than is provided. While this thesis focuses on Trinidadian soca music, the historical narrative about technological developments and globalization applies to a variety of popular music forms throughout the world. Although dates and names change, a similar narrative can be told from the perspective of a variety of music genres such as reggae, dub, and dancehall in Jamaica and in the US with hip-hop and rap.

Field Research

During my two field research trips to Trinidad the opportunity to conduct face-to-face interviews was very limited. As an ethnomusicologist being in Trinidad for carnival most of my desired interviewees were preoccupied with preparations for Carnival festivities. I tried to remedy this by coming back to Trinidad out of carnival season; however, my budget only allowed one week and the short stay limited my opportunities for interviews. There were some face-to-face interviews that I prioritized, like Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, due to their lack of interaction with the global community and… well… it’s Boogsie.8 Other face-to-face interviewees, like Johann Chuckaree, were set in motion before arriving to the island, via emails and Facebook. The rest of the face-to-face interviews conducted were not necessarily interviews, rather great conversation about soca, pan, Trinidadian culture and culture in general, where the participants did not mind that I recorded them.

I also conducted a number of interviews using a communication program called Skype. I was able to make international video calls to various contacts like Mia Gormandy and Keith

Maynard. It also allowed me to make international calls to informants from my computer and

8 Len “Boogsie” Sharpe is a steel pan prodigy often referred to “the Mozart of Pan.” He is a steel pan composer and arranger for the band Phase II Pan Groove in Woodbrook, Port of Spain.

record phone interviews with better clarity. Phone interviews conducted were with Liam Teague,

Chris Leacock, and Pelham Goddard. I was also able to acquire documented conversations (not necessarily interviews) with a number of contacts, scholars, and journalists.

Richard Forteau and Pan Trinbago

With my face-to-face interview with Richard Forteau, the secretary of Pan Trinbago, I had made many attempts to contact anyone from the Pan Trinbago offices for months leading up to my arrival and was unsuccessful obtaining a response. One of my contacts explained that no one from that office responded to emails, that sometimes you can call and make appointments but there was no guarantee; the best way was to simply go to their offices, so that was what I did.

Going into the interview I had no idea who I was going to be talking to, so I could not conduct

Google research on the person I waited. Once in the Pan Trinbago office I was met with a warm welcome and proceeded to successfully conduct an invaluable interview with Fonteau that was irrelevant to the current topic but that inadvertently solidified the direction of my research.

However the attitude about technology and Internet communications I experienced with

Pan Trinbago is not a common trope found in present day Trinidad. Although since my field research trip the Pan Trinbago website has underwent an overhaul, their attitude towards Internet communications seems unmoved as I have made several attempts to communicate with them over the last four years, via emails through their website and via Facebook Messenger, and have received no response. Yet the increased use of technological outlets like social media has worked in my favor.

Matthew Dasent and The Dairy Bar

The curious situation I stumbled into while having breakfast at a local ice cream shop,

The Dairy Bar, reshaped the way I continued to do research in Trinidad. During my second trip to Port of Spain I frequented a shop called The Dairy Bar as it was two blocks from my guest

house and it had free Wi-Fi. The co-owner, Edwin Gooding, was responsible for arranging the interview with Arianna Mitchell that he proceeded to join. The other owner was a man named

Matthew Dasent.

I was at the Dairy Bar having breakfast before tracking down Boogsie. A man sat at one of the side tables on a computer, eating. After I sat down he immediately smiled and greeted me.

I smiled and returned the greeting but was trying to finish an email to Eko Watts, the man that was organizing my interview with Boogsie. The man then asked me about what brought me to

Trinidad and that I did not look like a local. I told him about my research and we began discussed soca music historically and currently. He was interested in me and my presence on the island and did not talk much about himself. When I finally asked what he did, he told me that he co-owned the Dairy Bar with Gooding but functioned more as an investor. His name was

Matthew Dasent and his main source of income was as an event planner for dub/reggae/dancehall parties for clubs or fetes around Trinidad.

It was in that moment I realized how invaluable this one person was to my research and that I could not begin to exhaust such a resource during my stay in Trinidad. It has been four years since my visit and I still have not scratched the surface Dasent but he has been one of the loudest voices in my thesis without citing a word from him. He was responsible for arranging my interview with Chris Leacock. While he has never given me direct answers to questions, he has pointed me in the direction of answers. He has a firm understanding about the relationship between Trinidadian soca and other Caribbean music forms like dub and dancehall. The situation at the Dairy Bar led me to the vital conclusion: what was more important than the actual research

I was conducting was broadening and strengthening my network of contacts for future research interactions. This strategy has proven to be highly effective over the course of writing this

thesis. I have maintained a relationship with Dasent over social media outlets, like Facebook,

asking him how the kids were doing or discussing soca music after carnival.

Keith Maynard and Phase II Pan Groove

Similarly my interview with Pelham Goddard came to fruition because of bonds I built (and

maintained via Facebook and Skype) with Keith Maynard during my first field research trip to

Trinidad. After making it a habit of limin’ in the Phase II pan yard as a spectator, Maynard was

the first band member that engaged me on a personal level. I discussed my interest in pan with

him and explained that we shared a common friend in my mentor Eugene Novotny. In this case

my relationship with Novotny, a scholar who maintains a working relationship with Boogsie,

Chuckaree, and many others in the band, gave me opportunity to establish a working relationship

with the band as well. Although I met many members of Phase II, friended them on Facebook,

and maintained ties with them over the years, Maynard is one that I developed the closest ties to.

During my second visit, he was maintaining residency in Toronto but serendipitously happened

to be in Trinidad and I promptly met him in the panyard for a lime.

Whereas Descent’s role was that of casual acquaintance or pen pal and the majority of

our bond building happened electronically, Maynard’s role of brother or friend happened in the

field and stronger ties were built; Maynard bought me in as an insider to the pan yard, he

accompanied my wife amidst the masses j’ouvert morning while I was playing on Phase II’s pan

truck (Figure 1-1) and I was there for him in the pan yard after Phase II took runner up to the

Trinidadian All Stars in the 2012 Panorama. However, even though the two relationships were

vastly different they both yielded similar results.

Figure 1-1. The author playing tenor pan on Phase II Pan Groove’s pan truck on J’ouvert morning. The top of Maynard’s head can be seen in the bottom right hand corner (photo courtesy of Anne Thingsaker)

Analyzing the Research I Conducted

As a frame of reference for my field research experience, I looked toward the book

Shadows in the Field when analyzing various aspects of how information was acquired.

Throughout the various articles a common thread emerged regarding the intimate relationships established when data mining. Whether it was Nettl’s joke in the opening statements about “the structure of the Native American family ̶ two parents, two children, one anthropologist,” or

Hellier-Tinco’s problems with Titon’s “friendship model,” most of the time, ethnomusicologists

experience some type of intimate relationship with a contact or informant from the field.9 My relationship with Keith Maynard was one such instance and there have been times when the guilt of not talking to him for long periods of time has vexed me; however to those of us that belong to the global community that guilt does not have to be (and very rarely is) long lasting.

Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have enabled scholars to conduct research and mine data from contacts virtually guilt free. Although I agree with Nettl’s notion that “…ethnomusicological data gathering is essentially a human exchange,” in my field research it was not always the case that “the quality of human relationship between fieldworker and consultant” was equivalent to the quality of the data mined as he implies.10 In the case of

Maynard/Goddard this was accurate, but in the case of Dasent/Leacock it was not.

Although I had clear limitations during both my field research trips, I was able to build a broad enough network to conduct the research needed to support this thesis while working at my home in Norway. I continue to maintain contact with most of my informants from the field

(those that are a part of the global community) and continue to listen to soca for both research and enjoyment.

Brief Summary

This thesis presents a narrative account of the history of soca viewed through the lens of increasing globalization and rapid technological advancements primarily from the period of the

1970s to present. After a brief history of globalization and the role it played leading up to the late

1970s in Trinidadian calypso and steelband music, Chapter 2 covers the beginning of soca. I discuss the historical misinterpretation of what soca is and what influenced it to splinter from

9 Bruno Nettl, foreword to Shadows in the Field, edited by Gregory Barz and Timothy Cooley (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008): vii.

10 Bruno Nettl, foreword, vii.

calypso. An in-depth interview with Pelham Goddard, he reveals the many international influences Trinidadians were experiencing then and a comparative music analysis of calypsos and socas demonstrate the way in which the music was changing.

Chapter 3, Soca Through the 1980s, 1990s, and the 21st Century condenses three decades of soca narrative. As it is difficult to condense three decades of anything into a single chapter, for the sake of time and space (sacrificing some depth and breadth) the first half examples of David

Rudder’s and Austin “Super Blue” Lions’ music, accomplishments, and influences are discussed.

They represent two different evolutionary steps of soca and the impact they had locally and internationally are also discussed. This section serves as a singular resource that gathers scattered secondary resources from websites, magazines and hard to find articles that were written about soca. In the next section of this Chapter 3, an analysis of music by Machel Montano is established in tandem with trends that occurred in the popular music market. There are discussions about various fusions beginning in the mid to late 1990s up until the establishment of the power and groovy categories of the soca monarch and the institutionalized solidification of groovy soca as an independent subgenre of soca. The production techniques used to create the music of Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin are examined in relation to various techniques used by American and Jamaican music producers.

Chapter 4 breaks from the soca narrative and the first section discusses various advancements in technology. Some examples are the widespread use of the Internet and the history of various production and DJ technologies that have had a huge impact on music at large.

Communication technologies, like smartphones and cellular providers, and the accessibility

Trinidadians have to these technologies are discussed as well as trends among business owners that facilitate the influx of international musics via satellite radio and free Wi-Fi at local bars and

restaurants. The brief discussion about radio programing is insightful however most of my research alluded to the fact that much of the Trinidadian youth has replaced radio stations with

Internet music databases in many circumstances as their primary source of music consumption.

The information continues from the perspective of music producers and the agency technological developments in hardware, software, and Internet websites has provided them. The following section deals substantially with the DJ trio Major Lazer and their role in the dissemination of

Caribbean musical forms. However in order to fully understand the web of cross-cultural pollination between various music forms utilized by Major Lazer, information about those music forms is explained as well. The next section discusses trap rap, and its relationship with the music of Major Lazer and by extension soca music. This information also establishes the historical role the Roland TR-808 has played over the years. The end of this section also opens up the topics of dubplates, sampling, remixing, and collaboration; however it is in Chapter 5 that the cultural repercussions of these trends and techniques are analyzed.

Chapter 5 begins with an analysis of who is benefiting and how they are benefiting from globalization both from the perspective of Trinidadian artists and those they are collaborating with. Chapter 5 also discusses the concept of the cultural mashup, its relevance in relation to identity construction and how it affects those encompassed by it. It is revealed how production techniques (collaborations, sampling, remixing, and dubplates) perpetuate the cultural mashup, and discusses who is responsible (if anyone) in the education process to alleviate confusion from the cultural mashup. This topic leads into a discussion about identity construction in general and the many layers of that make up identity, why the cultural mashup could be detrimental to some

Trinidadians and why it is not for others. This information is brought back to the perspective of soca music and how modern production techniques expose the artistic and monetary potential of

these artists which then leads to a discussion about the commodification and eventually the process of appropriation. Referencing comments made by Jamaican dancehall super star Sean

Paul regarding cultural appropriation of dancehall by pop stars and producers, I analyze how this claim can be problematic. This allowed for the opportunity to reveal why the way in which we are discussing cultural appropriation is in need of reevaluation. I go on to discuss cultural appropriation from a post-global community perspective, from a transnational perspective, and the inevitability of appropriation when different cultures collide and interact at an accelerated rate due to the rise of the global community and rampant transnationalism.

Finally, the content in Chapter 6 comes back to soca’s narrative and discusses the musical trends of the current soca monarch competitors. Current artists, trends, and producers are examined in order to understand where soca is now and where it is heading in the near future; how soca continues to stay true to its roots while continuing to incorporate current trends; one foot in tradition and one foot in innovation. In the first section the term “afrosoca” is discussed and how it relates to soca music broadly. I discuss ongoing collaboration between soca artists, current afrobeat artists from West Africa, and other artists in American and Caribbean communities. However this perspective is contrasted by a brief interview I conducted with

Devon Matthews. While discussing his 2017 song “D Journey,” the problems with the label afrosoca is revealed. The next section talks about the current three-year reining soca monarch champion, Aaron “Voice” St. Louis. Being a producer for Full-Blown entertainment, I discuss his unique position of creative control along with his relationship with other producers such as

Fisherman Project, and how the last Soca Monarch winning song used samples of African and

Indian percussion.

This thesis is meant to read like a narrative. It explains how soca was born out of experimentation with a variety of different musics and continued to develop because of continued experimentation. In an interview response from Leacock, he sets the stage for this entire thesis:

I think the one attribute that all Caribbean musics have in common, whether it be reggae and dancehall or soca and calypso, is that they have the unique ability to absorb what’s happening in popular music and process it and then spit out their own modified version of it. So the music that’s coming out of Trinidad would have always been influenced by the popular music at the time. Over the last 5-10 years the themes have changed, you have lyrical themes that the average outsider can identify with other than jump and wave or rag, flag, hand and also the tempo has changed so it’s not really about 160-165 bpm anymore but more like 125-130 which not only is way more danceable but is also way more in-tune to the pop music that’s on the radio right now.11

His comment explains soca’s inclination towards hybridity and also reveals two evolutionary steps soca took in the 1990s and at the turn of the 21st century. However any narrative would be remiss without an origin story. The information presented in Chapter 2 is meant to tell a story about how and why soca happened. It is also meant to clarify a common misunderstanding about the music being produced for the early soca artists of the late 1970s. After a very brief summary of globalization in calypso and steelband before the birth of soca, the narrative of globalization and technology begins with Pelham Goddard and his band Charlie’s Roots, Lord Shorty, Maestro and the disco fever of the 1970s.

11 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

CHAPTER 2 PRE-SOCA AND THE BIRTH OF SOCA

Brief History of Globalization in Calypso and Steelband Prior to Soca

Carnival musical forms in Trinidad (and in other countries where carnival is celebrated), remain seasonal even in contemporary times. It is the opinion of Trinidadians that carnival music should be celebrated during carnival and it is, fanatically; however, after Ash Wednesday, when the city reverts back to its typical form, carnival musics lose their public attention and American popular music and other Caribbean popular musics (reggae and dancehall) return to their regular rotation on radio stations.1 As Chris Leacock said:

Growing up in Trinidad and as an adult, soca music only reigns for three months out of the year. Once you get out of carnival it’s all reggae or dancehall, hip-hop and R&B on the radio and in the clubs so a lot of the music had foreign influence.2

Consequently, early calypsonians followed suit. Trinidadian Carnival scholar Keith Warner writes: “Many calypsonians surface only during this season, stretching from the start of the New

Year through to Carnival and are not heard from again until the beginning of the following season.”3 The seasonality of carnival musics has enabled other musics to enter the Trinidadian local market and influence the tastes of Trinidadians. This has created a bilateral exchange of culture that has been occurring since the establishment of Waller Air Force base prior to World

War II.

Tourism

In the years preceding World War II, Trinidad became a tourist hot spot, and Trinidadian music culture was brought to the attention of major U.S. record labels such as Columbia and

1 This information was observed while doing field research as well as noted by interviewees (including Trinidadian radio MC Arianna Mitchell)

2 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

3 Keith Q. Warner, Kaiso! The Trinidad Calypso ̶ A Study of the Calypso as Oral Literature (Washington, DC: Three continents, 1982): 11.

Decca. In Calypso and Society by Gordan Rolehr, Decca executive Luis Sebok expressed, as early as 1940, that “Lord Caresser… [was] one of the three most popular calypsonians in the US, the other two being [Roaring] Lion, and Atilla [the Hun].”4 His revelation illustrates that calypso music was being exported to the U.S. Like-wise U.S. troops were being stationed at a base in

Trinidad and brought their culture with them.

Rohlehr further elaborates that in 1941, during the Dimanche Gras competition, various other acts were featured other than calypso and among them were Yankee Marching bands,

Minstrel competition, and Tap and Jitterbug dancing.5 American culture was being disseminated in Trinidad and a very open line of cultural exchange had been established and at times exploited. The persistence of globalization in Trinidad can also be seen a decade later as developing steelbands named their bands after American film titles like Casablanca, North Stars,

Destination Tokyo and Desperados; these bands would also arrange a variety of musics such as rumbas, mambos, along-side western classical art music and American film music.6 The adoption of rumbas and mambos is important to note; it is evidence that in the 1950s there was also a cultural music exchange with other Caribbean islands as well as the US and Europe.

Eventually globalization in Trinidad became so prevalent that calypsonians began incorporating aesthetics from other music cultures into calypso. Lorraine Leu explains that

“before the creation of soca, The Mighty Sparrow, the ‘indisputable Calypso King of the World’ was already using elements of disco and cha-cha-cha in his classic calypsos of the 1950s and

4 Gordan Rohlehr, Calypso and Society in Pre-independence Trinidad (Port of Spain Trinidad: G. Rohlehr 1990), 333.

5 Rohlehr, Calypso and Society in Pre-independence Trinidad, 339.

6 Shannon Dudley, Music From Behind the Bridge: Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago (New York: Oxford University Press 2008): 83&97.

1960s.”7 Pre-independence calypso in the 1950s saw more and more international recognition with the success of calypso stars Lord Kitchner and the Mighty Sparrow.

Oil Boom

Post-independence 1960s and the oil boom period saw a large influx of Trinidad immigrants to the US and England that maintained their ties with Trinidad and thus a Trinidadian transnational community emerged increasing the rate of cultural exchange between Trinidad and other countries.8 Philip Scher explains that “the mobility of the Trinidadian population in

America, their constant travel, creates an environment of cultural cross-pollination, of give and take.”9 By the 1970s calypsos favor and international attention had waned and according to

Pelham Goddard was “on da shelf.”10 New trends in American popular music had developed and a new wave of Trinidadian artist began to incorporate new sets of trends into calypso. “During the late 1960s to mid-1970s there was a wide range of experimentation taking place in the local music scene in Trinidad as everyone was looking for the new sound that would bring calypso music its next big break on the international market.”11 This experimentation reshaped calypso into what would eventually become a new independent genre.

7 Lorraine Leu, “‘Raise Yuh Hand, Jump Up and Get on Bad!’: New Developments in Soca Music in Trinidad,” Latin American Music Review 21, no. 1 (spring-summer 2000): 45.

8 Philip W. Scher, “When Natives Become Tourists of Themselves: Returning Transnational and the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago,” in Trinidadian Carnival: The politics of a Transnational Festival, ed. Garth L. Green and Philip W. Scher (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press 2007): 87.

9 Scher, “When Natives Become Tourists of Themselves,” 88.

10 Pelham Goddard, interviewed by author.

11 TUCO, “From Lord Shorty to Jahmoo music…,” Kaiso Magazine (2010-2011), 14.

Birth of Soca

As the trope goes in Trinidadian music culture, the origin of who created what and when in calypso and steelpan is forever in dispute and it is no different for the establishment of soca.12

This trope is made evident as the Mighty Shadow vents his frustration in an interview in the

TUCO magazine; “Where were Shorty and Maestro when I did ‘Bassman’ and ‘I Come Out to

Play?’ How come is them that invent Soca? Who am I then? They don’t ever mention the contributions I made with my bass lines and rhythms.”13 Although Lord Shorty is most often credited with the birth of soca there were many contributions made by a variety of Calypsonians, musicians and music arrangers. Pelham Goddard reminisces on these times:

People like Ras Shorty I… he wanted to change the music, he even make a song (sings) ‘change the rhythm of Carnival, da doo da’ you know Endless Vibration? You can look to that. That relates to the music was starting to change and people were trying to create something different. 14

These artists had a strong desire to reshape the music that was being created in Trinidad because their standard at the time, calypso, had waned from public favor both in Trinidad and abroad. So in the late 1970s calypso was “on the shelf” and, even though carnival celebrations still brought calypsonians to the forefront of the public’s attention, it lacked luster and youth appeal.

The Soca Misconception

Recounting the origin of soca, Shannon Dudley says “Lord Shorty, who coined the term in the late 1970s spelled it ‘Sokah’ and said it was meant to be a fusion of calypso with East

12 This is a reference to the dispute about the origins of both the calypsonian (for further reading about the origins of the calypsonian refer to Rohlehr’s Calypso and Society) and the first steel pan (for further reading about the origins of the steel pan please refer to Shannon Dudley’s Music From Behind the Bridge).

13 TUCO, “What’s Really Wrong with Me?” Kaiso Magazine (2010-2011): 18.

14 Pelham Goddard, interview by author, is a composer and arranger for Exodus Steel Orchestra and his band Charlie’s Roots. He and Charlie’s Roots have accompanied many of Trinidad’s greatest calypso and soca performers including pioneers of the soca genre: Ras Shorty I (Lord Shorty), Maestro, and Mighty Shadow.

Indian music” and this perspective can be heard in songs like Lord Shorty’s “Om Shanti Om.” 15

This view is also supported by other pioneers of the genre. In his interview with Q Studio,

Machel Montano maintains:

Soca really came about as the soul of calypso and I think one of its creators Ras Shorty I, he was Lord Shorty,…and he started to integrate the sound of East Indian culture which was very dominant in Trinidad and Tobago… and he mixed the East Indian drum with the African and calypso beat and he came up with this soca beat.16

However after further review of Lord Shorty’s catalogue as well as other artists instrumental to the development of the genre it is clear that soca music evolved far beyond Lord Shorty’s vision in a short amount of time. Montano affirms this notion as his interview with Q Studio continued,

“I had to make the music into something and the path I took was with blending soca with dancehall, pop, hip-hop, and classical songs. It was mixing the music.”17 The blending of East

Indian music with Calypso as the origin story of soca is an oversimplified perspective of a highly hybrid and dynamic music genre. Although identifying the specific genres of musics used to create soca are important, the process of experimentation and the blending of genres is the key to understanding how soca emerged and how it continues to evolve.

Other influences are frequently left out of academic descriptions of soca including the influence of 1970s American funk, R&B, disco, and reggae that is present in a number of songs from 1970s soca. According to Philip Scher,

Closer economic ties to the United States engendered closer cultural ties, especially with African American cultural forms and political ideologies. Soca, then a new musical form, is really a compound word that blends soul with calypso. The emergence of this music became the soundtrack for the Black Power movement in

15 Shannon Dudley, Carnival Music in Trinidad: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (New York: Oxford University Press 2004), 87.

16 Q Studio, “King of Soca Machel Montano Says Carnival is Unity,” CBC Radio (July 29, 2016).

17 Q Studio, “King of Soca Machel Montano.”

Trinidad, the growth of which was inspired by the new political agenda of black people in North America. 18

Scher makes a direct correlation between the development of soca and its connection with soul music and the Black Power Movement. It was during this time that the newly emerging genre of soca was conceptualized as part of Trinidad’s black diasporic consciousness movement. It was during this same time that new trends in the popular music market began influencing the local

Trinidadian market.

Touring Artists in Trinidad

Throughout the 1970s many international artists began performing in Trinidad and these artists had a heavy impact on performers, musicians and composers/arrangers as well as consumers in Trinidad. Highlighting the international flow of musicians from the U.S. to

Trinidad, composer/arranger Pelham Goddard commented to me that:

Groups also came into here pulling the young into Trinidad. Cool and the Gang came to Trinidad, Barry White, KC and the sunshine band, Teddy Pendergrass, Lionel Richie and the Commodores all came here. So when you go to a show and the music influencing and the next day whoever want to compose and whoever want to do music influenced by that for the year. So they try to fuse the calypso riddim or the calypso music or the core of the percussion in line with whatever Lionel Richie doing. So the music was just influencing of the hour, of what was happening at the time… James Brown came to Trinidad at that time and everybody was being a lot more funky, drummers were starting to do a lot of different things… So when a drummer go to a James Brown show, the next day he’d be practicing all what he hear the drummer do.19

The influence touring international artists had on the music makers in Trinidad was monumental and it showed in the music being produced at the time. Goddard continues describing the impact of African American music and musicians on Trinidadian music makers:

18 Scher, “When Natives Become Tourists of Themselves,” 89.

19 Pelham Goddard, interviewed by author. The following citations by Pelham Goddard in this chapter were all collected by the author.

You have to know orchestration, you need to start with a band chorus some people have an introduction, and while the singer is singing you have to know how to accompany, you have to know where to put the brass, how to shade in with two saxophone… we were listening to more of plenty of that time of orchestrated music. Even Donna Summers in the disco she was with full orchestration … that really big orchestrated music was playing in the disco. As a matter a fact after then was when Barry White came with a whole orchestra, more than 40 people, he even hired some of our own local musicians to play in the group. So if I was a young arranger, my band played a Bistro with Barry White, Charlie’s Roots, and imagine just playing on a show with Barry White and that orchestra, you can imagine how much I would have learned at that point you know what I mean? …Grover Washington came here he had workshops he had things where he talk about music, Ralph Macdonald used to come here a lot a long time. What is amazing, because we have steel orchestras as a resource, that really help with orchestrating music, we play from classical to calypso.

The orchestration that Goddard refers to can easily be heard in virtually every song on Lord

Shorty’s Soca Explosion as well as Maestro’s Anatomy of Soca; both albums have some form of brass band (horn and sax) arrangements as well as synthesized strings in most of the songs.

Trinidadians had a firm grip on musical trends in America. Goddard also told me “everything that was happening in America was happening in Trinidad, simultaneously sometimes.” Some of this was because of the Trinidadian transnational community, but American music culture (or just American culture) was being disseminated throughout Trinidad by way of American television programming as well. Goddard further elaborates that:

A lot of things that was influencing music because we had on the TV on Saturday morning you had what was called Soul Train. Soul Train was influencing a lot of people at that time. You had a guy on the radio station in Trinidad named Billy Rich. We had a lot of what you call soul shows on a weekend Saturday and Sunday in theaters and cinemas and things in Trinidad

Trinidad’s interaction with corporate media had already been established and the music makers of Trinidad utilized every opportunity to capitalize on trends that the Trinidadian public had grown accustomed to from international media penetration. However it was not just globalizing elements of internationally touring artists and American television programming that was changing the face of calypso.

DJs and Discos

New international trends were coming into fashion in Trinidad and the local market was changing, in part, by what was being played at local hot spots. DJs at local clubs had to play what the people were listening to and it was not calypso. The role of the “selector” or DJ played a large role in what was being disseminated in Trinidad. The advent of the EP (extended play records) became particularly influential.20 Goddard explains that due to the transnational community’s exposure to disco music and culture in the U.S., musical tastes in Trinidad began to favor international styles.

A lot of influences come from around the era when they had the disco and they heard people like Donna Summers and all the rest they were playing in the disco… People was traveling a lot too because in them days Trinidad had what we call the oil-boom so Trinidad was a rich country. So everybody was getting up to travel and they was getting a visa and they go to America and they go and they party and they come back. You went to a disco, people stay in Brooklyn and they party til 9 o’clock in the morning. The opinion of anybody [in Trinidad] was right in terms with what was happening in America and right with what was happening in disco. You had places like Palaba Place and you had places like Down on the Curb, Down Shag-a-rama, you had places like In Park Disco and people were going there Friday evenings after work. So the music was that kind of influence. Especially Maestro was a young guy at the time, he used to work in the south-land [San Fernando], and he would come up to Port of Spain and we’d go places together and hang out together to get a lime. Calypso music up on the shelf, nobody was dying for calypso as the format was before until soca became popular. The calypso wasn’t playing in the discotheque and that was the era of the disco so we had to find a music that would carry in the club. Around that time was the time of the extended play 45’s. Everybody was doing extended plays so if you’re doing a song for 5 to 7 mins long you could imagine what you have to do. You would have a lot of other rhythms and different parts. You had to have a song might have A,B,C you had to go to part G part F, you had to extend it. The rhythms was more important at the time because that’s what made the DJ boxes go into the street. So that was in the form of disco music.

20 Urban dictionary defines EP as: Extended Play. Alternate word for a music 'Single'. This word is used to describe a CD with a small amount of songs in it (About 5)... Where as[sic] the opposite to a EP is a LP, which is a CD with many more songs (10/12ish). O, John, “Top Definition: EP,” Urban Dictionary online (November 2014). https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=EP (accessed April 7, 2018).

Goddard’s statement attests to how technological advancements played a role in how the music was being arranged. The newly emerging role of the club DJ became a large part of dissemination of music in Trinidad. Extended song structures and alternate rhythmic breaks were created and incorporated into Trinidadian song formats to fill the demand in the discos for extended play songs. It is also important to emphasize that song forms of early socas (essentially calypsos) were being changed. The musical form of calypsos were typically presented in

ABABA format, with the riddims (rhythms produced by the percussion sections of bands) being unchanged throughout. Such A B song forms were used primarily as a platform for the calypsonians to improvise witty sociopolitical or subliminally sexualized lyrics and vocals. The newly emerging soca genre had to provide a format where rhythms and chord-progressions would change multiple times throughout a single song in order to maintain the extended dancability and the attention of its audience.

Analysis

This change in format can be seen in two calypsos by Lord Kitchner, “Carnival” and

“Sugar Bum Bum” and a soca by Maestro “Bionic Man.” “Carnival” is a 2’53” long song from the 1965 LP King of Calypso. As illustrated in Example 2-1 there are two main sections of this song: mm. 1-14 set in slow ballad style calypso that vaguely resembles a Cuban mambo. A faster tempo begins on measure m. 15, reflecting the tempo typical of a calypso road march performed during Carnival. The song begins with a three chord chord-progression: Eb major, F minor, Bb major and returning to Eb major at the end of the progression. Half way through the verse the progression changes to C minor, F minor, Bb major, and ending on Eb Major; the song cycles through this change in progression twice before the chorus begins and this change can be seen as a part of the A section.

Example 2-1.Lead sheet for "Carnival" by Lord Kitchner (transcribed by author)

The chorus is a call and response in a calypso tempo and maintains a progression of Eb major, C minor, F minor, to Bb Major. The call and response begins with the chorus calling

“Carnival” and the calypsonian responding “everybody playing carnival, carnival is a decent

bacchanal…” In a live setting, it is this section where the calypsonian would improvise responses for the audience.21 Lastly, the role of the bass is typical of the era: the bass “walks” throughout both sections of the songs and its primary function is to support the harmony. Although the A section to “Carnival” exemplifies how artists were experimenting with different musics more than ten years before the birth of soca as Goddard discussed, the B section ― which makes up the bulk of the song (2’30”) ― is what best exemplifies the typical calypsos from the era preceding the 1970s and it is unchanged harmonically and melodically.

Over a decade later, in 1978, “Sugar Bum Bum” (a song Goddard informed me that he was involved in producing) was released as a simgle by Lord Kitchner. Although chord progressions in this song are not as complex, Goddard implemented (synth produced) string orchestration and a song that is over twice as long as “Carnival.” The simple chord progression of “Sugar Bum Bum” (Eb, F min, Bb) remains unchanged throughout the entire 6’06” of the song. Although this song is not representative of the expanded song structure that was typical of soca in the 1970s, it does provide key points regarding how soca was changing.

New technology of the time, in the form of the extended play records, allowed songs to shift away from the 3 minute standard of the previous decade. “Sugar Bum Bum” alternates between a vocal section ― where the chorus and verse are stated ― and lengthy instrumental interludes. The vocal section features an eight measure verse that is followed by a four measure call and response chorus; the chorus is literally a chorus of singers singing that call “sugar bum sugar bum bum” followed by an instrumental response. The instrumental interlude that occupies most of the song is 26 measures long. This form repeats until the end of the song with very little change.

21 See Rohlehr for further discussion of the aesthetics of live calypso performances

Another interesting change to note in the song “Sugar Bum Bum” is the stylistic change in the bass playing. Whereas the style being played in the earlier “Carnival” was a “walking” accompaniment – a style closer to that of big band jazz which functions to support the harmony – the bass line in “Sugar Bum Bum” is not. In the first two measures, the bass line (seen in

Example 2-4) functions as an opening melody. This bass line is repeated throughout the rest of the song unchanged.

In the same year Lord Kitchner released “Sugar Bum Bum” (1978) performers like Lord

Shorty and Maestro were creating music specifically for the discos. The song “Bionic Man,” from the album Anatomy of Soca, will be used as a point of comparison. This is a song which

Goddard also takes credit for the arrangement “…matter a fact that Maestro music I composed one time for…”22 The first thing to note about this song is its length: it is the longest song to be analyzed so far at 7 minutes long, however its length is the least of its merits.

In the introduction of the song, a call and response melody is produced by a synthesized string ensemble and electric guitar; in the restatement of the melody a trumpet is added. It is worth noting that the trumpet might have been captured in a live recording. This section is restated throughout the song and serves as a complete or fragmented bridge. At the beginning of the verse the music stays on a D minor for four measures while support vocalists sing the line

“six million dollar man.” As Maestro starts to sing the verses, the chord progression (Dmin,

Cmaj, Bbmaj, to A7) ends on the half cadence for the first statement but ends on a full cadence on the repeats. The next change in progression, still in the verse, is: Dmin, Bbmaj, Dmin, C maj,

Dmin, Bbmaj, A7. This section ends on a half cadence. However it is here where a fragmentation of the opening is played and serves as the other half of a full cadence back to Dmin before the

22 Pelham Goddard, interview by author. Due to a tragic accident, Maestro died shortly after the release of Anatomy of Soca. For the full story see Kaiso magazine 2010-2011 pg 15.

Example 2-2. Melody and bass analysis of “Bionic Man” by Maestro (transcribed by author)

Example 2-2.Continued

Example 2-2.Continued. the chorus begins. The chorus then repeats the progression of Dmin, Bbmaj, Cmaj, Dmin, Cmaj,

Bbmaj.

Coupled with the similarities in rhythm and vocal melody, the chorus is easy to miss; similar to B section of Kitchner’s “Carnival” the backup vocalist sings a “bionic” and Maestro responds: “a tower of power and endurance, I can keep my speed the longest.” The bass’

fragmentations of the opening melody are identifying markers that the chorus has begun.

Although the chord progressions change in each section, the change is subtle and familiar and does not interrupt danceability of the music.

In contrast to the two previous songs by Kitchner, Goddard composed this song for

Maestro with far more complexity. From a Western musical analysis perspective, the form of this song can be framed as ABABAB if the introduction melody is considered part of the verse.

However, based on comments made by Goddard about extending a song to include C, D, E…, the various chord changes also can be understood as individual sections: the introduction, the

“six million dollar man” bridge to the verse, the pre-verse, the actual verse, and the fragmentation of the opening melody that bridges the chorus and verse would all be part of the A section if analyzed from a western musical analysis perspective. It is easy to perceive the fragmentation as part of the previous section due to the full cadence function it serves. If the “six million dollar man” bridge is removed along with the fragmentation then the pre-verse and verse would occupy 16 measures in total; if the fragmentation were to be included in the verse and serve as a full cadence, then the verse would be 17 measures, not a common occurrence in popular music. In this song the fragmentations functions better as a stand-alone section, a bridge that connects a verse that ends on a half cadence to the upcoming chorus. The various sections that make up the A section exhibit the shift away from the traditional style of arranging seen in past decades as Goddard disclosed. The use of synthesized string instrumentation also affirms the change in orchestration. This change moves away from the older calypso format and ushers in a new era where digital sounds began replacing analogue sounds in recordings.

The sounds produced by the Moog Synthesizer that open the song and the lyrical content are both an American pop culture reference to the TV astronaut/cyborg Steve Austin as the Six

Million Dollar Man.

A tower of power and endurance I can keep my speed the longest distance A mixture of human and machine Even Steve Austin is ever with me

This reference to the Six Million Dollar Man is further evidence of the penetrative nature of

American television programming in Trinidad. The sound effects are also an example of how technology was making its way into Trinidadian music not only as a replication of acoustic instruments but as digital tools for alternative forms of music making.

Another aspect of early soca music is the incorporation of Jamaican music forms. There are assumptions made by many Americans and Europeans that Jamaican and Trinidadian culture

(or any other island in the Caribbean) is one and the same; an example of this can be seen by the misunderstanding of the steel pan being a Jamaican instrument (a concept that will be elaborated on in a later chapter).23 This assumption is further emphasized by the adoption of Jamaican music forms in Trinidad. Songs such as “Ne Tu Whe Whe” by Lord Shorty and “No Call Dem

Name” by Maestro have a very distinct feel that is far removed from the calypsos of old. In the song “No Call Dem Name” there are many elements that Goddard incorporated into Maestro’s music that was adopted from reggae, two specific elements are: 1) A variation of the standard reggae one drop rhythm, and 2) the heavy driving bass line.

At the start of “No Call Dem Name (NCDN),” it is immediately evident that a shift in tempo has occurred that is substantially slower than typical calypsos. Whereas all the songs

23 This information was collected from personal experience playing and discussing pan in various communities in the US and Europe.

Example 2-3. Simplified drum analysis for “No Call Dem Name” by Maestro (transcribed by author)

Example 2-4.Bass analysis for various songs (transcribed by author) analyzed thus far have been set to tempos over 100BPM (“Carnival:” 122BPM, “Sugar Bum

Bum:” 113BPM, and “Bionic Man:” 130BPM), NCDN is set at a slower and groovier 90BPM.

In addition, the typical four-on-the-floor calypso riddim has been replaced with a riddim commonly called “one drop” where the kick drum on beat one and three are left silent as seen in

Example 2-3. Manuel and Marshal explain that this drum pattern was popularized by Jamaicans in the roots/reggae movement that gained momentum throughout the 1970s and “the ‘one drop’ drum rhythm with kicks on beats two and four” is a stylistic signature of reggae music from t era.24

Analysis shows that the bass line in NCDN functions as the melody at the start of the song as synthesized reeds and strings play a call and response counter melody. Although this style has been used in “Sugar Bum Bum” and a similar style in “Bionic Man,” this style of bass playing was very common in reggae from this era as well. To reiterate, the bass in Kitchner’s

“Carnival” functions similar to the way the bass would function in genres like jazz or samba from the same era; they serve as lower support to the harmony, prioritizing chord tones, and frequently “walking” on the down beats. In all the songs analyzed from the 1970s (including

Kitchner’s “Sugar Bum Bum”), the bass plays lines that are repetitive; they function as melodies in the opening, often playing in unison with the guitar and other melodic instruments, and typically play the same phrase in the first measure and variations in the second measure throughout the rest of the song.

These last examples show the influence Jamaican reggae had on the music makers of

Trinidad. Although the current narrative favors a binary perspective of calypso and Indian music or calypso and soul, this narrative does not tell the whole story and can be misleading when first exploring soca music. Lord Shorty and others did experiment with these two genres and from there soca was born. But it is the process of experimentation that is essential to understanding the evolution of soca music in general. All the examples in this chapter reveal experimentation happening in Trinidad with a variety of international musics, the influence technological

24 Manuel and Marshal, “The Riddim Method,” 451.

developments had on the music making process, and the penetrative nature of American corporate media and the corporate music industry.

It is also important to reiterate the post oil-boom emergence of the Trinidadian transnational community that occurred in the previous decade. In this chapter they were credited for facilitating the adoption of international trends and music in Trinidad in the 1970s. However these transnational communities played a completely different role in the following years. It will be explained later how these same transnational communities reshaped the areas in which they settled. Areas like Miami, Toronto, New York, and London have large Trinidadian style carnival celebrations every year and similarly the music that accompanies carnival celebrations have influenced the people, both nationals and transnationals, which reside in these areas as well.

Throughout the 1980s, soca continued to experiment with a variety of different musics, creating sub-genres, but remained in a subordinate position to calypso by the institutions that shape carnival celebrations in Trinidad. The newly emerging genre of soca was a highly hybrid music, the love child of an aging calypsonian and an American disco diva . Soca began to consume all of its musical surroundings, both foreign and domestic, utilizing all of its resources in order to serve its hungry Trinidadian public the sounds of something different and new.

CHAPTER 3 SOCA IN THE 1980S, 1990S, AND EARLY 21ST CENTURY

Soca Through the 1980s and 1990s and the Soca Monarch

It is quite difficult to condense the history of three decades of soca music into a single chapter. Questions of what and who to highlight or omit become important questions. One could discuss the importance of Brother Resistance and the creation of rapso before soca had been institutionalized as an established cultural form of Trinidad and Tobago. Historical accounts of various hybrid genres such a rapso, chutney soca, ragga soca, and other variants are covered in

Shannon Dudley’s book Carnival Music in Trinidad; therefore my mention of these forms will be brief. Rather, my focus in this chapter will be to establish the impact of other instances of globalization and technology on the emergence of soca.

Throughout the 1980s Trinidadian musicians continued to experiment with and incorporate musics from the popular music market into the local production of soca in order to find something new that would attract club goers. The result was the development of various hybrid genres that produced a handful of hits in Trinidad but none that had major success in the

US market. It was not until David Rudder and Goddard’s band Charlie’s Roots began dominating the road march in Trinidad that a calypsonian rivaled the success once seen by the

Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchner.1

David Rudder

David Rudder has been featured in a number of international publications and has worked with numerous international acts including American artists Barry White and KC and The

1 The road march is a colloquial name given to the parade that happens during the Tuesday of carnival. Soca songs that are prominently played during the road march compete in a competition and the song that is featured the most wins the title of road march champion.

Sunshine Band among others.2 The “biography” tab of Rudder’s official website states that

“Jamaica’s newspaper The Gleaner described him [Rudder] as the ‘Bob Marley of Soca.’” In

1987 “The Hammer,” a narrative song about a pan maker and his hammer, was the title track of an album produced by Andy Narell an American pannist. This examples show that, very early in soca’s history, collaborations with international artists were occurring. In a later discussion, international artist collaborations become very important to the dissemination of Caribbean musics in the popular music market. These collaborations become increasingly more commonplace as communication technologies develop.

Musically Pelham Goddard and his band Charlie’s Roots (Rudder’s primary musical arranger and backing band) kept Rudder’s “calypso” somewhere between traditional calypsos and the new global style of soca that emerged in the 1970s. Although most Trinidadians consider

Rudder to be a calypsonian, Rudder has had his share of problems fitting into the calypso community and his music has been described as both calypso and soca. It is noted by Dudley that

“…his decision to perform under his own name instead of adopting a calypso sobriquet offended some purists. While his innovative experiments with calypso have caused him problems with the

Calypso Monarch judges…”3 Rudder’s experimentation is further elaborated by Dudley.

Unlike most Calypsonians, David Rudder over the years has worked fairly consistently with the same band known originally as Charlie’s Roots. Together they have written songs and arrangements that draw on Trinidadian folk music; on Spiritual Baptist and Orisha religious music; on Caribbean and Latin styles such as reggae, salsa, and samba’ and on U.S. rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel.4

2 David Rudder, “Biography,” David Rudder Official Website http://www.davidmichaelrudder.com/Biography.php (accessed October 18, 2013).

3 Dudley, Carnival Music in Trinidad, 31.

4 Dudley, Carnival Music in Trinidad, 31.

The influence from the popular music market Dudley posits is reinforced on Rudder’s official website: “His Musical tastes in the past have leaned towards jazz, blues, folk rock, and the

African sounds of Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita, Mory Kante, and Alpha Bondy.”5

Although such global influences on Rudder’s music were more subtle than overt,

Rudders global impact beyond Trinidad was substantial. Rudder’s biography goes into great detail about the many different places he has toured all around the globe, other international artists he has performed with, and the international awards he has won. For instance he was appointed an ambassadorship by the U.N. development program in 1996.6 However, while

Rudder was making his mark globally as a representative of Trinidad, another evolution in soca music was taking shape locally that involved soca artist Super Blue.

Super Blue

In the article “Super Blue: The Pied Piper of Soca,” Debbie Jacob gives an account of

Super Blue’s life and his career as a calypsonian leading to his success as a soca giant.7 In 1980 one of Super Blue’s first recordings “Soca Baptist,” arranged by Pelham Goddard, was banned from carnival but nonetheless dominated the road march and reportedly sold “a record-breaking

18,000 [units] and ushered in a new era of calypso.” 8 Musical tastes in Trinidad were once again changing and the styles of old were being replaced by a new fast-paced energetic style that was coming into favor with Trinidadians.9 It was during this time that the Tuesday road march

5 David Rudder “Biography page.”

6 David Rudder “Biography page.”

7 Debbie Jacob, “Super Blue: The Pied Piper of Soca,” Caribbean Beat 4, (winter 1992).

8 Jacob, “Super Blue: The Pied Piper of Soca.”

9 The Trinidadian colloquial term “chip-chip” refers to the way in which Trinidadians dance to the calypso music of old and it is the sound that one’s shoes made on against the asphalt while marching and dancing during carnival parades.

competition became the unofficial competition for soca artists. This claim is supported by the success of Super Blue in the road march competition between 1980-1992, winning five times before the establishment of the Soca Monarch competition in 1993 while never winning the

Calypso Monarch title.

Throughout the 1980s Blue Boy (Super Blue’s sobriquet as a young calypsonian) saw mild success in the road march; with Pelham Goddard arranging the majority of his earlier music. Stylistically, Boy Blue’s music utilized the same brass band feel as Rudder’s music but with a substantially higher number of beats per minute. It was in the 1990s that Blue Boy emerged from a serious drug addiction, took the name Super Blue, and established himself as a serious competitive artist, winning the road march competition from 1991-1993.10 In 1993 the establishment of the Soca Monarch competition institutionalized soca officially as part of carnival. Super Blue won all of these competitions in the 1990s except 1995 and 1999. The official website for the International Soca Monarch describes the competition: “In a nutshell, the

International Soca Monarch Competition towers supreme as carnival’s biggest calling card for domestic tourism; a cinematic spectacle that is now a magnet for foreign tourists, and global talent scouts.”11 Throughout the 1990s, Super Blue dominated the competition and it was his unique aggressive style of soca that he coined “power soca,” that (arguably) incorporated a music style derived from Grenada’s jab-jab j’ouvert.

Both Trinidad and Grenada have similarities in their carnival celebrations including traditions of j’ouvert morning, the iconic devil mas, and the throwing of oil, mud, and molasses.

The origin of jab-jab mas is up for debate as both Trinidad and Grenada stake claim to it as their

10 Jacob, “Super Blue: The Pied Piper of Soca.”

11 International Soca Monarch. “History,” International Soca Monarch Website, http://internationalsocamonarch.com/soca-monarch/history/ (accessed September 11, 2017).

own. This is not surprising considering that the shared history of the event dates back to both islands shared experience of slavery. In relation to the discussion of how globalization and technology shapes the music of Trinidad, defining the origin is not as relevant as the evidence of bilateral cultural exchange between the islands where trends from one island affect the other and visa-versa. This type of reciprocal exchange provided soca in Trinidad new ingredients to experiment with that led to a new developing soca style, power soca.

The new power soca style utilized fast tempos and aggressive beats and a new well publicized platform for artists like Super Blue to perform their craft and present their art. The new style came complete with a new carnival dance aesthetic. Audience members were given directions by the singer to “get something and wave” or to “blow your whistle,” a trend that is still prevalent in today’s soca. This trend can be seen in a video of the live performance of

Machel Montano’s 2015 Power Soca Monarch winner “Like ah Boss.”12 Along with telling the audience throughout the song to “wave your flag” and “jump,” roughly half way through the performance, Montano gives contrapuntal direction to the two sides of the audience miming the counterpoint played by brass sections.

Technology and Trends

By 2000, new trends from the popular music market emerged. As Goddard says

“Trinidad ain’t a place where nothing gets past,” Trinidadians kept up-to-date with global trends.13 Although electronic beat machines and synthesizers had been used since the 1970s, by the 1990s soca had become increasingly dependent on digital sound. Now in the 21st century, digital production was so prevalent in Trinidad that the recorded version of Super Blue’s “Pump

12 A recording of this performance is provided by JullianspromosTV and can be found at the URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ouabFrk5o.

13 Pelham Goddard, interview by author.

Up,” the 2000 Soca Monarch winner, was created almost entirely by digital production. One explanation for the heavy reliance on a digital sound could be explained in terms of production costs. As previously stated, Manuel and Marshall’s article “The Riddim Method” explains that keeping production costs low plays a major role in how music is being produced in Jamaica.

Music produced digitally ―either with digital hardware like samplers, synthesizers, and drum machines or now on digital audio workstations (DAW) ―allow a single producer to make beats or riddims for a performer rather than hire live musicians and book expensive studio time.14

Outside of the studio recording context, music on the road during carnival was changing as well. Steelbands were no longer the preferred ensemble for the road on Fat Tuesday. Scher writes:

To this younger generation, the newer musical form of soca was beginning to replace the older style of calypso and pan that had dominated Trinidadian popular culture. As soca became more prominent, steelband certainly did not disappear. But bands themselves were, so to speak, crowded off the streets by the louder, electronically amplified soca sound systems of the 1970s and 80s15

Similar to the studio environment, new advancements in sound technology provided a more convenient and effective solution for presenting music on the road. Mobile sound systems were constructed using semi-trucks towing house rattling speakers; these trucks utilized DJs and were not limited to the repertoire of a single band. Also, if a DJ is the only performer, funds and space can be prioritized on sound systems to achieve far greater volume than is possible with amplified instruments. From a Trinidadian historical perspective, volume has played a vital role in shaping music on the road. It was the volume that metal objects, like soda cans and biscuit tins, produced over bamboo that eventually led to the invention of the steel pan. Goddard supports this as he

14 Manuel and Marshal, “The Riddim Method,” 453.

15 Scher, “Copyright Heritage,” 85.

explains, “Now the boom of the bamboo it have tone but not plenty carry [volume]. That’s why you find in the band you have five to six boomers. Then come biscuit drum…When you hear that ̶ more tone, easier to carry.” 16 The presence of these trucks on the road has set a Trinidadian carnival standard, much like the humble beginnings of the steel pan did in the 1940s.

Another explanation for the increased reliance on digital sound was the penetration of

Jamaican dancehall in the popular music market at the time. Jamaican dancehall had seen success throughout the 1990s with artists like Shabba Ranks and Shaggy, but at the start of the new millennium the music coming from throughout the Caribbean had evolved and new faces and trends were beginning to emerge. In 2002 Sean Paul released his double platinum album

Dutty Rock, an album that peaked at number nine on the US Top 200 chart, number one on

Billboard’s Reggae Chart, and number four on the UK Chart.17 Two years after the Release of

Dutty Rock, in 2004, Daddy Yankee released Bario Fino a platinum selling album that spent 101 weeks on Billboard Latin Charts peaking at number one, peaked number twenty six on

Billboard’s top 200 charts. 18 Like a ripple effect, the musical trends and styles being produced throughout the Caribbean began to shift and soca music was right in the middle of this shift.

21st Century: Machel, Bunji, and the Groovy Soca Monarch

The end of the millennia brought with it Super Blue’s last Monarch title (until he tied with Machel Montano in 2013) and trends in popular music market that was once again changing music fast and drastically. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and rave scenes were exploding out of underground niche markets in the US and Europe while acquiring corporate sponsorship.

16 Dudley, Music From Behind the Bridge, 34-35.

17 Billboard, “Sean Paul: Chart History” http://www.billboard.com. Official Charts, “Sean Paul: Chart History” http://www.officialcharts.com. RIAA, “Sean Paul Dutty Rock” http://www.riaa.com

18 Billboard website, “Top Latin Albums” and “Top 200 albums” http://www.billboard.com

Rock was going through a 1980s-like renaissance and new a style of hip-hop coined trap rap was building momentum in the southern U.S. The situation in Trinidad was similar as soca artists and producers continued to experiment. Around this time the Internet was becoming increasingly user-friendly and file sharing programs and websites such as Napster emerged.

As trends in the popular music market changed and new technologies emerged soca music evolved again through experimentation. In this next section two soca artists from this period, Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin, will be discussed. Reviewing their catalogue from this time in soca’s history reveals the impact of technology and globalization on the way music in Trinidad was being produced. These innovations eventually led to the institutionalization of a new style of soca as the Soca Monarch was divided into two events.

Machel Montano

Beginning with Machel Montano, Leu explains how impactful to the genre of soca

Montano is:

Machel Montano is currently the most successful soca singer in Trinidad and enjoys a large following in the United States, where he occasionally appears as a host on Black Entertainment Television. Montano won the Road March in 1997, and his album of that year “Heavy Duty” produced a series of hits which gave increased impetus to the trend towards “dancehall soca,” mixing calypso and Jamaican reggae and dub. Montano and his band Xtatik are a highly professionalized, well-oiled machine who are internationalizing soca through performances abroad and the promotion of their videos on American television.19

Machel Montano’s career length is only surpassed by his innovation in his field and his international popularity. Patricia Meschino tells: “Now 40, the Los Angeles-based Montano is a

33-year industry veteran whose voluminous repertoire and adrenaline-pumping live performances have made him soca’s preeminent ambassador for both the uninitiated and

19 Leu, “Raise Yuh Hand, Jump up and Get on Bad!’” 53.

seasoned fans alike.”20 Montano has arguably done more to shape and reshape the soca genre than any other artist who has graced the genre and continues to do so.

By 2002 Machel Montano and his band Xtatik were well developed and had evolved in style since their debut in 1985 as Pranasonic Express.21 As mentioned by Leu, Montano and

Xtatik had already been experimenting with reggae and dub but this was in addition to the wide range of styles Heavy Duty encompassed. Its road march winner “Big Truck” is a heavy hitting, aggressive, jab-jab style power soca complete with audience direction “ride the truck and jump up” and “wine behind the big truck.” “Big Truck,” “Follow Your Partner,” and “Crowded” provided the aesthetic typical of road march tunes both musically and lyrically. In the song

“Tayee Ayee,” the singer/MC announces that “…we singin’ chutney” whereas “Calypso Nice” asks the audience “do you like calypso, do you like the tempo, do you like the rhythm?”

Nevertheless the dancehall/dub influence is apparent in songs like “Winer Boi”, “J’overt Girls,” and “Pretty Gyal,” where the tempo is a groovier 103-105 bpm. In these last three songs the rhythmic structure, built on the tresillo rhythm, provides a rhythmic foundation frequently used in modern dancehall, shown in Example 3-1.

According to Chris Leacock: “If you listen to Machel’s earlier, groovier records like the stuff he did with Mr. Vegas, ‘One More Time’ and ‘I Just Want to Dance With You’ they’re very dancehally, reggaeton sounding, 108 -110 bpm.”22 “Dance with You” from The Xtatik

Experience (2005) uses the same pattern shown in Example 3-1. “One More Time” (Book of

20 Patricia Meschino, “Meet Machel Montano: Soca Boss, Trinidadian Booster and… Film Star?” Billboard Magazine Website http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6707117/meet-machel-montano-soca-boss (accessed October 5, 2015).

21 Machel Montano, “Biography” Machel Montano Official Website http://machelmontano.com/biography/ (accessed June 12, 2015).

22 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

Angels 2007), reduces the bass strikes show in Example 3-1 to a heavy unison percussive and harmonic strike on beat 1 and the rest of the rhythmic structure is filled with a minimal percussive texture. A similar beat can be heard in the song “Connection” from Sean Paul’s

Trinity album released two years prior.

Example 3-1. Tresillo drum pattern used in groovy soca tunes from the album Heavy Duty (transcribed by author)

Example 3-2. Snare drum for “Jump Up” riddim marked outlining a clave rhythm (transcribed by author)

Another notable song to mention is “Jump Up” off of The Xtatic Experience. In this song

Montano collaborates with Wyclef Jean, an artist that achieved substantial market penetration with the groups The Fugees and Wyclef Jean and the Refugee All-Stars. Wyclef Jean chants (the

Jamaican form of freestyling or rapping) through most of the track and at 1’07” begins to rap in

Spanish. “Jump Up” maintains lyrical themes familiar to soca music, like giving audience direction to “Jump Up,” but maintains a riddim that is an adaptation of clave. The snare drum shows an ornamented clave whereas the accents outline the foundational clave rhythm. Example

3-2 is a transcription of the snare drum where the outline of the clave is marked with “X.” This song’s relationship to the clave rhythm is further emphasized at 2’43” seconds as the performing artists begin instructing the audience to clap out the clave. Lastly an interesting element in the

song was at 2’19” as the adoption of the electric distorted guitar, a timbre not often found in reggaeton, dancehall, or soca from this decade.

In these examples of Machel Montano’s music the tresillo pattern plays an integral role in the construction of a newly developing evolution to soca. Tresillo and other syncopated patterns are used by many cultures throughout Latina America and the Caribbean and it is also a foundational drum pattern for kit drums and conga patterns for Steelband. However these examples reveal that this evolution of soca shares musical aesthetic of digital timbres, groovier danceable tempos and production styles with Jamaican dancehall from the same decade. They also show examples of continued collaboration between international artists from the U.S. and other countries throughout the Caribbean.

Bunji Garlin

One could argue that the shared musical values between Jamaican dancehall and

Trinidadian soca date back to a shared slavery narrative. However Leacock establishes a more plausible reasoning for these shared values.

Guys like Bunji Garlin, Maximums Dan, and KMC they were all dancehall artists first. They would have gone to Jamaica, try to make a hit, came back to Trinidad and figure ‘let me try and make a soca song’ and then it became a hit and then they realized “I can make money touring soca music that I could never make trying to be a dancehall artists coming out of Trinidad” because nobody wants to hear that.23

Leacock’s claim about Bunji Garlin can be substantiated by analyzing some of Garlin’s older music. His album from 2002, Revelation, has a diverse sound that ranges from calypso to hip- hop styles. Songs like “Hands Up,” and “Wow,” uses tresillo as its foundation and utilizes production techniques common in dancehall production previously mentioned. However Garlin’s lyrical delivery is in these songs exemplifies chanting styles that were popular in Jamaican

23 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

dancehall during this decade. Other songs off this album like “More Life” and “God is Not Far,” sound heavily influenced by reggae in tempo, rhythm and lyrical themes.

Even though there was a healthy exchange of cultural music values occurring between

Jamaica and Trinidad, influence from the popular music market is obvious in some of the source music used for sampling. For instance, on the track “Send Dem Riddim Crazy,” a sample from

Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?”(1998) is layered on top of a power soca riddim. The song

“Let’s Get It On” is a reggae arrangement of Marvin Gaye’s song where Garlin adds chants at the beginning and end of the cover. Lastly, in “Spontaneous” production techniques used for the riddim are similar to techniques used in trap rap that was beginning to gain popularity in hip-hop culture from Southern U.S. with artists like Lil’ Jon and T.I.

Technologies and Trends

The production practices among Trinidadian music producers that have been analyzed thus far, tell one side of soca music history. Shared values of musical aesthetics (mainly African diasporic) led to the development of a new carnival competition. However developments in sound system technology and other shared cultural practices between Jamaica and Trinidad also played a role in how music in Trinidad was being created.

When a mas band is marching down the avenue, the DJ or “selector’s” role is to keep the participants dancing enthusiastically for hours until they reach the mainstage in the Queen’s Park

Savanna. Manuel and Marshal explain that “often, in a practice called ‘juggling’, the selector may play a medley of several songs which use the same riddim.”24 This has been a factor that has led to producers in Trinidad to distribute a riddim to multiple artists in a single carnival season.

24 Manuel and Marshal, “The Riddim Method,” 454.

Evidence of this can be seen in Machel Montano’s song “Bottle of Rum” and Benjai’s song “The

People’s Champion” both released for the 2012 carnival season.

On the road, juggling is an important technique because it allows a selector to diversify the same riddim and consume longs stretches of road if his mas band is feeling lively about that particular riddim. This process is facilitated by computer programs like Serato that give DJ’s the ability to make playlists of songs in preparation for a long set, set multiple markers and que points within each track, and auto-analyze bpm and the key of each track.25 As in the 1970s, globalization and advancements in technology have shaped the way music in Trinidad was being made.

As soca’s experimentation continued, the integration of hip-hop, dancehall and other

Latin-American and Caribbean styles pointed soca music in a direction that would once again redefine soca in the minds of the people as well as the institutions. In 2005 the Soca Monarch competition officially split into two categories: Power Soca and Groovy Soca. The International

Soca Monarch website explains that “the Groovy Soca Monarch competition emerged, just as the groovy soca hybrid began to gain popularity. Since then, it has become as significant to Fantastic

Friday as the International Soca Monarch itself is to Carnival.”26 Groovy soca, as it had come to be referred to by the institutions (also referred to as dancehall soca or cross-over soca), had existed since Charlies Root’s and David Rudder had been playing it through the 1980s. Leacock explains, “You mentioned David Rudder and David Rudder was first crowned champion in

1986, you’re talking about 30 years ago when I was seven or eight years old and he was doing

25 This information was derived from my own research with the program Serato.

26 International Soca Monarch. “History.”

groovy soca at the time.”27 The institutionalization of the genre (along with a now two million

Trinidadian dollars in prize money) solidified its place officially amidst carnival festivities.

Thus far, this thesis has told a narrative about technology and globalization in Trinidad.

Since the 1940s Trinidad has had an open line of cultural communication with the U.S. Over the following thirty years Trinidadians music producers experimented with various music from the

U.S., Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean until a new genre of music emerged in the 1970s, soca. This process continued to repeat itself until soca was represented by two distinct genres

(power and groovy) in the International Soca Monarch. Globalization in the form of transnationalism, international media penetration, and in the 21st century the Internet, has played an important role in fostering an environment for soca to experiment with new musics and rapidly evolve. As technology develops and becomes more accessible to a greater number of people these technologies then reshape the way consumers and producers interact with music. In the following chapter I will analyze developments in technology that have changed the landscape of our realities, how this has affected the way we interact with music, and what the end result of it all is musically.

27 Chris Leacock interview by author.

CHAPTER 4 TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND CURRENT POP TRENDS

Technological Advances and the Global Community

Throughout soca’s history technological advancements have shaped the way the music has been created, distributed, and consumed. Whether it was the advent of the EP influencing arrangement styles or use of digital hardware that spawned the next evolution of soca, technology has played a vital role in the music making process. At this point, a brief discussion about current technological trends and their effects on artists, producers, and consumers is necessary in order to fully fathom the prodigious impact of the global community phenomenon and the music being created and consumed.

Cell Phones, Apps, and TVs

Florida based cell phone, smartphone, and tablet company Blu, was one of many manufacturers I found while looking for a temporary SIM card at the Digicell store in Trinidad

(Figure 4-1). At the time, these types of companies provided locals in Port of Spain with affordable, unlocked, no contract products. Service providers, like Digicell and B Mobile, provided easy access to 4G networks. As a result more and more Trinidadians began finding music through web apps like Youtube, Spotify, Vemo, Pandora, and Limewire.1 These apps

(most of which are free) give the user access to a wide plethora of music ranging from Brazilian

Samba to Balinese Gamelan and many other foreign and domestic musics as well as access to the popular music market literally at their fingertips. In a brief interview with Port of Spain local

Sian Mcintosh I asked how she

1 This information was taken by an informal survey collected during both field research trips in Port of Spain.

Figure 4-1. Picture of a Blu brand phone in Trinidad (courtesy of author) got access to hip-hop, her favorite music genre. She informed me that it was by “downloading via the Internet. Limewire, TV, MTV, cable, the radio, but I don’t even listen to the radio. Most of my stuff I just download songs from the Internet onto my Mp3 [player] and I just listen to that all day.”2 American network television has been broadcast in Trinidad for decades. However, since the 1990s, access to cable and satellite television has provided a wider plethora of channels beyond basic network television. More recently, access to satellite radio gives Trinidadians an even greater access to the popular music market; this access, along with the developments in

2 Sian Mcintosh, interviewed by author.

Figure 4-2. Picture of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” playing on a flat screen in El Pecos restaurant on Ariapita avenue, Port of Spain (courtesy of author) affordable flat screen TVs, allow retail businesses to provide music and entertainment from the corporate music industry to their patrons (Figure 4-2). As a result, Trinidadians are constantly inundated with American popular culture. This, in turn, affects the way Trinidadian entertainers and musicians create their art and inevitably affect cultural products in Trinidad. Edwin

Gooding, a local business owner explains the process.

They know the youths like that, they would go that direction to catch that crowd who’s going that way. “All right you like the way they dress, we’ll try to dress like them. You like how they talk, we try to talk like them.” It’s how they’re marketed and nobody markets like America you could market anything. The American marketing machine, cuz American stars are the most popular.3

3 Edwin Gooding, interviewed by author.

This cultural exchange process is important to note.

Wi-Fi Networks

In preparation for my second trip to Trinidad I stopped by a data store at a local strip mall in Gainesville Florida to have my (then dated) iPhone 5 unlocked. I knew that once in Trinidad I would be able to obtain a pay as you go SIM card. While in Trinidad, I frequently conducted business out of an ice cream shop called The Dairy Bar four to five blocks away from the guest house where I was staying. I strategically chose this place because their free Wi-Fi allowed me to utilize the Internet without using the data I had bought for my temporary SIM card; this was an attempt to reserve the data use for GPS searches on Google Maps in order to find a contact’s locations like Boogsie’s house or the offices of Pantrinbago. However, even if I did use up my data or minutes, refilling my phone was as easy as going to any bodega and buying a refill

“card.”4 I provide this anecdote from my field research to illustrate the accessability of 4G networks and free Wi-Fi networks in Trinidad.

The subtext to my anecdote was the need to seek out a free Wi-Fi hotspot. The guest house I was staying at (2013) was not equipped with a home Wi-Fi network making the Dairy

Bar an attractive location to conduct Internet business. It is important to note that smart phones, tablets and laptops, or Wi-Fi networks are luxuries goods.

Radio and the Seasonal Nature of Carnival

Even though Blu offers affordable electronic devices, a portion of the population does not have access to sufficient disposable income or cannot/do not prioritize funds for less expensive electronics or Wi-Fi networks. For these consumers, radio programming in Trinidad, can be heard all over the city from shops and restaurants and cars all over Port of Spain, however

4 The “cards” aren’t really cards but little number coded papers that look something like a lottery ticket. That allow one to insert the code into their phone and refill minutes, data, or texts.

these radio stations are dominated by American and Jamaican popular music forms (outside of carnival season) and continue to affect Trinidadian music tastes.5 Radio personality Arianna

Mitchell expressed her frustrations about this.

While it shows an appreciation of external culture why are we so quick to deviate from our own? Most of the radio announcers that I have met or have been listening to, from the age group of 21 to 36 and they are on the urban radio, they automatically feel that they have to do Jamaican.6

While doing field research, out of the carnival season, the only time I heard soca music was on

Saturday night at a club my contacts took me to specifically because I told them I wanted to hear some soca. Johann Chuckaree explains how this process is occurring:

Trinidad has always been connected to the outside world but, let’s say, within the last 15-20 years we’ve been bombarded, through the rise of the Internet, through the rise of international communications, through globalization, the boarders are becoming smaller, right? International music has infiltrated the local market. I’m not going to say it’s ravaged the local market, we still have a good local market in terms of soca and calypso, I mean carnival time you turn on the radio in Trinidad and you hear no rap, you hear no hip-hop, you hear soca but from the minute carnival Tuesday is over and Ash Wednesday starts for the rest of the year, soca, it’s hard sitting in my car and I’m flipping through stations and I’m like “I can’t hear soca, I want to hear soca.”7

When I asked him why that was occurring, he gave me the explanation regarding the seasonal nature of carnival divulged in the introduction of this thesis. International broadcasting from the corporate music industry is so pervasive; it has reduced soca to a niche music in its own country outside of carnival season. Why this is happening is best understood in Machel Montano’s interview with Q Studio.

5 Information was gathered by surveying the radios I came across during my second field research trip to Port of Spain, out of carnival season. Data was gathered from Maxi Taxis, corner store bodegas and listening to radios from street traffic while I was skating around Port of Spain (sometime if a car was stopped I would briefly ask the driver if he was listening to the radio). I also surveyed the bars and local shops.

6 Arianna Mitchell, interviewed by author.

7 Johann Chuckaree, interviewed by author.

I was very famous, in 1984, 85, and 86, with the older crowd “they all loved him, awe he’s so adorable” but I wanted to see where my peers were. And when my mom took me to where my peers were, they were all lip syncing pop songs and dancehall songs Bel Biv Devoe, New Edition, Buju Banton, and I sang soca and I felt so, not loved.

The seasonal nature of Trinidad’s carnival music coupled with the inundation of American pop culture has fostered an environment in which soca does not thrive during most of the year. This environment will continue to perpetuate itself as access to luxury electronics become more affordable and more Internet sites with free media content become widely available.

Internet Music and Video Databases

The prevalence of Internet music databases gives Trinidadians access to any music they want to hear at any time. Spotify, Tidal, Soundcloud, Reverbnation and subsequently video databases Youtube, and Vemo allow for immediate musical gratification at any time, day or night. Any user can create their own profile and construct as many playlists of any music for all occasions or binge listen to the hot new song on repeat for hours. The Internet music database

Soundcloud is a music first social media site where users publish, barter, sell, and exchange music. It is a way for people of the global community to find a variety of music from their favorite artists as well as underground, lesser known artists, or obscure DJ remixes of their favorite songs. This type of tool allows consumers to find an EDM dance remix of Adel’s

“Hello” when one wants to hear their favorite song out of the its original context .

From the music producer’s perspective, these sites provide a variety of different services.

For established producers these databases function as a test market for potential songs or versions of songs on upcoming albums as most, if not all, of these databases produce analytical statistics for how many people listen to each song. Evidence of this can be seen through the lens of the group Major Lazer’s album Peace is the Mission that featured a song “Light it Up.” It was

later remixed and posted on Soundcloud. Major Lazer then rereleased an amended version of the album that includes both versions of the song and featured the remix as its subsequent single.

Not only do these databases serve as a tool for producers to test out new songs, but they have also given artists, established or underground, freedom to produce and promote music without serving the status quo of the corporate music industry. Leacock explains:

Democratization of technology has made it easier for myself and for others to make more content than we’ve ever had before…the fact that the technology exists makes it easier to get the job done. There was no collaboration over social media, there was no “discovering new artists” without Soundcloud or Spotify or any one of the other online music apps so if anything the technology has helped people create more, and more importantly get that content out to the consumer base.8

These type of tools are now empowering unknown artists and producers to create music that they find relevant, share that content on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and

“trend” or “go viral” without the bias (be it cultural or elitist) of the corporate music industry.

This empowerment is not only limited to exposure either; these databases have given artists an alternative avenue for monetary potential as well.

Ten years ago a band or artists had to hustle the streets to sell a ticket quota for a show they performed at (that no one wanted to go to because no established artists was playing on the bill) in order to make money.9 Due to the frequent use of these databases, alternative avenues of money making have become more accessible to the unsigned artist such as ad space sales from video databases like Youtube. These ads provide added income for part time or developing artists.

Although major record labels are still needed for retail distribution and marketing on an massive international scale, networking on Internet databases and social media sites along with

8 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

9 Personal experience touring with a band from the years of 1999-2004.

the use of alternative music sales sites like Bandcamp, allow unsigned artists to post their music on databases like Soundcloud, Youtube, and Reverbnation. They can then link said music to their

Bandcamp profile and receive income from album and single sales via Internet monetary sites like Paypal. But it is not just monetary potential that alternative distribution has allowed.

The Mobility of the Modern Producer and the Global Community

In an interview over Facebook messenger with underground Southern California hip-hop artist, Matthew Leary, he gave a step-by-step break down of how he bartered beats to rap over from a producer in England that he had never met in person or talked to other than on a digital medium.

I remember it was that he followed me on Twitter then I checked out the music on Soundcloud and really liked it. He had a bunch of beats up for download on Soundcloud so I downloaded them made a track out of it and sent it to him. He liked what he heard and said he was open to me continuing to use his beats for my rap songs. I am dropping a project soonish that has 2 of his beats on it as well as this dude from France and Santa Cruz. I haven't really spoken to MNIGLD (the dude from the UK) in a while. There really wasn't much communication. He gave me the go to use his beats, I would make a song and send it to the beat maker. They would tell me good job and they liked it or whatever and then I wouldn't really communicate with them until I made another song. The dude from France (littah woo) and Santa Cruz (Sawley) both commented on a song they liked, I checked out their page and dug the music and then hit them up to send me some audio files. Since then Littah Woo hit me up once to see when I would finish the song I wrote and I told him soon but it's taken time because I'm waiting to drop these two albums I have.10

From the perspective of the music maker, this type of collaboration is a relatively new phenomenon that is not limited to unknown or underground artists and facilitated by Internet music databases. Leacock further elaborates how social media and Internet platforms are providing new avenues for established artists to collaborate, exchanged ideas, barter, buy and sell music.

10 Matthew Leary, interview by author over Facebook Messenger.

People communicate with me either via my email, they communicate with me on my Facebook fan page and I communicate back and forth with a lot of artists and producers whatever via Twitter PM [private message] or Instagram PM so you might hit somebody up and be like ‘Yo, you know I got this project I’m working on I think you might be interested in it blah blah blah’ and they’ll be like ‘alright, cool!’ … we exchange emails and it usually goes to email from there or it might go to a like What’s App conversation or a phone call, but most of it usually takes place online and then beyond that there are a number of collaboration tools that are used, mostly dropbox, box.net and then there’s a new thing called Splice which allows you to share actual Ableton sessions across different… like you can work on an Ableton session at your house put it on Splice.11

Along with explaining the process which he uses, via the Internet, to communicate with other artists, performers, producers, and collaborators, he also divulges how musical ideas are shared and communicated without ever having to meet face to face with other artists. The latter and most recent of these platforms is by far the most innovative.

The ability to share music files like WAV or Mp3s over the Internet is not a new concept.

The development of cloud accounts like Dropbox or Box.net provides platforms that make this process substantially easier and faster. However the ability to share entire session files like that of Logic and Ableton projects is a monumental step in the process of intellectual exchange and collaboration of music production. Throughout this thesis I’ve discussed the importance of collaboration to the development of a music genre like soca. Platforms like splice are major facilitators of the collaboration process. Splice has provided a great tool for producers to communicate their ideas; however none of it would be possible without the development of mobile music production technology. Leacock simultaneously explains the history of DJ equipment and how the evolution of technological development has enabled DJs to assume the role they currently occupy.

11 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

I think the kids these days are pretty lucky. Back in the day you had to have equipment, you have to have two turntable, you had to have a mixer, you had have a box full of 12 inches and a box full of .45s. You had to lug them everywhere and you had to find a way to carry them around as well. Luckily the kids now a days they don’t have to deal with that. You put it all on a USB, you put the USB in your pocket and you just show up to the club, ya know? It’s been an ongoing conversation. I think DJin’ and photography are the two things that people have the most conversations about when it comes to technology and how the technology has affected the process.12

Serato, which has previously been mentioned from the perspective of the DJ truck on the road for mas Tuesday, gives the user the ability to be highly mobile, requiring only a laptop for DJ jobs. If a computer loaded with Serato is provided by the club the DJ needs only to bring a USB thumb drive or external hard drive with preloaded Serato projects and music files to a club in order to perform. With USB thumb drives capable of holding many terabytes of information, the mobility of DJs is greater than ever before.

Technological developments have not only helped DJs be more mobile, the affordability of home studio equipment and mobile production programs, music producers are now just as mobile as DJs. In an interview I conducted with Gainesville hip-hop producer and founder of

Streetlamp Studios Eli Kaplan, he gave me an anecdote about how a chance encounter with NYC hip-hop artists during his travels resulted in monetary gains and networking opportunities for him and his company.

I took a trip to NYC to visit my friend Kyle. I wanted to grab some bud as soon as I got there so I would be good for the whole week. When he picked me up from the airport, we went straight to meet up with his friend. He gave us an address to meet him… When we got there he walked us into a doorway and we walked right into a recording studio full of people… We sat down and got what we needed from our guy, right as someone in the room comes over with a big chain and watch and says “who are you?” I told him we were just there to meet with our guy and that I was a producer/engineer from Florida. He looked at me and said “you got some beats with you?” I had my backpack with my laptop in it and I told him I did, he went over to the engineer and said “let this dude plug his shit in for a minute, he got

12 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

beats” The engineer had me sit down next to him, I plugged in my computer, and I began to play a few beats, everyone got quiet. At first I didn’t know if they were feeling it or not, until I turned around and two people were rapping to themselves over the beats with huge smiles on their face… They asked me if any of my beats were for sale and I told them they were all for sale. We went through a few more beats until they found one that they had to have… We exchanged emails for the paperwork. As I unplugged my laptop from the studio console, I sat down in the back of the studio with Kyle and we started talking to the other guys in the room. We all exchanged contact info and smoked a few while talking about music. All of the guys in the room had on a gold charm that said “BSM” I didn’t pay it that much attention. We slapped fives with everyone and left to head back to Kyle’s house. When we got back into his car I was so excited! Kyle told me to look up BSM, he didn’t know what it was either. I looked on Google to find out that I was just in the studio and sold a beat to some artists that are signed to Gucci Mane and Waka Flaka’s record label.13

For a music entrepreneur and independent record label owner like Kaplan, opportunities such as this have the potential to bring an independent startup record label out of a the home studio and into a vastly larger market. Traditional means of artists spending countless hours in the studio working with producers to create instrumental music that coincides with the artist’s vision for a song still exist, but with the technological developments in production equipment, DJ programs,

Internet databases, and social media a new world of opportunities now exist for established and unknown artists alike.

Artists/Fan Relationship and Social Media

It is a difficult path for any modern artists to live in a resolutely analog world. For a modern artist to survive, accounts on one, if not all, possible social media sites are next to necessary. The producer and consumer’s day to day interaction with people has changed drastically over the last ten years due to social media. It has connected the planet and has given us agency to explore things corporate entities would keep us ignorant to. It has been impactful to consumers markets and therefore to the established and unknown music producers as well. It has

13 Eli Kaplan, interview by author over Facebook Messenger.

given consumers a new way to interact with their favorite celebrities. It has brought forth the concept of the global community by providing a platform for anyone with access to the Internet to congregate and exchange ideas. Gooding explains this process: “Somebody can post something in Alaska and I can see it now. [We] don’t really have barriers anymore. Whatever’s hot in this place it could be hot globally because once the trend sets...”14

The interconnectivity of the planet is such now that I could post a song I produced on

Soundcloud or Youtube, share it on a social media platform where it is seen by my friends in

Germany, Finland, England, Japan, Trinidad, Brazil, Florida and California. They in turn share it with their friends both locally and internationally who share it with their friends etc.; after a day I have 100,000 followers and 250,000 views (or plays) for this one song alone, along with an international fan base. Now this anecdote is an example of Internet content “going viral” or

“trending” and is not an everyday occurrence but the fact that this possibility exists is a recent phenomenon that is only attainable because of the developments of social media, and video and music databases sites. Leacock tells how social media has also affected relationship between international artists and their fans.

You have a one to one relationship with the fans now. Where as it used to be a many to one relationship. Back in the day, if you wanted to interact with an artist you had to go to his show. You could buy a Prince record or a Michael Jackson poster or you could join the fan club but that was it. Now you can get a reply on Twitter, or you can get Drake to like your photo on Instagram, that didn’t exist. So it’s one to one now as a fan or as an artist you can reach out directly to people and be like, “Yo, I like your remix, I want to fuck with you,” or “I like this piece of fan art that you made I want you to work on a project.”15

14 Edwin Gooding, interviewed by author.

15 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

Because of social media, artists are typically expected to interact with fans this way in order to maintain their fan base. Fans subscribe to artist pages and are invited into the everyday occurrences of an artist life. Artists are expected to “tweet” their every thought as fans obsessively share and “retweet” those thoughts. It is worth noting that images of people presented on social media are a product of strategic projection, meaning: a person is only going to present what they want others to perceive them to be. However an artist shaping their public image is not new and therefore the artist that we as consumers experience, whether on social media, at a concert, in a music video, or in music lyrics, are all a product of strategic projection; it is the image that we expect of them so they in turn provide it for us via social media sites.

The difference is that now the interactions can be reciprocated as in the Drake example provided by Leacock. Some artists maintain multiple pages as a way to channel users to appropriate projects and bring attention to specific works or shows. In the case of Chris

“Jillionaire” Leacock (as of 2017) a variety of pages are connected to him and his works such as his own Facebook artist page which anyone can subscribe to under the moniker of Jillionaire,

Major Lazer’s group page and his own personal Facebook page that hails his birth name, Chris

Leacock, which only he can invite subscribers to. Although this notion of strategic projection can be analyzed from the perspective of identity construction, it also shows a new way fans and artists are interacting.

This section has explained a variety of different ways technological developments have changed the way consumers and producers of music interact. Modern smart phones and tablets have become very powerful hand held computers that have drastically changed the way consumers and producers of music relate to each other. As it has been revealed in previous discussion as technology leaps forward so do the trends in the popular music market. The next

section discusses current popular music trends and the development of technologies that have facilitated them.

Major Lazer and Current Pop Trends

“Blow a kiss fire a gun, we gon need someone to lean on.” During the summer of 2015, while residing in Norway, this hook was projected out of speakers all across southern Norway up the Oslo fjord and into Sweden. I frequently found myself shocked at the amount of rotation

Major Lazer’s hit “Lean On” was receiving on stations throughout the areas of Scandinavia I had been exposed to. I casually attributed the songs popularity to the fact that the singer Mø, that collaborated with Major Lazer, was Danish and chalked it up to cultural pride that a

Scandinavian was receiving exposure in the US market; this sentiment is not hard to comprehend considering how much pride Norwegians have in Scandinavian artists that have achieved market penetrations like ABBA and a-ha. However my dismissal of the global exposure Major Lazer was achieving had been misguided. It was in November as Christmas was approaching, that I began hearing another single by Major Lazer, “Powerful” a song featuring Jamaican artists

Tarrus Riley and British singer/songwriter Elllie Goulding, being played in retail stores like

H&M and Cubus as I was shopping for presents. It was around the same time “Powerful” began seeing rotation (albeit short-lived) that I discovered a remix of a track “Light It Up” posted to

Soundcloud. By April of the following year the “Light It Up” remix had achieved regular rotation on Norwegian pop music radio.

I first stumbled across Major Lazer in 2013 serendipitously while doing research on soca music. I discovered a song by Bunji Garlin, “Differentology,” that came out for the 2013 carnival season on Youtube (ca. November 2012). It was then remixed with EDM breaks, and then remixed again and featured American hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes that following December. I noticed that in the EDM remix Garlin kept saying “Major Lazer” throughout the song. At that

time I thought it was nothing more than a “shout out” or “big up” to a producer or DJ that remixed the song for the US market.16

The following carnival, 2014, produced three notable tracks in relation to this discussion about collaborations: “Sound Bang” by Machel Montano, a dubplate of “Doh Tell Meh Dat” by

Junior Blender and Flipo, as well as Bunji Garlin’s “It’s Carnival,” a collaboration between

Garlin, Diplo, and Alex “Kubiyashi” Barnwell. It was in 2015, two weeks before j’vourt, that made me take notice and do research on Major Lazer when they released a song “One Wine” featuring Machel Montano and Sean Paul. In hindsight the union of these three was inevitable;

Major Lazer had worked with Montano the previous year (2014 when they released “Sound

Bang”) and with Sean Paul on a song “Come On To Me” from Major Lazer’s Apocalypse Soon album.

Trap Music

One sub-genre of hip-hop that Major Lazer uses in their production, trap music, will be discussed here as it relates to soca. Plaza defines trap as:

Trap music is an EDM genre that draws many of its characteristics from hip hop [sic] and rap of the 1990s. The beats per minute are on the slower spectrum, ranging from 60- 90 beats per minute. Unlike hip hop music, where there is usually a vocal that takes up the primary focus of the song, the main focus on a Trap song is the instrumental. The drum and bass parts are arranged to greatly emphasize the “drop/hooks” sections in the song. Trap music is also known for using samples to complement the sections. Like dubstep, it is common to see a vocal sample mixed into the song right before the song transitions into a section.17

The definition provided by Plaza is from the perspective of an EDM incarnation of trap. It is great for providing an understanding how trap drops or hooks are used in the context of soca music. However before DJs like Troi Boi, Flosstradamus, and DJ Snake began experimenting

16 A “shout out” or “big up” is a colloquial term used in soca, dancehall, hip-hop and other music cultures as a way of paying homage or respect to another artist, DJ, Producer, or role model.

17 Plaza, “‘Where’d You Find This?’” 15.

with trap, hip-hop producers from the southern U.S. had long been using these types of production styles. The origins of trap are derived from hip-hop culture in the South and the narrative of the denizens from said culture including the struggle that so often accompanies it.

Kat Bein explains in “It’s a Trap!” that:

In the mid-aughts a wave of steely-eyed southern rappers introduced hip-hop fans to a new piece of slang: “the trap.” Used narrowly, the term refers to a place where drug deals are made—say, an open-air drug market in a blighted city neighborhood. But it can also be used in a broader sense to describe the drug trade itself, as well as the particular psychic state—a blend of paranoia and megalomania—that tends to accompany long-term employment as a dealer. These rappers were so single- mindedly focused on the minutiae of the cocaine trade and the dealing life that fans and critics grouped them together under the rubric “trap rap.”18

Trap rap can trace its lineage all the way back to the release of the Roland TR-808. Kat Bein mentions, “1980. The Roland TR-808 is released. Its deep bass bumps matched with tinny snares and hi-hats will become central to the trap sound.”19 Although T.I.’s album Trap Muzik was the first body of work to don the name, trap’s thread is woven as far back into the early 1990s with chopped and screwed sampling techniques of DJ Screw and the deep bass sounds of the Miami

Bass scene with groups like 2 Live Crew. Jason Smalou explains:

It is commonly accepted that the current incarnation of trap is an EDM reinterpretation of rap music that came out of Atlanta in the early noughts, made popular by artists such as T.I. and Lil’ Jon who found their inspiration in the sounds of South Florida. After making that connection, it is even easier to see how influential the genre was and is: it all goes back to Miami bass.20

18 Miles Raymer, “Who owns trap? Does music born of Dirty South drug wars have any place in squeaky-clean dance clubs?” Chicago Reader, (November 20, 2012).

19 Kat Bein, “It’s a Trap! An 11-Part History of Trap Music, From DJ Screw to Gucci Mane to Flosstradamus” Miami New Times (July 25, 2012).

20 Justin Shamlou, “Miami Bass: The Origins of South Beach’s First Movement,” Magnetic (Aug 24, 2015).

The heavy bass and tinny treble of the TR- 808 sound persisted throughout the 1990s with the end result coming to fruition in Atlanta Georgia at the turn of the century. David Drake discusses:

Browse the Internet for an understanding of Trap and you’ll find a pretty straightforward story: The genre was created by rappers like T.I., Young Jeezy, and Gucci Mane, who were referencing a life of drug-dealing, and producers like DJ Toomp, Shawty Redd and Lex Luger, whose aggressive production framed the intensely dark subject matter.21

DJ Troomp by this point was already a veteran in the industry having worked as a DJ for 2 Live

Crew in the early1990’s.22 It was in 2001 that Troomp met T.I. and the two produced the albums

I’m Serious (2001) and Trap Muzik (2003). There are those who would frown on club cultures appropriation of trap music expressing the sentiment that the club DJs’ adoption dismisses the fundamental principles of the music’s source and the culture of violence that accompanies it.

Drake further elaborates:

DJs and producers working primarily in the dance world, interested in pushing the boundaries of music and introducing their audiences to new sounds (or other similarly high-minded motives), started building upon the developments of these innovators, adapting their sound for a whiter, less-rap-oriented rave crowd. Then comes the controversy, and we’re all forced to choose sides: Trap is good, and can bring artists and fans from different worlds together. Trap is bad because it trivializes serious issues stemming from the American “War on Drugs” and an accelerating prison population.23

The issue of EDM’s appropriation of trap is a very dynamic and intense issue. David Drake’s sentiment is one that has been echoed by scholars regarding cultural appropriations for quite some time, as can be seen in Perry Hall’s “African American Music…” essay from Borrowed

Power:

21 David Drake, “Real Trap Sh*t? The Commodification of Southern Rap's Drug-Fueled Subgenre” Complex (Oct 9, 2012).

22 XXL Staff, “DJ Troomp Look At Me Now” XXL Magazine (March 29, 2007).

23 Drake, “Real Trap Sh*t?”

The pattern of separating the art from the people leads to an appropriation of aesthetic innovation that not only “exploits” Black cultural forms, commercially and otherwise, but also nullifies the cultural meaning those forms provide for African Americans. The appropriated forms become ineffective as expressions and affirmations of the unique cultural experiences from which they arise.24

However one could argue that once cultural forms have been commodified by their culture bearers and have been allowed to be subjugated and exploited by the corporate music industry for monetary gains, arguments of cultural appropriations becomes a very slippery slope. The issue of appropriations becomes more difficult to navigate as the collaboration variable is added.

Major Lazer Introduction and Pop Music Trends

Since soca music has and always will be influenced by other music cultures, especially

American pop music, a brief summary of more recent trends in the popular music market is helpful to understand the various genres that have been influencing soca music over the last 8 years. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) or various genres from under the umbrella of EDM have been highly influential in the popular music market and continue to be. It was from this community or “scene” of clubs, festival, and “parties” (raves) DJs that a group emerged headed by Miami raised Wesley “Diplo” Pence that would have a major influence on popular music culture and by extension soca music in Trinidad.

Originally Major Lazer comprised Diplo and DJ Switch, the producers responsible for

M.I.A.’s song “Paper Planes”; a song that was released in 2007, peaked Billboard’s Hot 100 at number four and spent 20 weeks on the chart. After Switch’s departure, around 2013, Jamaican born Leighton Paul “Washy Fire” Walsh and Trinidadian Chris “Jillionaire” Leacock joined the group and continued the Major Lazer project.25 The group has been wildly successful in the

24 Perry A. Hall, “African-American Music: Dynamics of Appropriation and Innovation,” Borrowed Power: Eassays on Cultural Appropriation, Rutgers University Press (1997): 35.

25 Matt Diehl, “Diplo Juggles serious and silly on Major Lazer’s New Album,” Rolling Stone, January 8, 2013.

popular music market as well as in many international markets. Rolling Stone reports “Diplo and

Major Lazer… played an open-air concert to a crowd of half a million Cubans on March 6th.”26

Their sound blurs the styles of soca, hip-hop, dancehall, reggae and various EDM genres among many other genres of music.

The DJ and MC Partnership

In 2013 the Internet proverbially broke after the release of DJ Snake and Lil’ Jon’s

Smash hit “Turn Down for What?” During that summer it was next to impossible to not find a memes or video that sampled this song. Evidence of this is supported by an article issued in the

Huffington Post’s “Turn Down for Whats (DJ Snake + Lil Jon x Pop Culture)” published on

May 8, 2014.27 This unification between the EDM DJ and MC, rapper, chanter, or hypeman was not new at the time. Major Lazer had already released the album Guns Don’t Kill People…

Lazers Do that combined the DJ stylings of Diplo and DJ Switch with a plethora of American and Jamaican performers. However “Turn Down for What” showed the globalizing power of social media to spread a cultural phenomenon to all corners of the earth as well as showed the creative (and also monetary) potential of the fusion between trap rap and EDM; this fusion went another step further as Major Lazer’s music endeavors began mixing these trends with soca and dancehall.

The bpm relationships between soca (both power and groovy) and trap style bass drops that DJs have become familiar with are not that far removed from their relationship with reggae that Major Lazer used in “Sound Bang.” For example in “Sound Bang” the song alternates between choruses in reggae style (opening with a riff played on an ukulele) at 80 bpm and a

26 Jordan Runtagh, “Musicians Visit Cuba: A Look Back,” Rolling Stone, March 22, 2016.

27 Shira Lazar, “Turn Down for Whats (DJ Snake + Lil Jon x Pop Culture),” Huffington Post (May 8, 2014). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shira-lazar/turn-down-for-whats-dj-sn_b_5288581.html

power soca style verse (complete with what sounds similar to a steelband rhythm section) at

160bpm. Similarly in the Major Lazer/P.A.F.F. remix of Bunji Garlin’s “Exodus,” the song switches between a power soca section at its original tempo of 164bpm and an EDM trap style bass drop section at 82 bpm. Because of the double time tempo relationship power soca has to other genres, it is easily adapted to and mixed with other genres like hip-hop, trap, and reggae.

Dubplates

The term dubplate is a slang term developed in dub and dancehall culture and has two definitions. As the Urban Dictionary defines it, a dubplate can be the literal acetate disc used in recording studios to master tracks, the doubling of the original, as well as it was the predecessor of vinyl records. However, the term dubplate has also come to signify a special or exclusive recording specifically for a DJ, producer, or other artists.28 Anne Mac, a dance music DJ for

BBC Radio 1, divulged in an interview with Diplo her definition of a dubplate before Diplo played her one he obtained from Madonna that sang “last night I dreamt of Major Lazer…”

So a dubplate… is kind of a weapon in that it is a special version of that song that an artist has reordered, just for you, with alternate lyrics usually putting your name in them and people from all sound system culture use dubplates as a way to win a sound clash. 29

This definition was corroborated by Finnish scholar Ramstedt in his articles “Sound System

Performances and the Localization of Dancehall in Finland” and “Chase Sound Boys Out of

Earth. The Aura of Dubplate Specials in Finnish Reggae Sound System Culture.”30

28 G Notorious, “Top Definition for Duplate,” Urban Dictionary, posted February 19, 2004.

29 Channel 4/BBC show titled Super Star DJ’s with Anne Mac as host, found on youtube and quote was from 20:16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLc1jlwysFs

30 Kim Ramstedt, “Sound System Performances and the Localization of Dancehall in Finland.” Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music 4, no 1 (2014): 42-55.

–– “‘Chase Sound Boys Out of Earth’ The Aura of Dubplate Specials in Finnish Reggae Sound System Culture.” PhD diss., Åbo Akademi University, 2015.

The version of “Exodus” posted by Riddimcracker Chunes can be used as an example for explaining dubplates and samples and how they function with soca in remixes.31 Bunji Garlin sends out a big up to Major Lazer by saying “Straight up ahead, Major Lazer is up ahead” in his own voice where the original lyrics would have said “Straight up ahead, there’s a big stage up ahead;” I theorize that this part was derived from a dubplate obtained by one of the members of

Major Lazer. However, as this line repeats itself in the original, the remix has a vocal sample singing “P.A.F.F” edited in right before Garlin’s voice returns “…is up ahead.” This theory is further supported at 1’18” when Garlin says the names “Jillionaire, Walshy Fire, and Diplo, we mash up the whole place” before the following bass drop section, but there is no mention of

P.A.F.F. in Garlin’s voice, only samples edited in.

In another example, Flipo’s “Doh Tell Meh Dat,” the Major Lazer remix differs slightly lyrically from the original in two spots.

Original: Sweden gyal just wine for me…

Well ah in de dance ah hop on ah bumper Hold on to mah gyal feel she structure Hands in the air I come to break way…

Dubplate: Major Lazer make the girls wine for me…

Diplo ah in de dance hop up on ah bumper Walshy Fire hold on to ah gyal feel she structure Hands in the air Major Lazer come break way…

Similar to the “Exodus” example, the changed lyrics were sung by Flipo himself and not a sample edited in by the DJ; this was a recording created specifically for Major Lazer.

31 I have not received any information from my sources as to how this remix was produced nor am I claiming such. I have created this theory from observation, analysis, and deductive reasoning.

Experimentations with soca dubplates and remixing of songs broaden the musical vocabulary of soca and shows how it fits together with other genres of music. Soca is a hybrid music and soca artists will inevitably continue to experiment with new and different genres.

Leacock’s comment about the naysayers is: “It’s going to be younger and it’s going to be better and it’s going to be faster. We live in a constantly evolving world and we can’t stop the world from spinning so we can complain about it.”32 With technologies like Splice making collaborations limitless, the doors to hybridity among all genres of music have been disintegrated with a Lazer.

This chapter has shown on many levels how technological developments and globalization have had a major impact on music production. The Internet and affordable user- friendly access to the Internet is reshaped local trends with global exposure; it has facilitated the emergence of the global community and fostered a one to one interaction between artists and fans. By extension these same developments in technology have shaped musical trends. As new hardware and software is developed, new avenues for producers to exploit are created. Remixes, dubplates, and sampling have had a long history in the popular music market. But as new technological developments are achieved, producers and artists are finding new ways to incorporate them and this in turn creates new trends in the popular music market. Historically, collaborations have played a role in shaping soca music. As artists from different cultural backgrounds interact and make music together music evolves as local trends are shared with collaborators and artists appropriate each other’s styles.

However as cross-cultural collaborations happen and more and more consumers and producers gain access to the global community, cultural appropriations become more and more

32 Chris Leacock, interviewed by author.

inevitable. These appropriations can be highly problematic as scholars, journalists, celebrities, and artists begin tossing around accusations of cultural appropriations. In the next chapter I discuss accusations of cultural appropriations as well as a variety of benefits and issues that arise as the global community grows and trends in the popular music market change the shape of music that is being produced.

CHAPTER 5 COMMODIFICATION AND APPROPRIATION

By the time I was old enough to decide for myself what music I wanted to listen to hip- hop and hip-hop culture were already established and commodified by the corporate music industry. At that time Public Enemy and A Tribe called Quest were producing conscious hip-hop and acts like Kriss-Kross and Vanilla Ice had become commodified, money making tools of the industry. Although I am multi-ethnic, I have primarily a white phenotype. I grew up in a small rural community that was multicultural and multiethnic. As an adult I can look back on my preteen years and analyze instances where I had appropriated the cultural forms not considered my own, however as an eleven year old all I understood was that my friends and peers wore

“everything to the back with a little slack, cuz inside out is wiggidy wiggidy wiggidy wack” and so did I.

I frequently used to (and still do at times) use colloquialisms that originate from black communities of Southern California. I was nine years old when I first stumbled across a copy of

Too Short’s Life is… TooShort. Although for the following three years I was directed towards more commercial and conscious hip-hop, being an inhabitant of Southern California, there was no denying the culture defining album The Chronic and subsequent Death Row Records releases.

My influences as a youth and the multicultural environment I grew up in have embedded hip-hop and hip-hop culture into the very fabric of my identity to this day. So I ask, if I made a hip-hop album would it still be a cultural appropriation?

Analysis of Globalization

As the introduction to this chapter alludes, some of the variables that arise due to the emergence of rampant transnationalism, globalization on a massive scale, and access to the global community are free cultural exchange and instant access to cultural forms other than that

which makes up a person’s cultural identity. Cultural appropriation is a term that has been used substantially not only in discourse but broadcasted on social media, blogs and web magazines, by fans, celebrities, journalists and artists. However, before in-depth analysis about this multi- faceted and complex topic begins, an analysis of who benefits and how needs to be established in order to determine the consequences of cultural appropriations that are occurring.

From a personal lens of composer, producer, arranger, and artist, it is not difficult to see why genre mixing can be beneficial and sampling facilitates that process. In the early days of pan, it was common practice for pan arrangers to appropriate western-classical compositions for pan in calypso tempo and style to demonstrate the potential of pan as an orchestral instrument.1

Pan arrangers also arranged everything from mambos to film music as a way to capitalize on what was fashionable at the time in order to captivate their audiences. Now in a digital age, pen and staff paper have been replace by computers with waveform sequencing programs. Johann

Chuckaree talks about working to create Indigisounds, a digital library of high quality pan and rhythm section samples and what that potentially translates to being a modern composer/arranger and music producer:

The sample library is called Indigisounds you can visit www.Indigisounds.com. It’s for a Native Instruments Kontakt player software library. Basically what it is, is a four gig sample library with a few thousand samples. We have been able to sample from the tenor pans: C tenor pan, Low D. We’ve done two double seconds, double tenor, double guitar, triple cello, quadraphonic pans, six bass, two or three types of 6 bass. We’ve also done a small rhythm section or engine room as well as we have a massive rhythm section sample library coming out soon. That’s in collaboration with Just Now… And also a collaboration with the laventille rhythm section which is one of the biggest rhythm sections here in Trinidad. Our sample library is a high quality sample library. We’ve taken the actual acoustic instruments into the studio and each note sampled note for note up to 5 velocities. It really gives you the ability to take your scoring to the next level, to take your production to the next level, to convert maybe a midi file that you might have into something that actually sounds

1 Shannon Dudley, “Dropping the Bomb,” Music From Behind the Bridge: Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago. New York: Oxford University Press (2008):113.

like a pan side…I was able earlier this year to work with the Calypso Association in France, which is a steelband association and I had to teach them some of “More Love” Phase II’s song from last year. I thought “Hmm, I don’t think we’re going to have enough time” cuz we had a show in a week’s time I had to teach them the song and I was only coming up a couple days before. So what I’ll do, I’ll score it in either Logic or Finale or Sibelius score it for them and send it over. But I thought, “what would really be great is if I can send them the audio for the parts as well.” What I did was using Indigisounds I used Logic and I played in everything because it was a lot quicker than scoring.2 sampling programs allow any sound file to be used as a compositional tool and producers have made an art form out of recontextualizing existing music and sounds into new pieces of music.

Coupled with access to virtually any genre of music over the Internet, the modern producer has the world’s music and sounds at their disposal.

Collaborations, Dubplates, Sampling, and Remixing

Collaboration is a common practice in the age of digital music making as well. It allows an established artist to showcase a marginalized artist or two artists from different backgrounds to share fans. It is a symbiotic relationship that usually benefits both parties by, not only featuring a marginal artist, but allowing established artists to diversify a record with a different style, image, or genre.

Dubplates and remixes allow a marginalized music to be palatably familiar to an audience that would not normally hear the music. However the comments that accompanied

Garlin’s “Exodus” posted by Riddimcracker Chunes (Figure 5-1) reveals a very negative attitude with the dubplate being labeled as a soca: “This is shit on many level serious level” and “How the hell is this soca.” However, is it wrong to remix a soca tune for the sake of presenting it to an audience that would otherwise remain ignorant to its existence?

2 Johann Chuckaree, interviewed by author. “…and I played in everything because it was a lot quicker” was referencing a midi controller shaped like a tenor pan that was set up next to us during the interview.

Figure 5-1. Youtube comment thread to Bunji Garlin’s “Exodus” posted by Riddimcracker Chunes

Collaboration, samples, dubplates and remixing allow for a certain amount of lucrative opportunity for all parties involved. It could be argued that by introducing foreign music samples into a production, the producer is merely trying to exploit the cultural music forms of the

“others” by exotifying, objectifying or commodifying them. However the counter argument is that an incorporation of a marginalized culture and their forms could be a producer’s attempt at inclusion.

In a live recording of a BBC broadcast Diplo posted on Soundcloud in 2015, a record was mixed in eleven minutes in that firmly caught my attention; the lyrics were in a language I could not identify and the melodic contour of both vocals and horns was not typical of western music I was familiar with. At the time I was interacting with immigrants from various cultures around

Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and began questioning them about the language. I eventually found out that the language was a hybrid language of Arabic and French and I was pointed in the direction of Algeria rai. After extensive research into Algerian popular music

yielded nothing, I discovered (via music identification app Sound Hound) that the song was “Ya

Rayah (Balkin Mix)” by an artist called Shantel. Shantel is an international DJ, based out of

Germany, specializing in southern European and Middle Eastern music.3 Originally “Ya Rayah” is a traditional Algerian Chaâbi composed in the 1970s attributed to Dahmane El Harrachi. The conclusion this anecdote reveals is “Ya Rayah” has had a history of remixing before it was picked up by Diplo and used in a BBC broadcast. Without context, Diplo’s incorporation of this song could be viewed as an exotification or exploitation of a cultural product. However, with context, this perspective seems weakened.

Between 1995 and 2003, internal conflict in Algeria initiated a wave of migration to the

UK; in 2004 it was estimated that 20,000 to 25,000 Algerians immigrated.4 On one hand this could be an instance of Diplo objectifying, exploiting, or exotifying another culture. On the other hand it could be that Diplo was simply attempting to incorporate the music of an immigrant community of listeners. Given the Algerian immigrant population in the U.K., Diplo’s incorporation of “Ya Rayah” in his BBC broadcast implies inclusion. The lyrical content of “Ya

Rayah” is that of the traveler, immigrant or wandering star. Being a DJ that is always flying from one city to another, playing shows and parties, a song about a wandering star may be something that Diplo himself can identify with.

Music has the potential to be a cultural unifier. By seamlessly mixing in the popular music of a marginalized culture with music from the popular music market, Diplo shows that the major difference between the two is how we perceive the music of the “others.” The primary role of a DJ is to splice together various songs in order to make an audience feel comfortable enough

3 This information was paraphrased from his Facebook page in 2014.

4 Communities and Local Government, The Algerian Muslim Communities in England: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities, Change Institute (April 2009).

in their space to dance. If a DJ knows that their audiences are immigrants, why not mix in something that is familiar to them in order to make that community feel welcome and incorporated. However given the circumstances of the set being recorded and posted on

Soundcloud, it is not just the BBC listeners that have access to it but rather the entire global community. This could potentially lead to a new set of issues as members of the global community begin sampling the music from Diplo’s set. The integrity of “Ya Rayah” as a cultural product becomes lost in a cultural mashup.

The Cultural Mashup

To the modern DJ, “mashup” is a term used to describe a technique that involves playing aspects of two songs simultaneously, usually the lyrics and melody from one song with a rhythmic loop from another typically titled as X vs Y (M.I.A. vs. Bon Jovi mashup, “M.I.A.

Wanted Dead or Alive).5 Although this technique is most commonly used as novelty, it provides the perfect metaphor for the way a large portion of the western population (primarily people of the U.S. and Europe) view Caribbean culture.

Cultural mashup is further perpetuated by the trend of international collaboration. It is easy to see how the common consumer of music could mistake Machel Montano for Jamaican after he collaborated with Sean Paul in the song “One Wine.” Because Paul has achieved far more success in the popular music market and is a known Jamaican dancehall innovator, it easy to assume that an unknown artists with a similar accent, is Jamaican as well. It could be argued that this cultural mashup could dilute Trinidadian identity when Trinidadian’s biggest cultural icon is mistakenly identified as Jamaican. However whose responsibility is it to educate audiences about the cultural music forms accessible by the global community?

5 For an example: BuyYourMusic, “M.I.A. Wanted Dead or Alive! DJ Scmolli/VJ Jaren,” Youtube, Posted October 6, 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3X9rYVpUWc.

While I interviewed Leacock a fair amount of time was spent on this topic. I asked him what he thought about cultural mashup and how the music he made affected it. He responded:

When you’re in the midst of it, you just learn to accept it and realize I’m just going to make good music and those who understand will understand. It’s like my mom who listens to a lot of different music but anything with a four-on-the-floor is techno, or anybody of her age group. I’m not going to try to educate my mom “This is progressive house or this is what techno actually is.” So if people are listening to soca music or records that have been influenced by the sound of the Caribbean and they fundamentally identify, whether it be Jamaica or.., then so be it. It’s an educational process that’s going to be bigger than you or me or any of us independently. And it’s going to take up much longer time than a year or two or five years until people understand “oh, this comes from Trinidad.”6

However there are many who disagree with Leacock. Many Trinidadians who were alive when

Trinidad gained their independence from the British, worked diligently to establish a Trinidadian national identity. On the other hand, there is also a notion that “the existence of shared cultures and histories suggests that sometimes these entitlements might also be shared or sharable” as Ziff and Pratima suggest. 7 Under this assumption, it seems inevitable that a generic Caribbean identity could potentially supplant national identity; whether this is damaging or not is up to those that are encompassed by the shared identity. Leacock shared:

I think the more people can have a conversation about it and the more that they’re aware about it, it benefits us as Trinidadians or as culture directors, or as musicians. I don’t think that it’s damaging necessarily, the thing about it is the people who need to know are going to know. You could probably have the same conversation about what’s the difference between the music that comes from Ghana as oppose to the music that comes from South Africa as oppose to the music that comes from Nigeria. Maybe some of them might be similar, maybe some of them might be different. Again, I’m embedded, … I’m aware, so I’ll be more in-tune to say “Ok, I know Timaya comes from here, I know that Runtown comes from here, and I know that this other guy comes from here” but it’s the average guy who turns on the radio and hears the one cross-over hit when your with your friends, can you be offended that he doesn’t know the difference? I don’t think so. Is there a way for us to repair that? Yes there is, but at the same time the specialty music that’s from the

6 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

7 Ziff and Pratima, “Introduction to Cultural appropriation” 3.

Caribbean or from Africa or from Asia is not ever going to be what’s playing on radio every day in America. It’s a moot point trying to explain that “this guy’s actually from Jamaica and this guy’s from Trinidad and this guy’s from Barbados.” I think ultimately the people that have a general interest are the ones that are going to do the research and the ones that will know the difference.8

The point Leacock makes is highly valid and evidence of this presented itself in the anecdote of my discovery and subsequent research of “Ya Rayah.” Being a musician, an ethnomusicologist, and a composer, it is in my nature to hear a snippet of something I enjoy and deconstruct it musically and culturally. However to the common consumer or passive listener of music, music research such as this is not typical behavior.

It could be argued that as a culture bearer for a marginalized music being presented to the popular music market like Leacock, it is his responsibility to educate his audience about the various cultural forms he presents in his music ̶ especially that of his own culture ̶ so I asked him what he thought.

I don’t feel a responsibility to educate as much as I feel a responsibility to remain true to myself and true to where I came from. Which means that when I speak to you, I might speak to you in more correct tones, but I don’t have an American accent. I feel a responsibility to play reggae and dancehall and soca music when I DJ because I come from that background and it represents who I am and where I come from. I’m not super Trini, I don’t have to wear a red white a black suit every time I leave the house and feel like I have to put out a calypso mixtape every three months. It’s not like that but I have to make sure if I’m doing a party like “Chicken and Beer” I have to make sure that I’m going to play soca music. Bunji Garlin’s ganna come, Machel Montano’s ganna come. If I’m doing Coachella Machel’s going to be there one weekend and Bunji’s going to be there the next weekend. If we’re having a conversation about a new project that I’m ganna say “maybe we should get Kerwin du Bois involved, maybe we should get Kes involved.” My responsibility is to make sure the window is always open or that the door is always ajar so that I can present these opportunities to the people that are from the Caribbean.9

8 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

9 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

While Leacock’s response expresses his national identity, it indicates a connection to a broader

Caribbean identity because he “comes from that background.” This statement also brings up the complex nature of identity; it reveals a person can identify nationally but also finds comfort in shared identity. As an international DJ and a transnationalist, Leacock’s identity becomes even more complex as he emphasizes his need to maintain his individual identity, national identity and his shared Caribbean identity all while navigating a global aspect to his identity. Leacock divulges:

I was in Cuba and then I flew from Cuba to New York via Mexico, and then the next day I flew from New York to Istanbul. I have friends and associates in Cuba, I have friends and associates in New York, and I have friends and associates in Istanbul… I have just developed a lifestyle where I’m constantly on the go and constantly trying to assimilate as much as possible and absorb as much as possible.”10

Leacock has the need to construct a global identity along with the rest of the layers to his identity. This also affords him and the rest of Major Lazer the opportunity to bring together artists and cultural forms from vastly different cultures under the umbrella of video and music production. It is revealed in the following section how these elements of an international DJ’s identity place them at the center of music’s cross-cultural exchange.

Exposure All Around

Regular DJs are mainly known for mixing or remixing music that has already been established; however, as the modern DJ begins creating original material, a new plethora of issues and opportunities may arise. Because the trio that makes up Major Lazer are all DJs, there is no spotlight performer as in traditional ensembles like rock bands and pop acts. Walshy Fire has been known to don the title of “hype man” but he is not known for his chanting or singing and is not the only one of the group that “hypes” up the audience.

10 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

The opportunity that this affords during the creative process is one of constant collaboration. Tools like Splice (also cloud accounts like dropbox, icloud, google drive, etc) are not only a means of communicating musical ideas between the members of the group but also a means of communicating ideas to potential collaborative artists. In Major Lazer’s 2015 release

Peace is the Mission a wide variety of international singers, chanters, rappers, and performers were called upon to complete the album. The group called upon Machel Montano to sing on the track “All of My Love” with Ariana Grande a former Nickelodeon actress and American pop singer. Jamaican American reggae singer Tarrus Riley was combined with English singer/songwriter Ellie Goulding on the song “Powerful.” Montano and Riley have since collaborated on the 2016 release “Memory” from Montano’s album Monk Evolution.

For soca artists virtually unknown to the global market like Flipo, a plethora of opportunities arise from collaboration with a group like Major Lazer. Flipo’s name will now be permanently attached to Major Lazer in a Google search. A dubplate of “Doh Tell Meh That” was remixed and used for an advertisement for Mad Decent’s Boat Party that circulated around

Internet sites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Intagram.11 Other soca artists that have worked with Major Lazer, Montano and Garlin, have seen success in the popular music market by hosting shows like 106 and Park and performing for Hot 97’s hip-hop festival Summer Jam.12

Bunji Garlin has since worked with Damion “Gong” Marley on “The Message” (2015), a song expressing Caribbean unity in denouncing the culture of violence that “make everybody up inna de islands wah grab up something and squeeze.” Garlin has also made it a point to continue working with members of Major Lazer as well. “Television” (2016) is a collaboration between

11 Mad Decent is a record label co-owned by Diplo.

12 Natalie Weiner, “Listen to Major Lazer's Jillionaire Join Forces With Soca Star Bunji Garlin on 'Television' (Exclusive)” Billboard, April 12,2016.

Garlin and Jillionaire that exhibits Garlin’s lyrical ability and highlighting his history as a chanter. Jillionaire says that “I've been a fan of Bunji's freestyling since the first time I saw him perform, back in the early 2000s. We wanted to make a song that showcased his lyrical approach.”13 Major Lazer’s success in using international artists to headline their songs reveals the artistic and monetary potential of these marginalized artists and cultural music forms. As the popularization of soca grows, soca music could potentially bring an influx of tourist revenue to the islands of T&T from those around the globe who wish to experience the carnival spirit that are the frequent themes of soca lyrics. However monetizing and commodifying soca music, or any cultural forms, come at a cost that should be considered.

Commodification and Cultural Appropriation

Global exposure has a price tag attached to it. It can be debated whether it was a requirement by the corporate music industry that led to the compromise of reggae’s authenticity in order to monetize reggae to its fullest potential or Bob Marley’s desire to reach the largest number of people in order to spread his message. Either way, reggae went through a commodification process that had consequences. It could be argued that the appropriation of reggae and other Jamaican music forms by Southern California bands like Subime and No Doubt is a direct result of reggae’s commodification. This same pattern of commodification and appropriation of a cultural product can be seen in relation to dancehall and current trends in the popular music market.

Sean Paul’s Accusations

On September 5, 2016 an article was published by the Guardian in which Sean Paul claimed that Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift and Drake, among other artists, are appropriating

13 Weiner, “Listen to Major Lazer's Jillionaire.”

dancehall in a movement the article labels as “tropical pop.”14 Under this umbrella term Major

Lazer has come under fire as well. From a compositional perspective Paul’s claim that pop artists are using “Jamaican riddims,” “dancehall-oriented music” or “skeletal dancehall beats” is problematic. This is not to say that an appropriation of Caribbean forms by artists supported by corporate music industry is not happening, just that Paul claiming appropriation problematic.

In the case of Taylor Swift, a claim of appropriation could be made in reference to one of a dozen dance styles used in the choreography to the video; however, given the way in which

Paul’s comments are framed in Hannah Ellis-Petersen’s article in The Guardian, his claim of cultural appropriation does not hold any weight.

He’s even detected dancehall influences in artists who might be considered unlikely adopters of Jamaican riddims. “You can definitely hear it in Taylor Swift,” he says. “You know that song…?” He launches into a high-pitched rendition of the chorus of Shake It Off. “See, there’s definitely dancehall in there.”

The comment implies that a musical aspect was in question, but musically I was unable to detect any instance where dancehall design, melodic contour, or rhythms, the objects of dancehall, were directly appropriated.

First, the main musical element that the rest of the music in question has in common is the use of the tresillo rhythm. Even if, for example, part of tresillo is a thread in the rhythmic fabric this does not mean that it was appropriated from dancehall. While it is true that dancehall relays heavily on Tresillo as the foundation for their riddims, many other musical forms from all over Latin-America and the Caribbean also use tresillo in various forms as the foundation for their rhythmic structure. Rhythms cannot easily be copy written nor do they have ownership and

Paul’s claim over “skeletal dancehall beats” is not supported.

14 Hannah Ellis-Petersen, “Sean Paul: ‘Drake and Beiber Do Dancehall but Don’t Credit Where It Came From.’” The Guardian, September 5, 2016.

Second, dancehall was not originally packaged, commodified, and exploited by a dominant entity but by its most eminent modern culture bearer. Paul’s commodification of dancehall for the corporate music industry led to its appropriation and the subsequent trend of

“tropical pop” similar to the Marley/Sublime example. Justin Joffe comments about Paul in

Observer Magazine support this:

That was when I considered the fact that, for all its cultural currency, modern dancehall artists have also appropriated from their sonic forefathers, but written their messages of peace and togetherness as socialist dreck and instead succumbed to the same level of inward-focused, gaudy greed that Sean Paul today pulls off so effortlessly. I firmly believe that modern dancehall artists, in burying the energy, spirit and essence of the greats who came before them, are indulging in the same sort of appropriation that Sean Paul levied toward artists like Drake and Bieber.15

Although dancehall has seen success in the popular music market before with artists like Shaggy and Shabba Ranks, these artists have not had the impact on the popular music market like Paul.

He is responsible for presenting a version of dancehall different from that of its predecessors that is now understood as modern dancehall to journalists. From a quasi-Marxist perspective, when

Paul began to use dancehall as a commodity in the corporate music market, it then became

“equivalent to all other commodities.”16

Commodification, by abstracting the value of a cultural element, necessarily removes that element from its native context, changing its meaning and function and raising concerns about cultural degradation17

A similar process occurred with the commodification of trap rap and subsequent appropriations by DJs. Paul’s presence as an international dancehall superstar and dancehall’s subsequent

15 Justin Joffe, “Don’t Blame Drake: Modern Dancehall is Built on Appropriation.” Observer Magazine Website, September 8, 2016.

16 Richard A. Rodgers, “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation a Review and Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation” Communication Theory 16, no. 4 (2006):488.

17 Rodgers, “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation,” 488.

100

commodification rendered dancehall as another tool in the melting pot for the artists supported by the corporate music industry.

Third, the comments about cultural appropriations by Paul are prefaced in the article by comments of his struggle for relevancy in the popular music market. The way in which his interview is framed by the author, first presenting “Since about 2009, I was fighting that worry that I wasn’t relevant no more… It does stress you out at times. I was like, ‘I was up here and now I’m nothing to people,’” his argument is slightly overshadowed as either a publicity stunt or

Paul mourning the loss of his popularity at the hands of a younger generation of artists.

In spite of the arguments presented against Paul’s comments, appropriations of Caribbean forms happen frequently in the popular music market and the success of Major Lazer is evidence of that. However from a broader perspective, the way in which we as society are talking about cultural appropriations needs to be reevaluated. Now that so many of us are embedded in the global community and have access to foreign cultural forms, instances of cultural appropriation are going to increase. Ziff and Rao explain that:

…the idea of a “culture” is at the heart of the concept [appropriation] under study. That term is as indeterminate as any found within the social sciences. It cannot, therefore, be relied upon to set clear limits as to where the concept of cultural appropriation begins and ends.18

So how are we defining culture? Are immigrant and transnational communities and the communities they have embedded themselves into an extension of that culture? If so, do the rest of the community at large that do not belong to the immigrant population within that community have claims to the cultural forms of the immigrants by extension?

This inevitably brings us back around to the question, if I make a hip-hop album is it cultural appropriation? Diplo (and when discussing him later, Drake) both grew up in an

18 Ziff and Rao, “Introduction to Cultural Appropriation,” 2.

101

environment where Caribbean immigrant populations and their musics were pronounced and their cultural forms had an impact on the regional culture at large. This brings up the perspective of Ziff and Rao again.

The need to describe a community of insiders and outsiders is implicit in most of what has been said about the practice of appropriation… Sometimes the ‘in-ness’ or ‘out-ness’ of a particular individual will be reasonably incontestable. It is of course inevitable that certain divisions among cultural groups will be amorphous. Nevertheless, some test of group belonging seems required in discussions about cultural appropriation.19

Paul has labeled Diplo and Drake as outsiders to dancehall culture. The test Ziff and Rao refer to could be seen as justified in the instance of Diplo. He is a sound clash DJ that frequently retrieves dubplates from artists in and out of the Caribbean. He also does his part to help expose marginalized artists as previously discussed. However in the situation with Drake, the same claims cannot be made.

The Drake Situation

The accusations of appropriation in regards to Drake can be traced back to the controversy surrounding a leaked copy of Drake’s 2016 single “Controlla,” a song that uses a

“skeletal dancehall riddim” that featured the chanting of Jamaican DJ Popcaan. According to the rant posted on Youtube by Mr. Vegas, a prominent veteran member of the dancehall community, when the song was released on Drakes album Views Popcaan’s contributions were absent and were replaced by a Beenie man sample with no credit given to either Popcaan or Beenie man in the liner notes of the album; it was also clear that the manner in which the Beenie man sample was used was in poor taste as Vegas told Drake “don’t use my artists as introman!”20 He continued to explain how this pattern persisted until the release of Drake’s song “One Dance”

19 Ziff and Rao, “Introduction to Cultural Appropriation,” 3

20 Akademiks TV, “Dancehall Artist 'Mr Vegas' Says Drake is a FAKE who Used Dancehall Because its HOT!” Published to Youtube.com (May 18,2016).

102

where collaborative artists WizKid and Kyla were prominently featured in the liner notes of the album. If we consider more concepts from Ziff and Rao:

When we hear people talk about social practices by asserting that ‘in our culture, we…,’ they might be referring to values that they believe to be commonly held. But this prompts questions about what those values are and what we mean when we talk about a sense of sharedness. These problems are aggravated by the fact that analysis of cultural appropriation sometimes also emphasizes that what is being appropriated are cultural goods. Used in that way, ‘culture’ connotes some type of creative product (whether tangible or otherwise): these are the objects of appropriation.21

At face value this can appear to be an instance where cultural goods, dancehall compositional styles, rhythms, and design (the objects derived from dancehall music) along with actual compositions (samples), were exploited. However Rodgers explains:

Cultural exploitation commonly involves the appropriation of elements of a subordinated culture by a dominant culture in which the subordinated culture is treated as a resource to be “mined” and “shipped home” for consumption, as in the use of indigenous folk music by Western musicians and companies without financial compensation.22

What Popcaan received for compensation in this exchange of cultural goods was a “One Dance” dubplate that won Popcaan and his sound systems crew the Redbull Culture Clash in London.

This dubplate came complete with “all-new verses and choruses and even a shout-out to Popcaan himself” Fischer explains in High Snobiety Magazine.23

From this perspective, it can be framed as though an equal exchange of goods occurred.

Popcaan’s knowledge of dancehall and his assistance in creating songs with Drake was bartered for a one of a kind personalized copy of “One Dance” that can and was used as a secret weapon.

It can be argued that an equal exchange of cultural goods cannot occur because Drake is

21 Ziff and Rao, “Introduction to Cultural Appropriation,” 2

22 Rodgers, “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation ,” 486.

23 David Fischer, “Popcaan Dropped a Drake “One Dance” Dubplate and You Need to Listen to It Right Here,” High Snobiety Magazine (June 8, 2016).

103

embedded and supported by corporate music industry and is therefore framed as part of the dominant cultural. However when engaging in a discussion about the exchange of goods the perceived value of goods, from the perspective of both parties, needs to be analyzed in order to understand whether the exchange is equally beneficial to both parties. Being a sound clash DJ,

Popcaan may perceive the value of a one of a kind Drake dubplate to “One Dance,” that pays homage to him, worth more than the perceived value in being a feature on a Drake track. The notion that exposure in the popular music market is the ultimate value an artists can obtain assumes that the cultural goods of the dominant are worth more than that of the subordinates and further perpetuates a neocolonial agenda.

Discussions involving cultural appropriation often maintain a binary approach: in-ness and out-ness, dominant and subordinate. Much like the previous discussions in this thesis, a binary perspective lacks the depth needed to understanding complex, multi-level issues like cultural appropriation in a post global community society. It is easy to label Diplo and Drake as outsiders or the dominant culture exploiting a subordinate due to their positions of power in the corporate music industry and their influence on the popular music market. Diplo laments that “I only had turntables. I wish I got a guitar, then I wouldn’t have so much criticism.”24

Although his comments were said ironically, it seems absurd that this is the lament of the modern DJ for simply doing what a DJ does. If local practices from the culture (albeit transnational culture) in which they grew up in were those they identified with, and practiced as they grew up, it does not seem to be outside of the culture experience from whence they came.

Diplo then continues, “Haitians, Latinos, Cubans, white kids, Jewish kids and hood kids were all in the same neighborhood and the same schools…Miami [is] the most diverse place for human

24 Nick Lavine, “Diplo Hits Back at Major Lazer Critics: ‘No One Accused The Clash of Cultural Appropriation,” New Music Express, September 1, 2016.

104

beings I’ve ever been to.”25 Diplo’s music reflects the community from whence he came, the cultural mashup, the convergence of a variety of local and transnational communities.

Whether it was appropriate or not I made a hip-hop album because hip-hop is an integral part of the construction of my identity, and I engage the hip-hop community in every country/city/town I travel to. Although hip-hop is part of my identity, this does not mean that I used all aspects of hip-hop culture. I omitted many destructive themes utilized by hip-hop, such as misogyny or the violent “gangsta” image because they were aspects of hip-hop culture that I do not identify with. Regardless “Arcamunity” was released in 2012 on Soundcloud. Now that I am a transnational living in foreign country, I assume the role of culture bearer to other communities of people I come into contact with. One of the concepts that help to understand the complex situation that emerges due to increased transnationalism and the emergence of the global community is the notion Rodgers postulates of transculturation.

Transculturation and hybridity are as inescapable as cultural appropriation itself— an “always already” condition of contemporary culture. Although specific acts of transcultural appropriation vary in the degree of choice involved, for most individuals and cultures today, the condition of transculturation is an involuntary one.26

The idea of transculturation is important when entering into discussion about appropriation in a post global community society. With the global community reaching more and more people, the concept of transculturation needs to be addressed by scholars more frequently in order to fully understand situations like why Major Lazer’s video to “Lean On” prominently feature India and

Indian culture or why is Drake making dancehall records, as oppose to throwing around

25 Lavine, “Diplo Hits Back.”

26 Rodgers, “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation,” 493.

105

accusations of cultural appropriation any time an artist is influenced and incorporates music or art forms society perceives to not be his/her own.

The purpose of this discussion is not to deny the fact that cultural appropriations are happening; nor is this discussion meant to exonerate Major Lazer, Drake, Beiber or any other artist’s appropriations. Rather it is meant call attention to concepts that are in desperate need of an upgrade. If Rogers is right in claiming that cultural appropriations are “inescapable when cultures come into contact, including virtual or representational contact,” then we are in an age of unavoidable appropriation. The examples analyzed exhibit inclinations toward respect and appreciation or, like Leacock expresses, the need “to remain true to myself and true to where I came from…because I come from that background” as a means of constructing identity.

As more individuals join the global community, acts of cultural appropriation will become more frequent, not just with music, but language (especially colloquial language), dance, attire, cuisine, and any other elements relating to how we define culture. As humanity adapts to the newly emerging global community, the way in which we are discussing concepts like cultural appropriations need to evolve like soca has.

Culture is constantly evolving. It does us great disservice, especially those of us in the academic community, to presume that culture needs to stagnate as a means of preservation. It is the silliness of expecting soca to still sound like Super Blue’s music in the 1990s when visiting in 2012. By attempting to preserve culture we inhibit the agency of the members of that culture to adapt and survive, perpetuate a primitivist perspective of said culture, and sentence those encompassed by a cultural label to a future of stereotyping. Much like soca music, the concept of transculturation allows us to perceive culture as a malleable thing, view appropriations as a byproduct of cultural collisions, and enable those of us encompassed by a specific culture to

106

contribute to the perception of that culture. The idea of transculturation will be useful as the future of soca is discussed in the next chapter. It will assist in understanding how a term like afrosoca has evolved from referring to a style of dance developed by the Shakira Marshall to an overarching blanket term for the collaborative music between Caribbean and African artists.

107

CHAPTER 6 CURRENT TRENDS IN SOCA AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Current Trends in Soca Music (2017)

As soca artists continue to experiment, the awesome potential of a genre absorbing music in an age of digital globalization is only as limited as people’s capacity to continually reimagine music. Although the trend of soca mixing with dancehall or trap may wane in popularity, other experimentations are there to fill the void.

Afrosoca

As Jesse Serwer reports in The Fader a new trend of afrosoca exploded out of the Soca

Monarch with Olatunji’s triumph in 2015 with the song “Ola.”

On a Friday night last February, a singer in a gold lamé suit and matching kufi stepped off a throne to pounding drums and a loud chanting of his name. As Olatunji performed his single “Ola,” dancers in feathered headdresses and face paint interpreted its rhythms with movements like the etighi, a step popularized by Nigerian artist Iyanya’s 2012 hit, “Kukere.” Despite the West African signifiers, the performance took place in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where Olatunji is based, during one of the most climactic moments of 2015’s International Soca Monarch competition.1

According to Serwer, afrobeats style made their way from cultural centers in Nigeria and Ghana to transnationalist metropolitan centers such as London and Toronto. Melissa Noel of NBC news credits choreographer and dancer Shakira Marshall for the coining of the term afrosoca in 2012.2

The claim of afrosoca being a “new” trend is debatable, as artists like Rudder had been fusing sounds of soca with Shouter Baptist and Orisha music since the 1980s. The popularity of afrosoca’s current incarnation has grown to draw the attention of Sean Paul who had paired with

Ghana-born UK recording artist Fuse ODG’s release “Dangerous Love” and in a remix to

1 Jesse Serwer, “How Soca is Absorbing Afrobeats to Create a Subgenre,” The Fader, Feb. 25, 2016, 102.

2 Melissa Noel, “Celebrity Choreographer Celebrates Caribbean Roots with Afro Soca,” NBC News (September 8, 2016).

108

Nigerian artist Timaya’s “Bum Bum,” both released in 2014. Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire was featured alongside Nigerian artist WizKid in a song by Runtown titled “Bend Down Pause”

(2015); This track that was later remixed in 2016 and included Machel Montano. Although a lot of press has hailed the collaboration of Montano, Kerwin du Bios, and South African group

Ladysmith Black Mambazo for the song “Possessed” as a hallmark for afrosoca, it appears that the afrobeat fusion coming from the West African region has a more momentous influence.

In Serwer’s article, he praises the artists Timaya as being the most prominent member of the transatlantic music community to successfully blend the three major genres coming from the region.

Nigeria’s Timaya has perhaps brought the commonalities between soca and afrobeats—as well as dancehall—into sharpest focus. “Sanko” seamlessly straddles all three genres; its video features a mixture of dancehall movements and Nigerian steps, like the shoki. “My intention was to develop a unique sound, that when played across continents, the response and the vibe will be the same,” Timaya says via email from Nigeria.3

“Sanko” was then remixed six months later and featured soca veteran Destra Garcia. Bunji

Garlin got involved with the afrosoca sound in the song “She Bad,” as a member of the group

Suit of Black, a project that included dancehall DJ Assassin and Jamaican-Canadian rapper

Kardinal Offishall. Garlin’s wife Fay-Anne Lyons, daughter of soca superstar Super Blue, collaborated with Ghanaian artist Stonebwoy and St. Vincentian producer Stadic to produce

“Block the Road” for the 2016 carnival season.4 Far from flickering out in 2017, the afrosoca sound found representation in the 2017 Soca Monarch by way of soca artists Devon Matthews.

In his song “D Journey” he paired with fellow Trinidadian Elle Andall to produce the song. It opens with a sample of a live recorded drum battery that are meant to be “… the sound of Africa

3 Serwer, “How Soca is Absorbing Afrobeats.”

4 Jesse Serwer, “How Soca is Absorbing Afrobeats to Create a Subgenre” The Fader.

109

and as you know soca originally is like that” Matthews reports.5 However my discussion with

Matthews brought to my attention how problematic the label afrosoca is.

Problems with the Label “Afrosoca”

To Trinidadians that maintain Africaness as part of their identity construction, “afrosoca” is redundant. In this thesis we have traced soca back to its very beginning and at its core are historical musical elements that were brought over from Africa, many of which are still prevalent in current soca music. Whether it is the man of words that took the form of the chantwell which evolved into the chanter and is now exemplified by Bunji Garlin or rhythms that were preserved on bamboo, maintained by the engine rooms of steelbands, and are now the rhythmic fabric for steelband, calypso, and soca, Trinidadian culture has retained these musical elements all while continually experimenting with new sounds and trends: one foot in tradition and one foot in innovation.

Matthew’s counterpart in “D Journey,” Elle Andall, has spent her life celebrating her

African legacy. The Daily Express describes Andall as “Using this African-ness as a ‘shield,’

Andall has for decades created music more about education than entertainment,” and she has proudly proclaimed “What motivates me is my African-ness.” 6 She has produced a series of albums that serve as a collection of Orisha songs from the Yoruba religion in Trinidad beginning with the release of Oriki Ogun: A Suite of Chants to Ogun in 1999. 7

It would seem that the term afrosoca is a label which is being used in a way to generalize collaborative music from West Africa and the Caribbean. However in the case of Matthews and

5 Devon Matthews, interview by author via email.

6 Daily Express, “Ella Andall: A Woman to Celebrate,” The Daily Express Trinidad Express newspapers, Oct 29, 2011.

7 Daily Express, “Ella Andall: A Woman to Celebrate.”

110

Andall, the collaboration happened right at home in Trinidad. In my interview with Matthews, there was no reference to any attempt at borrowing of any current Ghanaian or Nigerian musical trends. To the contrary he expressed that,

Samples were all played live in the recording; actually one of the drummers on stage played in the recordings… what I wanted from the song is to actually have the authentic sound of our music. Where people can relate and rejoice on where they are now from where they were. The drums are really the sound of Africa and as you know soca originally is like that.8

Matthew’s explanation reveals that the “afro” elements to his afrosoca were not appropriated but are part of his identity construction and naturally occurring in his music culture, not an imported sound. Matthew was just making soca and incorporated elements into the music that he could identify with. However, although transatlantic music collaborations persist (as of 2017), the last

Soca Monarch triumph that utilized this style was with Olatunji in 2015. Over the last 3 years a strong force was coming out from behind the scenes of the soca music industry.

Far From Finished

Aaron “Voice” St. Louis’s first triumph at the 2016 International Soca Monarch crowned the youngest monarch in competition history. However by this point St. Louis had already carved a spot out for himself in the music industry in Trinidad. He had participated in the original

Bmobile Synergy Soca Super Star and placed 2nd, and was one of six winners of a national song writing competition.9 St. Louis divulges:

Well, I have been writing with Full Blown Entertainment and this year would have been my fourth year, but these guys, Kory and Kevon Harts, have done some amazing work even before I entered the company officially. They had already written ‘Mr. Fete’, ‘Vibes Cyah Done’, ‘Bottle of Rum’, ‘People’s Champion’ for Benjai, and ‘Fog’ for Machel, right? And the year I entered we worked on ‘Too

8 Devon Matthews, interview by author.

9 Hema Ramkissoon, “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis speaks to Hema Ramkissoon on The Morning Brew about his song ‘cheers to life’ and his surprise at making the cut for the Soca Monarch Finals.” CNC3 TV Station, Jan 26, 2016, 0:35.

111

Real’ for Kerwin DuBois, last year we wrote ‘Like Ah Boss’ for Machel Montano and well this year it is ‘Cheers to Life’.10

The year following Montano’s “Like Ah Boss” St. Louis collaborated again with Kewin Du Bois and soca veteran Patricia Roberts on the song “Unforgettable”; the same year (2016) he won his first Soca Monarch title with “Cheers to Life.” His success and popularity continued into 2017 and 2018 as he still the reigning champion.11

Fisherman Project

In an interview conducted by fellow soca artist Shal Marshal on 96.1 WEFM’s Madder

Drive program St. Louis divulges the various aspects that came together to make the song “Far

From Finished,” his song for 2017 Soca Monarch.

The producers are, Fisherman Project, they’re actually new producers, they don’t really do too much of the secular music. In the actual song I had a line where… I think something about “jam ah woman” or something like that in the line and the man say “oh gawd boy, why, why, take ah dat line for me away, please” I say “no scene mi braddah, no scene” because that is their road. They don’t really go down that “wine and jam” that kind of vibes… Actually the 2 guys are brothers and they introduced me to Full Blown Entertainment, their dad is a pastor as well so they’re heavily involved in church, so any music that Fisherman Project do it’ll be “clean” music and that is what really lead to “Far from Finished.”12

I was able to communicate with Fisherman Project via Facebook Messenger and discussed compositional aspects of the riddim for “Far From Finished.”

For the drums, we used mostly a mixture African and Indian percussion hits. All programmed. None of it was live. The voice sample was cut, sped up and slowed down and pitched up with a slight distortion.13

The mixture of percussion is literally textbook definition for soca referencing the origins of soca with the blending of Calypso and East Indian music, yet the incorporation of Eastern Asian

10 Anika Klimke, “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis – Preparation for Future Success” Carnival Network, March 25, 2016.

11 Ramkissoon, “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis speaks to Hema Ramkissoon.”

12 OJO TTRN, “Voice Performs ‘Far From Finished’Live.”

13 Fisherman Project, interview by author via Facebook Messenger.

112

influence shows continued experimentation in soca music. Also in the mix is The Fisherman

Project’s religious affiliation which also has a profound effect on their music production as previously noted in St. Louis’s interview on Madder Drive with Shal Marshal.

Figure 6-1. 2011 census of religious affiliations in Trinidad and Tobago14

Religion in Trinidad

The brothers of Fisherman Project and their religious affiliations are not uncommon against the back drop of T&T society. In the introduction of this thesis Johan Chuckaree explains how Trinidadian’s association with religion effects consumer patterns locally.

14 Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census Demographic Report, Government of The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago: 18.

113

Figure 6-2. Chris Leacock’s email response to Matthew Dasent

As of 2011 only 9.7% of Trinidadians surveyed as other or no religious affiliation, with 11.1% not stated, this leaves 79.2% of the population with some religious affiliation, 52.3% of which being of Christian denomination (Figure 6-1). 15 It is noteworthy occurrence when discussing consumer patterns around the carnival season because Christian religions are pervasive in

Trinidad and have a profound effect on the culture at large shaping everything from cultural products like music to colloquial language. It has been my personal experience with

Trinidadians, both in Trinidad and abroad, that greetings and farewells are brimming with blessings as can be seen in Figure 6-2, the early stages of communication between Leacock,

Matthew Dasent and me.

Spiritual sentiment is something that St. Louis is open about and he frequently references as can be seen in his interview with Shal Marshal: “The first thing I’d like to do is give thanks to god…”16 He has used his spirituality as a source of inspiration for his songwriting in the past. In an interview with Hema Ramkissoon on CNC3 Television program The Morning Cup St. Louis

15 Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development, Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census Demographic Report, Government of The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.

16 OJO TTRN, “Voice Performs ‘Far From Finished’ Live.”

114

discussed his involvement with the production of “Unforgettable” stating that “when I started writing Kerwin’s song it was actually a gospel.”17

Original lyrics Oh Father you give me all that I ask for, Oh Father as a man I can’t want more I must say thanks.

Secular lyrics Oh woman you give me all that I ask for, Oh woman as a man I can’t want more I must say thanks

St. Louis had also commented on his 2016 song “Cheer to Life” with similar regards in an interview with Anika Klimke for an online magazine Carnivalnetwork stating “…my main focus was on this, the positivity and enjoying life, cherishing life, celebrating life and giving thanks for life.”

St. Louis has placed himself strategically in the midst of soca veterans through his passion for soca, his unfaltering work ethic, and exceptional songwriting skills. Working with a company like Full Blown Entertainment has also allowed him to build and maintain a network of veteran soca artists and producers that can help him along his way. Given that he is producing his own riddims as well as writing his own songs he has a wide range of creative control over his specific sound however, as was seen with his work with Fisherman Project, he still works with and collaborates with other produces to produce soca hits. This youngster, who was too young to soca when he first started, is now positioned to see the same type of growth in popularity and success as his predecessors (like Montano) have seen. He represents the new generation of talented music producers, songwriters, and performers emerging out of Trinidad, and with the help of veterans of the industry like Patricia Roberts, Kerwin Du Bois, and Machel Montano, St.

17 Ramkissoon, “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis speaks to Hema Ramkissoon .”

115

Louis will be a name synonymous with Trinidadian music production for years to come if he continues to maintain his current trajectory. The more he continues “the journey, the flying, the singing, the recording” the broader his network becomes and it won’t be long before he is featured in the hottest new Sean Paul summer hit.18

Final Thoughts

Throughout this thesis I have discussed the various ways in which technological developments and globalizing elements have shaped, reshaped, and continue to shape soca music. This narrative is not unique to Trinidadian music or music in general. Modernized technologies and global access has (or should have) continually reshaped the way we conduct research both at home and in the field. Whether this discourse is a narrative about soca from the lens of technology or a narrative about technology through the lens of soca music, the story remains the same. Soca is a musical splinter from calypso during a time when Trinidadian society was trying to maintain a Trinidadian identity and preserve cultural forms while simultaneously keeping up to date with global trends and creating pockets of transnational communities; it is one foot in tradition and one foot in innovation.

If there were three main points I would like the readers of this thesis to leave with it is this: 1) The process of experimentation with trends from the popular music market and the blending of multiple genres with calypso is the key to understanding how soca emerged and how it continues to evolve, 2) Leaps forward in technological developments and hyper globalization due to the emergence of the global community have fostered an environment where trends like collaborations, dubplates, remixing and sampling disseminate marginalized music to the popular music market and access to the global community is reshaping local trends with global exposure,

18 OJO TTRN, “Voice Performs ‘Far From Finished’ Live.”

116

3) and as more individuals join the global community, acts of cultural appropriation will become more frequent as humanity adapts; as a result, the way in which we are discussing concepts like cultural appropriations need to evolve like soca has.

It seems as though the era of talking about the music of the “others” is seeing an end.

Since the others are now our friends on Facebook, fellow artists we barter music with on

Soundcloud, or people we are exchanging ideas about Drake’s music with on Drake’s Twitter feed. The distance between us and the others is relative to our bandwidth. The phenomenon of the global community is gradually making national borders less relevant. Cross-cultural exchange happens constantly and instantaneously and at times happens without our knowledge.

Whether it is the soca inspired groove to the new Justin Bieber song, or Major Lazer holding a dance contest for their newest single that had people from Iceland to Ghana posting videos on

Youtube and linking them to social media showing off their dance moves. One contact I met in

Trinidad found a passion for Korean pop. The Internet has enabled her to micromanage her specific tastes and negotiate her own listening habits in fascinating new ways. This can be important to the individual that might be having trouble navigating their own identity within community or culture.

It should be mentioned that those encompassed by the global community are restricted to communities that have basic needs met. It would seem irresponsible to attempt to introduce a community to cell phones and Internet service if the most basic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is not met; a community needs sustainable infrastructure, clean drinking water and reliable waste treatment long before it needs iPhones and 4G LTE Internet service. It also seems pertinent to argue that those local communities that embrace the global community could potentially see

117

erosion in the collective cultural identity as cultural forms are replaced by global trends.

However as Arianna Mitchell divulges, this is already happening in Trinidad

…and this whole thing about the children uploading videos now on facebook… doing twerking things. Seriously, twerk is nothing in our vocabulary, we would say wine, but they actually twerking because that’s what they see what’s happening abroad and a lot of people from abroad posting this shit on facebook so they want to do it too. Copycat!19

And yet, Trinidadians still maintain a strong national identity in and out of the Caribbean.

If Leacock’s statement is true, “if you analyze any groovy records from the last three years, from ‘Differentology’ to any one of Machel’s records, they are all pop records,” then soca belongs in the popular music market.20 With the popularity of tropical pop, the door for soca artists is wide open. The question seems to lean more towards: do soca artists want to compromise their Trinidadian identity by replacing the Trini vocabulary and concepts for more global friendly ones? As per an example epitomized by Machel Montano’s song “Road Trip,” the cultural inclination to disguise political rhetoric or lewd narrative in songs as seemingly innocuous lyrics may prove highly useful. It enables soca artists to maintain their cultural forms and vocabulary disguised as global concepts understandable to the lowest common denominator of the popular music market. This would allow soca to retain its Trinidadianess while simultaneously (and cleverly) appealing to the popular music market and the corporate music industry.

The global community is continuing to grow. As technologies like Internet accessible cell phones and tablets become increasingly affordable, more people have access to the global community. Although this might not erode local cultural forms, it will play a huge part in

19 Arianna Mitchell, interviewed by author.

20 Chris Leacock, interview by author.

118

reshaping how we communicate ideas. Innovations in technology and increased access to the global community are reshaping the way we view the world. The foreign is now familiar; the exotic is now typical. National borders are dissolving in the ether of cyberspace. The field is now our backyard, and a metropolis is a metropolis no matter what country you are in.

119

APPENDIX A INTERVIEWS

Interview with Johann Chuckaree

Lucas Reichle (LR): Johann first just give me your name tell me what and how old you are. Johann Michael Chuckaree (JMC): SO my name is Johann Chuckaree, I’m 25 years old and I play pan. I’m a musician all around as well as I teach percussion believe it or not. I perform with Phase II Pan Groove (PIIPG or P2), I am a part of the steelband I am also the tenor section leader for PIIPG during the year and I assist with many different functions of P2 from: composing of the panorama song assisting Boogsie, getting the panorama song produced, getting it sung by different artists, getting it to radio stations, doing public relations with the band, as well as uniforms, transportation. Basically everything related to P2. LR: You were also the one who set up the livestream as well weren’t you? JMC: Yes, I’ve been trying to do livestreams every year now during panorama so the international audience can see some of the pan yard activity. LR: Which is fantastic for those of us who don’t have the ability to be there every year. JMC: Tell dad that you saw it and that you checked it out, it was his idea. LR: So my master’s thesis is about the youth and their distancing from soca music pan music and Trini music culture in general but at the same time the resurgence of interest in the very younger youth, this is based on what my my observations and research has uncovered. But give me your take on that, do you think that’s true? Do you think that’s false? Do you have another opinion about it? JMC: I think a lot of what you’re saying is true. Within the last 10-15 years there’s been a change in what the young people like to listen to. There’s been a change in that the main stream media is not playing what we consider local, what we consider Trinidadian anymore and the mainstream media has made that switch because the young population has cried out and said “well this is what we like now” and “This is what’s cool now.” Remember the media is controlled by whoever is advertising and whoever is paying the money to fund them. So they have to give to the public what the public wants in order to get the advertisers money and in order to continue that cycle. LR: Supply and demand. JMC: Supply and demand. So we’ve had recently… Trinidad has always been connected to the outside world but, let’s say, within the last 15-20 years we’ve been bombarded, through the rise of the Internet, through the rise of international communications, through globalization, through the boarders are becoming smaller, right? International music has infiltrated the local market. I’m not going to say it’s ravaged the local market, we still have a good local market in terms of soca and calypso, I mean carnival time you turn on the radio in Trinidad and you hear no rap, you hear no hip-hop, you hear soca but from the minute carnival Tuesday is over and Ash Wednesday starts for the rest of the year, soca, it’s hard sitting in my car and I flipping through stations and I’m like “I can’t hear soca, I want to hear soca.” LR: Why do you think that is? Is there any kind of historical reason? JMC: History shows that, if you delve into the history of carnival, carnival it was farewell to the flesh before Lenten season, before Ash Wednesday. So basically because of Trinidad and Tobago strict Catholic background once Ash Wednesday came about no calypso for 40

120

days, no pan, no wine and jam, no nothing for 40 days. So all of a sudden that historical aspect is coming and kickin’ us a little bit because now a days, yes we’re still a very Catholic county, we accept all religions in Trinidad and Tobago, we are a rainbow nation, but the fact of the matter is that that stigma is still there a little bit. People are up and down “should we play soca during lent? Should we not?” 40 days pass and you don’t hear soca and after that it is very difficult to get soca music throughout the year. They have some radio stations that have Friday evening jams straight soca, Saturday and Sunday or on public holidays. But to tell you I could switch on the radio right now and hear a continuous hour of soca, probably not. LR: Do you think this is part of the reason why this younger generation is removed from the Trini music culture? JMC: Well, I don’t think that they’re removed, I just don’t think they are as welcoming as they used to be. I think it’s a failure on the part of, not just the media but on a part of our elders, our government, and some of the people like that. LR: Why the elders? JMC: If you look at my upbringing in terms of how I got involved in pan and calypso and music production and that kind of stuff, my parents pushed me into listening to local music, listen to calypso and listen to the classics: Kitchner and Sparrow and Shadow. These guys who started 40-50 years ago, bringing calypso to what it is now. Without knowing the history, young people are just going to grab on to whatever the mainstream is whatever fad, whatever’s the new thing they’re gonna hook onto. If Nicki Minaj releases a single tomorrow, it’s awesome! They’re gonna be like “Yeah I love that song!” But if a calypso artist or a pan side or a soca artists release something off season it’s not going to grasp the attention of that market as much as something international and popular will. Government, I think the government’s failure in a few countries, I think even in Jamaica, there’s a airplay balance law which means that local radio stations are required, by law, to play 20-40% of local music. So if you go to Jamaica and you flip on the radio station you’ll hear reggae, you’ll hear Bob Marley, you’ll hear dancehall, you’ll hear stuff that is Jamaican but you’ll also hear international music as well but the local law says “hey you guys have to play 40% of indigenous, local music.” We’ve even been begging here for 20% such that at least some local music gets a [???] A lot of local music is being produced and nobody’s hearin’ it. Artists and musicians are sayin “well what’s the point of creatin’ we have no outlet, no forum” and that’s where see a lot of new artists taking to social media, taking to soundcloud, taking to Youtube, to new and different outlets that they can to get their music heard. LR: A lot of what Kerwin du Bios put the year before he won the Groovy Soca Monarch, he was putting out hits year round. The only reason I had access to it was because he was uploading it all to Soundcloud and he was very active on social media. For someone who doesn’t live in Trinidad it was very complimentary both to his career and to my listening habits, because I love soca music but I just don’t have access to it year round. JMC: Well that’s the flip side to globalization. Even though international music is infiltrating our local market it may pose a disruption in terms of our local listening audience, the local music is also reaching a much wider international audience. Being a county like Trinidad and Tobago so rich in culture we should take advantage of the fact that we have a massive international audience now. And they are waiting for us to prove something to them, they are waiting for us to release soca in a way that the international audience will

121

grasp it, to release pan in a way that the international audience will grasp it. I think the focus is on the local artist to create something that the international audience wants to hear. LR: I completely agree with you but at the same time I don’t think the your artists here in Trinidad don’t have to reconfigure their sound or change soca in a way to appeal to the mass audience. You can see it now how ironically as the youth are distancing themselves a little bit but at the same time the global community is really grasping on to soca. You have Bunji doing cuts with Busta Rhymes Kerwin du Bois is touring the plant, Machel that is really getting his name out there. JMC: I agree with you as well but we have stuff that is relevant to Trinidad only as well for example if you listen to some soca they will be talking about jumpin on the road or wining behind a truck and these are things, where the international market will be like “hmm I wonder what’s that word” and we may create a new word in the international vocabulary. But at the same time we have to make is relevant, so we can’t talk about jumpin on the road and waving rag, and wining down the road to a market that doesn’t know what the hell you mean. If you look at Bunji’s “Differentology” song, he has managed to cross-over, the kind of stuff that he’s singin’ it’s totally strange for a soca artist to sing that, the melody and the way in which the song has been put together but it was a success. I think he’s been modeling his new stuff around what his success was. I don’t think he has a perfect recipe yet but soca can make it, I think we’ve seen that, I don’t think we have to change our ways, but we just have to make our stuff global. We can’t really talk about being in Trinidad and Tobago, we have to talk about the world you know and let the world take part. Iz always laugh, because they say what makes a track is Pitbull, they say Pitbull jump on anybody’s track and sing [???]. No matter what Pitbull sing he’s always talking about Spanish and party, and his whole thing is to have a big crowd and to have love and peace and party and that’s what his thing is about. I think that’s what soca music is about too having fun, having a party and I think that's what soca music is all about too havin fun, havin a party, havin everybody together. LAR: Big People party, that's an international concept that everyone can grasp. It's unfortunate that Farmer Nappy doesn't have the same exposure that Machel and Bunji and some of these guys do. JMC: But it'll happen and that's what I mean by sayin we need to restructure a little bit what we mean in thesoca to make it internationally relevant. LR: And then slowly weave in winin and limin JMC: And soon you'll have the US market talking about limin. In this day and age anything is possible.

(For the next ca. 8-9 mins discussions about international steelbands, pan, and, Pan in the Classroom)

LR: What do you think the relationship would be to that generation of people that is distancing themselves? If they had a program like Pan in the classroom do you think the influx of globalization from the last 15 years would still have taken over their taste in music? JMC: It’s really difficult to say. I can speculate and say yeah, it may have helped. It may have improved their attachment to steelband, it may have improved their attachment to soca

122

and calypso and these things but we really don’t know, but I think the long and the short of what we’re discussing here is that soca, calypso, and pan, the playing field has changed totally the international game has changed and I don’t want to say we have to get with the times but there’s some adaptation that needs to be done so that it continue to always be relevant it is a genre of music that is not going to budge from its roots. It still gonna to maintain is sound and its structure but those things are not going to change. What we need to change is our forum. You have a panorama competition that happens once a year. How do we make that more relevant to our young people how do we encourage our young people to come and support us? LR: It’s definitely not with a pool on the greens. JMC: Exactly. LR: What would be your ideas to pull people from the greens and into the stands to watch panorama? JMC: I think the whole purpose of the greens is a money making venture for Pantrinbago and and you have to accept that at the end of the day the organization has to make money, but not at the detriment of the competition itself. At the end of the day it is a competition and you can’t have a party on oneside and a competition and the music from the party and the competition interruptin the competition. So I think that’s total disrespect from Pantrinbago to the instrument itself which is really stupid. So we look at our ???, let’s start. Panorama time, the bands play a lot of calypsos that are deemed pan kaisos, most of them are not mainstream most of them are what has been created for pan only. So that’s the first disconnect because every year over 80 to 90 pan songs are released maybe one or two, if any, become popular. Airplay on local radio stations is our main enemy. So how does a young audience know what we play. Pan in the past if you look back to the 70s and 80s, which I call the glory days of pan, you’d hear a band playin David Rudder’s road march. People know it. It’s on the radio, it’s popular, it’s on the road, this band playing it but look the pan side is playing it too. Look at one of Kitchener’s song Jean & Dinah, which is a road march as well. Jean & Dinah is popular it’s on the radio, but the pan side is playing it as well so it brings ya that real feelin of “Ok, I know this song I can understand what the band is playing.” But when a band is play a pan kaiso song, even with P2 like “More Love” which are party songs too, nobody knows. “what are you guys playin?” “What, I don’t know I’ve never heard it.” I had a lot of people tell me “Ya know the first time we ever hear your panorama song was while we on the??? on stage when the DJ play the vocal version of the song. LR: HA! Right before you take the stage? JMC: Yeah! It’s so sad but it’s true. I have to thank When Steel Talks, as soon as the song has been released, P2’s song has been released , I email them a copy immediately and say “??????? one time guys” and they do a great job of it because they’re the only online resource that I can go and find Exodus song, an Mp3 of his song and listen. In this day and age is that what we’ve come to? That an international steelband forum has to be pushing our music? Why is it that our local media does not have respect for it? Is it that our advertisers won’t support it the local music? But then you have 10-15 big sponsors for panorama why don’t you just say “our local telecom companies like Digicel and B Mobile sponsor our local pan music on the radio instead of sponsoring panorama.” Just do some sort of initiative that can get young people a little more interested, get the airplay, make it popular. On the flipside, what we could do too, it doesn’t have to be a

123

change to the panorama competition, we can have a competition where they do popular songs only. It doesn’t have to be the main panorama competition, you can still have panorama, but as an addition to panorama say “well this year we are going to do road marches for the last 20 years and the pan sides have to play a road march song that has been popular within the last 20 years and that’s going to be great because they gonna to hear Machel Montano, they gonna hear Super Blue, they gonna hear Iwer George, they gonna hear Bunji Garlin and those are the things that people know. If I hear a band playing Machel Montano’s “Ministry of Road” or “Jumbi” that has been popular within the last 20 years it’s gonna be awesome for young people. “Hey that pan side playing that song! I really like that song!” So that’s the bridge that we’re trying to cross, that’s the generation gap that we have. LR: That’s a phenomenal idea! When I was watching panorama, and I was listening to all the songs the only songs I recognized was in the medium bands, and it was Machel’s “Happiest Man Alive.” JMC: It is a disconnect that happens not only with our locally, but also internationally with our international audience as well. It is really something that we need to consider, we’re not going to consider getting rid of panorama, but we need to consider an evolution, a competition. It may not even have to be during carnival time it could be mid-year, it could be from September to generate work for the bands it could be September to generate money for Pantrinbago. But stuff like that needs to happen. LR: What do you think about the idea of opening up panorama to other musics not just calypsos but allowing them to playing more soca or having themed panoramas? JMC: Honestly, I can’t remember the regulations off-hand but I believe panorama is open to not only pan songs and calypsos because look you said that “Happiest Man Alive” was played. LR: I just came from Pantinbago and he said that “the only rule we really have is that they have to play calypsos” but soca is kind of an off-shoot. JMC: For example a couple of years ago, I think it was in 2006 Exodus played Destra’s “Max It Up” which was a power soca entry. That speed was almost 140-150 bpms and the band was able to execute it. And even though they didn’t win, that was the most popular song because people knew it! For example P2 won that year but people talked about two bands more than P2, they talked about Exodus because of “Max It Up” and they talked about All-Stars because All-Starts played a song that was popular at the time, it was a song that was about the soca warriors the football team that went to the world cup from T&T. So it’s relevance as well as popularity that you have to look at in terms to get the masses on your side. LR: You go to different places, you go to the states, living in Norway I know this specifically, they have public access radio stations, public access television that promote Norwegian culture. Maybe not in America but they culture in America more artistic things, do you have anything like that in Trinidad? JMC: In Trinidad we do have a local access channel called Government Information Service, that’s channel 4 in T&T and they do a lot of local programming. They come and record concerts, any concert, you can call them say “I’m having a concert, there’s pan, there’s calypso, there’s soca, there’s jazz” and they’ll come and they’ll archive it and play it at some point. They do that, it occurs, it is prevalent it’s on TV but how many people watch that channel.

124

LR: That was what I was going to ask. JMC: It has heavy rotation. I had a concert I did two years that GIS still has and every couple of weeks they’ll have it playing. A few people might message me and say “Hey, you’re on TV” I didn’t even know that. It happens but the viewership is not that great. When you have cable TV and cable TV consists hundreds of channels of international content, are you really going to put on your local access channel? People joke and say that’s what they leave on for their pets to keep them company. They say that about NPR too. LR: In Norway they are very nationalistic so their public access channels those are the main channels that people watch. Yeah you can get other channels from cable, American programming is very limited and even the programming that they do get is coming from England but because they speak a different language their public access channels are more likely to get airplay. So it’s different. JMC: I would do a comparison between T&T and Barbados. Barbados stayed under colonial rule a lot longer than T&T did. LR: Oh wow, I didn’t know that I thought Trinidad was one of the last to gain their independence. JMC: No, Trinidad was one of the first. Trinidad and Jamaica both gained their independence the same year 1962, and then we became a republic in 1976. Barbados is still not a republic, Barbados still has a governor general appointed by England. So even though they are independent they still have control over the states doings, it’s still controlled partially by England. You look at the colonial aspect of Barbados, when you go there, the Barbadian people are very much in touch with their own culture, their own music. Sometimes Trinidadian people go there and say “Why are they so selfish, that’s all they like is their local music” and it’s true. They like themselves, they like their culture, they promote themselves, they promote their culture. Trinidad and Jamaica have almost the same problem, we gained independence at the same time, instead of focusing on ourselves we’re more consumed with becoming a little United States rather than we are maintaining our own identity. The fads the trends that we experience locally are more US based than British based and we lack that sense of identity that the Barbadian people have over us. You can see it in the demeanor of the people, the way they act, the way they behave, they care for their country. It’s something that Trinidad has to do but it’s going to take a big shift in the way that we live our lives as Trinidadians and Tobagonians. From appreciating your local culture, appreciating yourself, appreciating the culture of carnival. There’s so much historical aspects of this country that we’re losing slowly that we have to try to preserve. We got to stop the eroding of it. It’s eroding because the younger generation is not taking up the mantle. We’ve got the older heads dying out but who’s taking it over? It has to be the young people. LR: And it seems like it’s not going in the direction you’re talking about. It’s going in the opposite direction. JMC: But! Because of online services, it you look at Youtube for example, it’s been difficult for me. Sometimes you can’t even find pan music to buy. I go by Crosby’s or O’Ryan’s, and some of our local stores and you’re able to get. But it’s difficult. Do I want to drive down into traffic to have to park my car to have to jump out and get it? The answer’s no when there’s a quicker way when I can go on my phone, go to iTunes, put in my thumb print and buy something, why does one want to do that? That where the evolution of technology comes into it. Like I said about Youtube, a lot of P2’s videos I put up on

125

Youtube. We got thousands of views we’ve got 20, 40, and 50 thousand views. It’s amazing for us, coming from a small country and we see comments from Japan, from France, from Australia, from Germany, from China, from everywhere. LR: From Norway JMC: Haha! From Norway. I think it’s just amazing to see that pan has a massive global reach and if pan has a global reach, look at Bunji Garlin’s new release “Truck On D Road” or “Differentology” where they have a million views, “Truck On D Road” has just crossed a million views, “Differentology” has over a million views and that’s where we’re heading for. We’re heading for an international market where it’s not really about, how should I put it, it’s not really about buying CDs and buying music it about your presence and how relevant you are to popular culture and to society, how present you are on social media and technology. How into the technology game are you and your culture. What do you bring that is going to attract the younger generation who is glued to iphone or ipad all day? And how do you make your local indigenous music work for that generation and that’s where the adaptation come needs to come in. LR: I credit Kewin’s win in groovy due to the fact that he had a strong Internet presence. He was putting out music year round people were commenting. He has a lot of followers on Facebook and Instagram. Whereas you look at someone like Machel, although Machel is a great artist and has done great work his Internet presence is fairly weak. There was three different pages of his on Facebook and I don’t know which one’s his and I don’t see him on Instagram. JMC: He’s on Instagram, he’s got a couple thousand followers, maybe 32 or 33 thousand followers he’s steppin up his. He has realized LR: You’re talking about now? Ok, this was a couple of years ago I tried to follow him. JMC: [checking his phone] yeah he has 66 thousand followers. Everybody is stepping up their game because they are realizing the importance of social media to their careers. If Machel wants to get hired for an event in Belgium or somewhere in Denmark or Norway, or Amsterdam for example, he just finished performing at the Rotterdam carnival this year, you have to be popular to get hired for these things, you have to be known. Without social media how are they going to know about you? How are they know about your presence? How do they know what you do? I shouldn’t say that you are at a disadvantage because you’re doing soca but it is. It’s not an internationally renowned genre just yet, it will be eventually with time. LR: Just like Jamaican dancehall was back in 2003 Sean Paul hit it and, boom, it blew up and everybody knows… JMC: Yes and it’s the same thing that’s happening to Bunji Garlin. Sean Paul did not represent all of what dancehall was but he was an artist that was culturally relevant at a point in time that fit into what the mainstream wanted and similarly with Bunji and that’s why you see his collaborations with Asap Ferg and Busta Rhymes, this is what he is doing. And so hopefully this is where we will be in ten years from now in 2024 and that’s what we hope will happen and hopefully Bunji won’t get dropped by his record label ten years after like Sean Paul did. LR: Can you just tell me real quick tell me what’s the name of the sample library. JMC: The sample library is called Indigisounds you can visit www.Indigisounds.com. It’s for a native Instruments Kontakt player software library. Basically what it is is a four gig sample library with a few thousand samples. We have been able to sample from the tenor

126

pans: C tenor pan, Low d. We’ve done two double seconds, double tenor, double guitar, triple cello, quadraphonic pans, six bass, two or three types of 6 bass. We’ve also done a small rhythm section or engine room as well as we have a massive rhythms section sample library coming out soon. That’s in collaboration with just now the same producers we talked about before. And also a collaboration with the laventille rhythm section which is one of the biggest rhythm sections here in Trinidad. Our sample library is a high quality sample library. We’ve taken the actual acoustic instruments into the studio and each note sampled note for note up to 5 velocities. It really gives you the ability to take your scoring to the next level, to take your production to the next level, to convert maybe a midi file that you might have into something that actually sounds like a pan side. I was able earlier this year to work with the Calypso Association in France, which is a steelband association and I had to teach them some of “More Love” P2’s song from last year. I thought “Hmm, I don’t think we’re going to have enough time” cuz we had a show in a week’s time I had to teach them the song and I was only coming up a couple days before. So what I’ll do, I’ll score it in either Logic or Finale or Sibelius score it for them and send it over. But I thought, “what would really be great is if I can send them the audio for the parts as well.” What I did was using Indigisounds I used Logic and I played in everything because it was a lot quicker than scoring. LR: Oh yeah cuz Logic will notate is for you. JMC: Yeah! It notated it for me and I exported it as pfd but I was also able to export each track. As well as getting sheet music they were able to get each individual track. So when they practiced they practiced with their sheet music as well as with the individual track. So by the time I got to France they had already learned the entire song. They learned my introduction, verse, chorus and verse, solo, and that’s what we’re working for that’s what where we want to get

Interview with Fisherman Project in Facebook Messenger

Lucas Reichle (LR): Hello I'm Lucas, a Musicologist from U of Florida, I was wondering if I could ask you guys about the samples use to compose the riddim for Far From Finished. Were those drums a live recording? what kind of drums were they? and is the other sample in the opening, was that a sped up voice? Fisherman Project (FP): Hey man! Thanks for reaching out. For the drums, we used mostly a mixture African and Indian percussion hits. All programmed. None of it was live. The voice sample was cut, sped up and slowed down and pitched up with a slight distortion. Hope these responses helped.

127

Interview with Mia Gormandy

Lucas Reichle (LR): When I was at the champs in concert performance, the winner of the chutney soca competition performed a song that, to me sounded far more like calypso in lyrical content and lyrical delivery than it did soca, is there such a thing as chutney calypso? Mia Gormandy (MG): Calypso and soca have such a fine line anyways. There are some pieces that people argue “that’s soca” and some people argue “no, that’s calypso” so I think that too in itself is something that… you have the definite soca and the definite calypso but there’s always those pieces where there’s that fine line. Because there’s nothing that really called chutney calypso, I think that’s why they call it chutney soca, but that doesn’t mean that it was calypsoesque. It probably was but it’s just because there’s not term that’s called chutney calypso. LR: When I took my first field research trip to Trinidad during carnival I noticed that it seemed pretty common place for soca artists to use a riddim that another soca artist had already used. I remember specifically Machel Montano’s “Bottle of Rum” was used for 2 other song by other artists. MG: Yes! Benji used it. I don’t know what song it was but I know he did a song with the same background music. (Although it was never said the song Mia is referencing is “The People’s Champion”). They do that a lot in Trinidad with soca. The melody might be slightly different but it will be the same riddim in the background LA: I guess that’s what I was getting at, is that not something that’s done in Calypso? MG: No, not really. That’s a soca thing. LA: This might not have been true back in Super Blue’s hay day but any more now you listen to Machel, Kerwin du Bois, and Bunji Garlin music they are all very synthetic riddims. MG: I was just about to say that, it’s turning more synthetic and but if you hear them perform live without the synthesizers and you have horns and drum set and stuff it will sound very similar to calypso. But now there’s a lot of synthesizing going on, the sound is transforming into something different. Then you have songs like Bunji Garlin’s “Differentology,” that he just sang on BET’s 106 and Park, when that song came out people were saying “This is not soca, this is not soca music. I don’t understand why Bunji’s coming out with a song that’s not soca music” and then all of a sudden it became super popular and now everybody loves it. I was in Trinidad when this song came out and I had friends, even my mom said “I don’t like Bunji’s ‘Differentology’” now it’s a song that’s on BET because everybody was arguing that this wasn’t soca music.

Interview with Pelham Gorddard

Lucas Reichle (LR): I was told by a friend Keith Maynard that you were responsible for arranging the music of Lord Shorty and Maestro first albums and I wanted to talk to you about what your influences were and how you arrived at those influences. Pelham Goddard (PG): well you know Trinidad was the land of calypso and our music is very rhythmic very much. And it’s calypso still but it’s changing by we experimenting with

128

some of the rhythms. I put in some rock style guitar, I put in some R&B something else, I put in some Latin flavor and added to all kinds of the fun rhythms of the calypso. LR: I want to dive in a little more into the influences like the R&B and the Latin influences and I hear a lot of funk influences especially in the bass lines of Maestro’s music. PG: At that time the influences of Trinidad too, you work around what influences you. At the time when disco music, funk music was going on and that was the influence of most of the musicians around, and that’s what they’re going to play. Now the [Steel] bands too, the orchestras and so on, what couldn’t and that situation. People were hearing a lot of these movements in music, a lot of minor 7ths into fives, ii to V progressions they were hearing in the funk progression and the R&B, the part B slides in the funk music, it was a matter of experimenting. He was thinking of the syncopated rhythms if you was listening to what the singer was singing on top (singing bionic man from Anatomy of Soca to illustrate the vocal syncopation) “a car crash, a la dat a ba daaa daa da” and these was the big influences on that. Because at that time in calypso the drummers was only playing kick and high hat, a little bit of snare but no tin a ting or nothing. So we added the snare and the toms. They go (singing) ba dum dum tak, ba dum. A lot of influences come from around the era when they had the disco and they heard people like Donna Summers and all the rest they were playing in the disco. LAR: These discos you’re talking about, were you going to the US to go to these discos or were they something that was brought to Trinidad? PG: Trinidad had discos, Trinidad ain’t a place where nothing gets past. Every day that I’ve been in America I’ve been there. People was traveling a lot too because in them days Trinidad had what we call the oil boom so Trinidad was a rich country. So everybody was getting up to travel and they was getting a visa and they go America and they go and they party and they come back. You went to a disco, people stay in Brooklyn and they party til 9 o’clock in the morning. The opinion of anybody was right in terms with what was happening in America and right with what was happening in Disco. You had places like Palaba (?) Place and you had places like Down on the Curb, Down Shagarama, you had places like In Park Disco and people were going there Friday evenings after work. So the music was that kind of influence. Especially Maestro was a young guy at the time, he used to work in the south land (San Fernando), and he would come up to Port of Spain and we’d go places together and hang out together to get a lime. After that people like Ras Shorty I, matter a fact that Maestro music I composed one time for, He wanted to change the music he even make a song (sings) ‘change the rhythm of Carnival, da doo da’ you know Endless Vibration? You can look to that. That relates to the music was starting to change and people were trying to create something different. Ever heard of Shadow? The bass man from hell? So everybody was experimenting around that time so that was the influence of the music. LAR: What albums were you directly involved with? You produced Anatomy of Soca from what Keith’s telling me. PG: Like I said Soca was a piece that Maestro composed and he say in the lyrics about how he die. A car came on the highway while he was helping someone fix their car. But before that, The Anatomy of Soca, you had something that was soulful calypso music, (singing) “ba da dap ba dap ba daaaa ba da dap ba dap ba daaa” and then some rock guitar playing and we had he was telling in the song that calypso music up the shelf, nobody was dying for calypso as the format was before until soca became popular. The Calypso wasn’t

129

playing in the discotheque and that was the era of the disco so we had to find a music that would carry in the club. Around that time was the time of the extended play 45’s. everybody was doing extended plays so if you’re doing a song for 5 to 7 mins long you could imagine what you have to do. You would have a lot of other rhythms and different parts. You had to have a song might have A,B,C you had to go to part G part F, you had to extend it. The rhythms was more important at the time because that’s what made the DJ boxes go into the street. So that was in the form of disco music. LAR: Can you give me a few artists from that era that had a heavy influence on you at that time. PG: If you go back to 1977, between 1976 and 1977 go back to Trinidad’s music or soca music 1976-1977 all these people who were changing the music so to speak, you ever hear about Calypso Rose? I carried that type of music I did for Calypso Rose, and she won what we call the road march…that was the year the music really started to take a different tune. The older calypso then, now that they protest they fighting for the change of the music where does it go. After that Kitchner had Sugar Bum Bum which I was involved in. All the changes that happening in music in Trinidad around that time, from Ras Shorty I, Maestro, Kitchner, Sparrow, everybody I was involved all of it. LAR: That’s what Keith was telling me that you were heavily involved in this evolution of sound that happened right around the mid to late 70’s. What kind of American influence, you mentioned R&B and Funk, can you mention some artists from those genres that influenced, you mentioned Donna Summers. PG: A lot of things that was influencing music because we had on the TV on Saturday morning you had what was called Soul Train. Soul Train was influencing a lot of people at that time. You had a guy on the radio station in Trinidad named Billy Rich. We had a lot of what you call soul shows on a weekend Sat. and Sun. in theaters and cinemas and things in Trinidad. A lot of singing groups, a lot musicians started to come out. It wasn’t like if was just one person. Groups also came into here pulling the young into Trinidad. Cool and the Gang came to Trinidad, Barry White, KC and the sunshine band, Teddy Pendergrass, Lionel Richie, the Commodores all came here. So when you go to a show and the music influencing and the next day whoever want compose and whoever want to do music influenced by that for the year. So they try to fuse the calypso riddum or the calypso music or the core of the percussion in line with whatever Lionel Richie doing. So the music was just influencing of the hour, of what was happening at the time. LAR: What about these guys like Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, and these R&B and funk artists were they part of you influences. PG: Yeah. James Brown came to Trinidad at that time and everybody was being a lot more funky, drummers were starting to do a lot of different things. And that was without drum machine neither. We didn’t no drum machine or programs you could loop. So when a drummer go to a James Brown show, the next day he’d be practicing all what he hear the drummer do. What my role to do now my job, after all this riddum is created, then I put brass and accompanied singing on top of that. I was self-taught but I studied on my own. I never go to no school or nothing or got no degree I learned it on my own and that’s why I had to learn music very fast, all in the studio, manuscript paper and pencil… after the riddum, when you put down the riddum track that would be piano, guitar, bass, and drums, I would come home now and start to arrange the rest of the music, 2 trumpets, alto and tenor sax make a master score and transpose it then drive back to the studio and call

130

the horn men and horn men would [???]17:57 [???] over that then I would go on with the synthesizers and put on any little finishing touches on it. So the whole process [???] and like I tell people even though (18:12) [Something about a Moog synthesizer] to look for the tone. So all that creation happened around that. LAR: Around the Mid-70’s there was a major black power movement going on here in the US there was a bunch of films that are loosely called Blaxploitation films, movies like Shaft, Dolemite, Jackie Brown, and I know that a lot of the artists you mentioned are heavily featured in those films. Did you guys have access to these films in Trinidad? PG: Yeah yeah, like I said before everything that was happening in America was happening in Trinidad simultaneously sometimes. LAR: Do you think that had any influence on your musical tastes or your musical influences? PG: Yeah that’s very possible. If people wanted to study orchestration you had people like Barry White, and… well Quincy Jones was my man. I’ve been listening to him since Smackwater Jack, Ironside theme song, Sanford theme song. Apart from Barry White you had Isaac Hayes who had some good orchestration. Arranging is not like now [???] our music in Trinidad here, all these vocalists sing to is just riddum. You have to know orchestration, you need to start with a band chorus some people have an introduction, and while the singer is singing you have to know how to accompany, you have to know where to put the brass, how to shade in with 2 saxophone… we were listening to more of plenty of that time of orchestrated music. Even Donna Summers in the disco she was with full orchestration … that really big orchestrated music was playing in the disco. As a matter a fact after then was when Barry White came with a whole orchestra, more than 40 people, he even hired some of our own local musicians to play in the group. So if I was a young arranger, my band played a Bistro with Barry White, Charlie’s Roots, and imagine just playing on a show with Barry White and that orchestra, you can imagine how much I would have learned at that point you know what I mean? Because music is a learning process you don’t stop learning… People like Grover Washington, in Trinidad we are very very fortunate to have all that type of music around them. Grover Washington came here he had workshops he had things where he talk about music, Ralph Macdonald used to come here a lot a long time. What is amazing, because we have steel orchestras as a resource, that really help with orchestrating music, we play from classical to calypso. In steel band we play some of the biggest classical pieces people can think about… we play all that music in Trinidad ya know. So anybody [???] I think that will give you an idea of what you’re trying to do. You can pick up and you could really explain it to them. So that was opportunity come back to Maestro that when he came and tell me that he wanted to do so and so he could do that we could work together professional. LR: Just for the record, I know who you are, but can you just give me your name and your occupation or what you do. PG: My name is Pelham Goddard, I umm… what you say boy? Musician, arranger, producer, Studio owner, 9th production sound studio, Exodus arranger that’s my steel band. In Brooklyn I used to do steel band up there for the panorama in August, but I gave that a rest so the younger ones could take over.

131

Interview with Arianna Mitchell and Edwin Gooding

Lucas Reichle (LR): So this is an official interview so I need… Arianna Mitchell (AM): Name, age, occupation. Arianna Mitchell, 28, occupation teacher primary school level. So you have commented that you have noticed that pan has been introduced at the primary level, you think that there’s a resurgence of interest. LR: What do you think? AM: I think no. It’s just to keep them occupied and to say that it’s being done. In terms of them having a real interest in pan in the later years, teen years and onward, it will have to be from the household in which they come from. Now many people feel that school is important but what happens at home goes hand in hand with what’s happening in school. So if you have parents that are not really into the culture or not preserving the culture at home it’s just going to be that pan experience in school and when they’re finished with school that’s it. If they go on to a secondary school that is primarily focused on academia, rather than the extra-curricular it’s going to fade out and that’s what’s happening it’s fading out there is no consistency. Now moving away from our music and our culture, soca calypso, the main reason for that I think it would be the increase of technology in Trinidad and Tobago. Edwin Gooding (EG): <>> AM: Yes I am a radio announcer as well. LR: Really? EG: Yes multi-faceted LR: So are you seeing this insurgence of globalized music coming into Trinidad on the radio? AM: Exactly. Also popping up different groups in Trinidad, they are doing rap and dancehall. While is shows an appreciation of external culture why are we so quick to deviate from our own? Most of the radio announcers that I have met or have been listening to, from the age group of 21 to 36 and they are on the urban radio, they automatically feel that they have to do Jamaican which annoys the hell out of me. When we go away to different countries, even in the Caribbean, they are so fascinated by our accents and we trying to sound like them. Now I’m having an interview with an American why am I not speaking with an American accent because I’m speaking English and you understand my English? LR: Oh yeah. EG: What’s ent? AM: Ent? That is our Trini way. If my use of slang is distorting your understanding of what I’m saying I would curb the slang whereas I would be using more Standard English but my accent would not change to accommodate your hearing, no that’s ridiculous and I think the reason that happens is because we want to emulate what’s out there. We don’t preserve and don’t appreciate what we have here and that appreciation has gone a total left, or curve ball, because the persons who had the responsibility to make sure it stays here within our generation they forfeited it because it was, if not forced upon them, they felt that Trini thing wasn’t good enough. Pan, Panmen, always in bacchanal with police officers back in the day. It wasn’t viewed as something prestigious or good to do EG: It was like gangs. AM: It was like gangs exactly. EG: Their parents would forbid them from playing. LR: Condomble riots was it?

132

AM: Canbole, watch me now, I was supposed to see that this carnival but I overslept. Also oversleeping I had the thought of going by the bridge to watch that but because it’s there I think the people those people who are usually involved in crime where you think they are going to be on criminal activity, they tend to retract and let people actually enjoy it because it is a spectacle. LR: Are you talking about the reenactment of the riots? AM & EG: Mmmhmph LR: Oh wow, I don’t think I even knew they did that. AM: Yeah! EG: They do stick fighting AM: Now why many of us don’t go there or don’t know that it’s happening once you hear it’s behind the bridge you’re not going because of the social ill of crime. So that could be another reason why we are deviating from our culture because we don’t participate in it actively. We just read about it in primary school or secondary school just for that subject area matter and that’s it. LA: For the historical context. AM: It’s historical but is it meaningful? No LA: SO I tend to see this paradox with what you’re saying because at the same time you’re saying because at the same time Trinidadians don’t feel that their music isn’t good enough and they’re not interested because they don’t feel it’s relevant. So they listen to American music or Jamaican music but at the same time that this is happening with the distance of youth culture with Trinidadian music, the world is starting to embrace soca and pan music. You would think that it would legitimize it and bring the interest back to the youth culture. Why don’t you think that’s happening? EG: I think… LR: Wait first give me your name. EG: My name is Edwin Gooding I am 27, entrepreneur. I think a lot of it has to do with how they market the soca and the culture locally. If people my age or younger they watching TV, they watching BET and MTV. The aura of a rap star is more alluring than the aura of a soca star. It’s just how they marketed, they see the rap star, they see the cars, they see the women they see the jewelry, it’s just a lifestyle. LR: But a lot of the soca artists now are starting to adopt that. I’ve seen Machel Montano’s videos he’s got the Escalades rolling on 20’s EG: That’s my point. AM: And that’s recent. EG: And that’s not really us but because they know the youths like that they would go that direction to catch that crowd who’s going that way. “All right you like the way they dress, we’ll try dress like them. You like how they talk, we try talk like them.” It’s how they’re marketed and nobody markets like American you could market anything. The American marketing machine, cuz American stars are the most popular. They have stars in England I ain’t never hear about because they don’t really appeal to us. Any American stars that’s big in America we big globally. You hardly have a big American star the world doesn’t know. I think a lot to do with it we exposed a lot of America through cable and whatever other mediums and media the soca just get left behind outside of carnival. A big thing too, the artists is too seasonal. They focus their whole art form on the two day jump up so a lot of the music jump up jump up.

133

AM: Just for that time EG: Not every day you might feel to hear wine up wine up jump up jump so for instance reggae they have dancehall, they have lovers rock, they have the more conscious music which is more Rastafarian. They’re different genres of music within reggae whereas soca now is just fast pace fast pace. LR: But you guys have multi-genres within the soca genres like chutney soca, groovy soca and power soca. AM: Right, and I think the one person that can actually be an example, if you’re looking for that non-seasonal sound, that’s frickin Kes. Kes is amazing. EG: But Kes can really sing LR: He just changed his style here recently. He was doing this very digital vocoder style of music. Now when I was listening to his music from this past carnival… AM: There’s a lot of pop influence. LR: He’s got a band behind him. He’s signing without the vocoder. It’s not digital. I was put off by Kes when I first came here because of it but now... AM: You can tell the difference. I think he made it to some American network EG: Who Kes? AM: Yeah I think it was Today or ABC or something he was on. That was what two years ago? That’s when he won. That was the year he won for groovy. That was when he won with (singing) “I wuk less” LR: That was wheat 2013? AM: Two years ago that would have been 2012. He won in 2012 LR: In 2012? Machel won with Mr. Fete AM: No. LR: I know Machel won in 2012 with Mr. Fete because I was here for carnival that year. EG: It was probably 2011 AM: Ok probably 2011 EG: But Kes, Kes can really sing too. He can put a pop spin on it and still deliver cuz he has the range. But I just think the youths they don’t want to really absorb the culture because it’s not cool, it’s not cool to them. AM: It’s not totally recognized by America which is where we want to be. They think it’s the end all and be all, no. when you go out there they are really more fascinated with us being new. It’s like a novelty but after the novelty fades… EG: It’s like they don’t know their worth. That is like the fate in a nutshell. It’s like you said the world is now embracing it and they still moving away from it. Everything in Trinidad is more or less Americanized except for the cars. I think if we drove left hand drive we would see more American cars. Everything else, other than the cars, is Americanized, the dress, the music they listen to. AM: And this whole thing about the children uploading videos now on facebook, for the last couple months before the new school year, which started in September, before the July August holidays, a lot of teens were taping themselves with their laptops doing twerking things. Seriously, twerk is nothing in our vocabulary, we would say wine, but they actually twerking because that’s what they see what’s happening abroad and a lot of people from abroad posting this shit on facebook to they want to do it too. Copycat! LR: Don’t get me started on the twerking thing first of all it’s nothing new I remember from the early 90’s people doing the booty dance.

134

EG: But that is a result of the global village somebody can post something in Alaska and I can see it now. It don’t really have barriers anymore. Whatever hot in this place it could be hot globally because once the trend sets… AM: Transmission LR: Do you think with soca artists getting recognition abroad, I know Kerwin du Bios has an extremely international following because before he won soca monarch this past year he was putting out tracks once a month. I follow him on facebook and on soundcloud and I watched him put out tracks, he put out Doh Beg in September before carnival. And Bunji did a cut of Differentology with Busta Rhymes. They are starting to get legitimized by American hip-hop and pop artists, do you think that will bring some of the youth culture back to Trini music art forms? AM: It will but the reason why they have now become more recognized is because they have altered or have changed their sound. They are becoming more commercial and more versatile in what they do which is the non-seasonal sound that we’re talking about because you can still play Bunji’s track right now and not be reminiscing about carnival but it will relate to what you doing right now. EG: But people said the same thing about Bob Marley. When he made it big everybody in Jamaica was like “That is not reggae, he changed it” but at the end of the day he had to do something type of variation to reach everybody and once you reach them you can let them hear what is real. LR: Well also you can only do the same thing for so long before it becomes stagnant stale. AM: And that is what Bunji recognize. That’s what an artist needs to do every time, reinvent yourself but reinvention is not losing yourself. Improving on! That’s what should and that’s Kes did. He started up on Bunji and Bunji’s like “hey I’m being left out” he’s got great tracks it’s just the same sound “blablablbabl” but then he went to slow bass. EG: Bunji was like the local version ??? AM: He started doing music videos why? Guess what Michael Jackson, a major icon in the pop world, he used to do mini movies. LR: Thriller! And the one where he was in Egypt. AM: Yes! (singing) “remember the time when we fell in love” EG: Production and I was telling him [LR] yesterday, about the Mas in Trinidad. Like a long time, well you would know your Aunt used to have a band in the 60’s, 50’s the production of a mas band was more detailed to the costume it was like a story so they would come out on stage it was like a Broadway play more than what it is today. AM: That you would sit and look at rather than jump up rather than get carried away. EG: So it was actually like a production like you’re watching this man come out and then he followed by this in different stages. AM: It was a story. The concept of your presentation you could see it based on your production. EG: And you would win band of the year based on how good your story was. LR: Wow! That was not my experience with Mas. AM &EG: Right! Yes! EG: Now it’s a Rio style where less is more. LR: At a certain point Rio carnival is like that. It’s not theatrical stage oriented. Generally speaking the costumes or the succession of costumes cuz there’s not just this one band that has this one costume, in a way is complementing the song that that band is following.

135

AM: So we still taking a crumb off their entire cookie. We think we’re duplicating but it’s nothing to compare to their actual presentation because we say that after the world cup LR: Rio carnival, they still have instrumentalists that follow them. AM: And they have floats. LR: Yeah, it’s not just a sound truck EG: Another big problem these soca artists have is, a lot of artists… What’s the first prize with the Soca Monarch? Like two million? So that’s like 300,000 US. The Soca Monarch show is based off crowd response you can get. So you find a lot artists putting all their efforts behind trying to win this competition so hence the music will always be that kind of hype hype music but it’s not the quality. Like you say Kerwin du Bois, he brings out quality music, lyrics, production; everything is quality because it’s his brand. He’s not trying to bring out two songs to try and win a competition and then the rest of the year he just kick back. LR: But I think that speaks to how he won this year. Because he put that thought into it, because he wasn’t just about winning soca monarch he was putting out quality music. And that’s says something. AM: Because they want win the prize money less thought being put into production, less thought composition, less thought into your band or the importance of having a band. Look Farmer Nappy with umm.. LR: “Big People Party” AM: Oh gosh, that instrumental, I was a part of his video and I don’t mind being a part of a video like that as oppose to the wining because it showed me an aspect of soca that I didn’t we had way back then which was the instrumental. When I asked him about it, he said “ yeah it’ll bring back something” because I think every other soca artists was doing what everybody was doing and I think bringing back instrumentals as well as the band is very important. It also adds to the lyrical content because you have this instrumental in the back there how you going to keep that going? LR: That was one of my favorite songs that came out of carnival this year because it had raw instrumentation. Before I came to Trinidad and heard what soca is today, the only thing I had to go on was Barbra, Signal for Lara, these really old classic Super Blue tunes because we played arrangements for them for pan in the states. So when I would go look up the sources music for these songs this is what I found. So when came here and heard the EDM influences on soca I was just telling myself “this is not what I knew soca was.” AM: Like it had mutated. LR: Well yeah. Well it is a testament to the global community and its influence on soca. AM: But while you’re having global influence I think if a country or a community is strong in their identity no matter what influence comes in, you’re still going to produce what you are accustomed to but of course enhance it, not transform it, not change it, not mutate it. LR: So you said you’re a DJ AM: No I’m not a DJ I’m an MC LR: Oh, you’re an MC. AM: That’s a vocal jockey a VJ. I’m an announcer accompanied by a DJ. LR: You don’t have a whole lot of control over what’s being played. AM: It depends on the radio station. Some of the experience that I’ve had I actually had control of the selection of the music but it was because of the type of the radio station

136

which was the genre of music, adult contemporary, soft rock, limited soca, but for carnival we had soca so I would pick the songs. LR: I would think you could play some calypsos AM: Of course, it’s not like I’m mixing anything. I’m just selecting songs. Based on my background, I love the carnival, I love the production, I can appreciate canbole because I was a part of the mas making with my auntie at a point in time as well as Bestvillage which was the old influence. I would select more Baron more all that stuff because to me that’s real soca. If I have to go the new generation, well of course I’d select Machel cuz Machel is good. ED: Well that goes with what you were saying about the household because if your aunt was playing that kind of that music you would grow up in it. AM: So school is an influence but the primary socialization comes from the family. LR: Before we finish up I want to talk about pan because you said something that sparked a question that I have been rolling around my head about pan. It seems like the pan arranging sound has stagnated. I’ve listened to song from back in the 90’s up until now and it doesn’t seem like there’s much going on in the pan scene why do you think that is? AM: I would say because the transfer of that knowledge that experience those works from that main generation like the Ken “Professor” Philmore and Boogsie, is not transferring. Boogsie son is a DJ, he into the dancehall thing. He was the one that was supposed to be carry the mantel it’s not trickling down just like the finances in our country it’s not trickling down. It’s staying up there. They are dying and the traditions are dying with them. LR: But you have young arrangers that are coming in like Liam Tigue. AM: And Jit Samaroo’s son. Jit Samaroo has dementia or Alzheimer’s and that has affected his playing. Most of the pan players from way back then, it’s not like they could read music well, they memorize it and if you losing your memory, what ganna happen? Now I don’t think Jit Samaroo’s son wanted to be a total panman but of course his father’s influencing him. He had an interview with Joe Vilifanto on Cup of Joe, which is something during the week and he said “I became this great pannist because my father had this issue his dementia coming on and I had to be his shadow” in order for the father to continue to keep working with the particular group. I think it was Invaders. LR: Nah, Renegades EG: He’s schooling you. AM: Which is what I’m going to tell you now, my household, I knew nothing about pan. My father was a police officer and I couldn’t enter a pan yard, he was “that’s vagabond music.” I couldn’t even tell him I was in Bestvillage because he knew the class of people or the bacchanal that goes on there. So my interest in pan is unfortunately just going to the greens and lime. Do I like the pan, four years ago no I was just like “what the hell is that noise” but as I got older, I’m now 28 so four years ago when I was 24 I was just going for the lime, but recently, because I’m maturing, the sound is becoming annoying which is the BANG BANG BANG, in terms of the soca and the wine I’m fed up with it already, I find myself turning to the older radio stations trying to hear what used to be good. EG: You should go to the tents or something. AM: I went to some tents this year, my carnival changed this year. I went to some tents where I saw this guys that sang “Lauren” what’s his name (singing) “you better wait” Explainer!

137

I went to see Sparrow when he was well, he even showed up at Tribe or something. I went to pan this year on the greens but I found myself moving across to the north stands to really listen to the pan. So I think as you age your preference will change as well as if you didn’t come background again. I didn’t really like pan I thought that it was so noisy. I wouldn’t go to a pan yard “what the hell is that? That’s just too much noise” but as a young person I think it’s just going to be noise if you’re not interested. EG: I was telling him, he dying because the young pan crowd or the lime crowd as oppose at the semis would be larger all the time because they don’t really want us there really. AM: No they don’t really want us there but they want the money because recently you know what they had? What? Splash splash, A POOL! I can’t remember the woman’s name who was the marketing clown for that. I was working on the radio station and I had a field day with her. I mash her up to bits because who the hell does that? I can only say that now because I realize what has been missing. What seems to be dead can come alive but when these people commercialize what the culture is supposed to be, over commercialize I should say, they killlin it. LR: Do you think Panorama is there to preserve that sound? AM: Of course. LR: So to innovate it beyond what it already is would that be blasphemous? AM: A percentage yes. LR: That was something that I hit the wall with it started with this whole shock value that Andy Narell came with, in that interview, and in thinking about why he was making these comments, he’s trying to push pan to develop into something more. It’s one thing when you’re an outsider doing that but you have Liam Tigue who’s trying to do that as well. Pan’s going to sound like pan. AM: Cuz it’s a pan LR: But if you listen to it musically, the ideas that arrangers are putting in there, those ideas have been the same. And now Liam’s coming in and Andy coming in and they are trying to bring in new ideas and they are almost being rejected because of it. When Liam arranged “Vibes” for Starlift he didn’t even make it to the finals. It almost says something that this innovation is not welcome in Panorama. AM: Cuz they’re old people and they want to stick to what they know. EG: Not yet, until the old people are gone AM: Until they die LR: But the old people, are they the ones that are judging? AM: Usually EG: Yeah AM: Usually, I have not seen a young person, mid-thirties. Mid-thirties, like 35 to 25 I don’t see anybody young on the panel. EG: And you know why? The band leaders. If you have a young judge band leaders will be like you don’t know about pan. AM: They don’t give the youth a chance especially in those areas so they just going to die with that knowledge. They just going to die. EG: The old people dominate the pan AM: There may been some interested in youth but of the concern from the old people that we’re not good enough we weren’t here before. Ok but we weren’t here before but why not go hand in hand why not show us your ropes because you’re going to die. Do you

138

want to the riches of our culture to die with you? How stupid there’s no continuity if you with everything that you know EG: They don’t trust you AM: And I don’t blame them because some of the youth in Trinidad, Lord have mercy, I would have put them all in an area, killed them all and sent them afloat. Did I say I’m a teacher? Yeah. A particular area need to be cut off and go afloat. LR: Well yeah but that’s the whole concept. Yeah the pan yards used to be bacchanal but you have groups like Invaders who are really bringing in the youth and trying to keep them from getting into trouble AM: One pan area that I always see because I live in the east is Exodus, they always have an influx of youthful pan players and I’m talking from the age of six. A girlfriend of mine that’s about 22 she has a son he’s about 5 he started doing pan. They are very lively and they have the corporate support. Republic banks those banks are supporting them so pan is no longer total vagabonds because they have the corporates in Trinidad see it value commercially. EG: Woodbrook Playboys has a lot of young people too AM: Invaders too and you need to because that’s how it continues. EG: But they need to sustain it after carnival because you’ll find that from now [around October] interest will start to build and as carnival finishes it just like back to normal LR: But there are pan shows going on all year around. AM: But that’s the thing AM & EG: We don’t know! EG: Unless you are a pan enthusiast you wouldn’t know. LR: But why? Is it because nobody wants to market it? EG: Nobody wants to put money into it outside of carnival AM: Carnival is now moneyval EG: The corporate sponsors wouldn’t put their money into it because they’re not seeing a return. So it’s like “Alright, we’ll put our money in pan semis” because people see your product associated with whoever so there’s some kind of return on your investment. But outside of carnival they wouldn’t have some kind of investment just for social benefit to keep the youths off the streets. They’re not interested cuz it’s about the buck. LR: So you’re saying that capitalism has taken over. AM: Exactly and the perfect example of that is having a POOL at Panorama. LR: Aye, it was hot as hell when I went to Panorama <>

Interview with Chris “Jillionaire” Leacock

Lucas Reichle (LR): For academic record, can you tell me who you are, how old you are/when you were born, where you are from, where you live now and what you do? Chis Leacock (CL): My name is Christopher Leacock, I am 37 years old, I was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, I currently reside in New York city, and I Dj and produce music under the monecure of Jillionaire, I’m a member of Major Lazer. LR: How long have you lived in NY or when did you move away from Trinidad?

139

CL: I moved away from Trinidad this time around at the end of 2009 and I’ve been living NY now for just over 1 year. I live in NY an then I moved to LA and I was in LA for about 4 years, and then I kicked around for a year or so. LR: Can you just walk me through the typical process when you’re communicating with other artists, specifically international artists, what kind of avenues do you use email, texts, social media sites? CL: I think that it’s all of the above. People communicate with me either via my email, they communicate with me on my facebook fan page and I communicate back and forth with a lot of artists and producers whatever via Twitter PM or Instagram PM so you might hit somebody up and be like “Yo, you know I got this project I’m working on I think you might be interested in it blah blah blah” and they’ll be like “alright, cool!” [and then it might be PC glitch can’t really hear what he’s saying but not that important] we exchange emails and it usually goes to email from there or it might go to a like What’s App conversation or a phone call, but most of it usually takes place online and then beyond that there are a number of collaboration tools that are used, mostly dropbox, box.net and then there’s a new thing called Splice which allows you to share actual Ableton sessions across different, like you can work on an Ableton session at your house put it on splice. LR: The whole project not just the audio files? CL: Yeah. LR: Awesome! CL: So, it’s pretty much those things. It depends on the level of the conversation. Sometimes you might hit somebody up on twitter and be like “yo, I want to work on this thing, blah blah blah” and then you might go back and forth there for a while and then be like “cool, shoot me an email and we’ll set it up or just give me a call and we’ll set it up.” It depends on the nature of the project or the nature of the previous interactions. LR: Touching a little more on technology, saw on your bio from Feel Up Records that you use Serato, can you talk to me about what it’s like being a modern producer/Dj vs. the old modal of crates of records and dubplates. CL: What’s it like? I mean I think the kids these days are pretty lucky. Back in the day you had to have equipment, you have to have 2 turntable, you had to have a mixer, you had have a box full of 12 inches and a box full of 45’s. You had to lug them everywhere and you had to find a way to carry them around as well. Luckily the kids now a days they don’t have to deal with that. You put it all on a USB, you put the USB in your pocket and you just show up to the club, ya know? It’s been an ongoing conversation. I think DJin’ and photography are the two things that people have the most conversations about when it comes to technology and how the technology has affected the process but to me at the end of the day it’s really about the results and if people enjoy the music and they have a good time then that’s all that really matters, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing vinyls or CD’s or USB’s or like a controller or anything, you could put up a fucking mix tape ya know? LR: Is there any ways these new technology hinder you in any way?

140

CL: Not really, I pick up pace pretty quickly so I’ve been ok. I taught myself to DJ on vinyl, I taught myself CD changers and I taught myself to DJ on Serato and Traktor I taught myself to DJ using USB keys so I don’t ever feel like, old man, oldest boy in the club. LR: I didn’t really mean it in terms of that. CL: No, no, I’m not offended. I’m just saying it hasn’t posed any big challenges to me like “how am I going to learn this latest bit of technology the kids are using these days.” I’ve usually been pretty ok with it. LR: I was actually more like has it hindered the creative process or when you go to the studio? CL: (chuckling) No, no democratization of technology has made it easier for myself and for others to make more content then we’ve ever had before. Whether it’s photography or DJin or any of the other culture outlets the fact that the technology exists makes it easier to get the job done. There was no collaboration over social media, there was no “discovering new artists” without Soundcloud or Spotify or any one of the other online music apps so if anything the technology has helped people create more, and more importantly get that content out to the consumer base. LR: That actually brings me to my next question, how does having access to that global community affect your relationship with your fans and the people that are buying your music and listening to your music? CL: Well, you have a one to one relationship with the fans now where as it used to be a many to one relationship. Back in the day, if you wanted to interact with an artist you had to go to his show. You could buy a Prince record or a Michael Jackson poster or you could join the fan club but that was it. Now you can get a reply on Twitter, or you can get Drake to like your photo on Instagram that didn’t exist. So it’s one to one now as a fan or as an artist you can reach out directly to people and be like, “Yo, I like your remix, I want to fuck with you,” or “I like this piece of fan art that you made I want you to work on a project.” LR: The next question is dealing with Transnationalism, you being a Trinidadian transnationalist. First of all do you identify as a Trinidadian Transnationalist? CL: What’s a Transnationalist? LR: So, transnationalism is a social phenomenon that occurs as nations gain more affluence and a nation’s population has the economic freedom to travel and live in other countries for extended periods of time while still maintaining a connection to their country of origin. Post Trinidadian oil boom in the 70’s allowed for a lot more affluence in Trinidad which allowed Trinidadian nationals to become Transnationals by frequently moving to the US and then coming back to Trinidad and maintaining, not necessarily dual citizenship on paper but in essence it is. Right now I identify as a Transnationalist because I’m an American and still have an American passport but I live and reside and do all my work in Norway where my wife is from so I’m an American transnationalist in that respect. CL: Oh, I didn’t realize you were in Europe. I guess to stick to your definition yes I guess I am a Trinidad transnationalist I have and do and always will identify as being

141

Trinidadian. I have no intentions of pursuing citizenship from another land, unless I marry and end up with a Dutch passport. I go back to Trinidad on a regular basis, I still identify with the same peer group that I had before I left Trinidad I will continue to identify with all things Trinidad it’s just that I live and work in America… or wherever the hell it is on whatever day it is. LR: If I’m not mistaken you just got off of a world tour not that long ago right? CL: Yes LR: It’s kind of surreal in that respect because you’re almost more of a citizen of the world at this point. Of course you have a relationship with your culture, what’s that like submerging yourself in other cultures from all around the world? It’s a unique experience that not many people have the opportunity to experience, can you tell me about that and what’s that like. CL: It’s kind of difficult to explain because for so long now it’s been my modus operandi, in that I was in Cuba and then I flew from Cuba to New York via Mexico, and then the next day I flew from New York to Istanbul. I have friends and associates in Cuba, I have friends and associates in New York, and I have friends and associates in Istanbul. I think that the one opportunity the lifestyle affords me is constant discovery. Even when I’m here in New York every day is constant discovery whether it means that I go to the office and work on a new project or go to an art gallery or go to a studio visit with a painter, or I go to the studio and have a session. I have just developed a lifestyle where I’m constantly on the go and constantly trying to assimilate as much as possible and absorb as much as possible. LR: What problems do you face when you talk about Trinidadian culture to people who might not have any idea that Trinidad is an island that exists? CL: What problems do I have? I guess the biggest problem ya have is people thinking it has something to do with Jamaica. I think now more than… I’d say maybe over the last ten years people kind of know what Trinidad is. Being in New York is not probably the best judge of our place but I think we’ve had our fair share of icons whether it be Brian Lara, Ato Boldon, Dwight Yorke or Shaka Hislop who’s now on ESPN. Even guys like Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin who have had radio play on Hot 97 and across North America radio, Anya Ayoung-Chee, or even myself and what I’ve accomplished with Major Lazer. I think the biggest challenge you’re going to face when discussing a country or its culture is the context. The conversation I have all the time or the conversation I had today was how is reggae music or dancehall so big and I say it’s because they had a Bob Marley, and they had marijuana and anybody who smoke weed listen to reggae music and anyone who listen to reggae music know Bob Marley. Now that might sound disparaging or that might sound over simplified but what I’m saying is Trinidad culture never had a huge global icon that had a huge global impact like Bob Marley did. So it’s going to take much longer time to contextualize Trinidad culture. LR: That was by design though. I just read an article that talked about Bob Marley and his music and how, in order for Bob to get his message out there and reach a broader audience he had to water down his music to make more palatable for white audiences in

142

Europe and America and become part of this corporate machine in order to get reggae to the status that it was. CL: Oh of course! If you listen to Wailer and the ska music they were doing in Jamaica and then you listen to the stuff they were doing once they left Jamaica and they were in Europe, they were on tour and in North America and so on, the two things they’re completely different. That reggae was almost a result of a perfect storm in the way that rock and roll had Elvis, reggae had Bob Marley, we have yet to have that type of global music ambassador who’s going to change the way people are looking at the music that’s coming out of Trinidad. LR: Growing up in Trinidad and being a DJ you are in a unique position to write the soca narrative and what was influencing Trinidadian tastes over the last 3-4decades, can you talk to me about what was going on musically in Trinidad through these era’s, both internal and external that shaped soca. CL: I think the one attribute that all Caribbean musics have in common, whether it be reggae and dancehall or soca and calypso, is that they have the unique ability to absorb what’s happening in popular music and process it and then spit out their own modified version. So the music that’s come out in Trinidad would have always been influenced by the popular music at the time. Over the last 5-10 years the themes have changed, you have lyrical themes that the average outsider can identify with other than jump and wave or rag, flag, hand and also the tempo has changed so it’s not really about 160-165 bpm anymore but more like 125-130 which not only is more way danceable but is also way more in-tune to the pop music that’s on the radio right now. LR: Are you referring to the shift away from the Super Bluesque power soca, hard, kick drum driven, four-on-the-floor power soca to this more, groovy, dancehall style soca. CL: Correct, that’s been going on for a while. You mentioned David Rudder and David Rudder was first crowned champion in 1986. You’re talking about 30 years ago when I was seven or eight years old and he was doing groovy soca at the time. David Rudder was never doing the big pounding road march hits. You look at Shadow who won road march with “Stranger” and shadow never did big, pounding, stereotypical road march records. LR: Yeah most of his stuff still had a lot of calypso element. CL: Melodic! It was very melodic so it’s not something that’s new; I think it’s just content wise people are beginning to realize “I need to do something that’s more complementary to the air as opposed to “let me just make a road march hit.” LR: So when that shift happened away from the groovy sounds of David Rudder to the heavy hitting road march sounds of Super Blue, what was the music in the clubs in Trinidad that might have helped the Trini’s tastes to palate that change in style. What were the other musical elements that were going on in Trinidad that helped developed that sound. CL: Growing up in Trinidad and as an adult, soca music only reigns for three months out of the year. Once you get out of carnival it’s all reggae or dancehall, hip-hop and R&B on the radio and in the clubs so lot of the music had foreign influence. If you listen to Machel’s earlier, groovier records like the stuff that he did with Mr. Vegas, “One More Time” and I Just Want to Dance With You” they’re very dancehally, reggaeton sounding,

143

108 -110 bpm. Guys like Bunji Garlin, Maximums Dan, and KMC they were all dancehall artists first. They would have gone to Jamaica, try to make a hit, came back to Trinidad and figure “let me try and make a soca song” and then it became a hit and then they realized “I can make money touring soca music that I could never make trying to be a dancehall artists coming out of Trinidad” because nobody wants to hear that. LR: I didn’t know Bunji was a dancehall artist originally, I had no idea. CL: They all were. That’s the thing about it, if you came up in the 90’s 2000’s you would have come up being influenced by what you hear on the radio. If what you would hear on the radio was dancehall then what would happen is, you would have all these guys who were chanters; what chanting is freestylin’, freestyle not in a hip-hop style but in a dancehall style. They would chant and they would come up with freestyles, and that’s where Bunji came from. They would try their hand one or two dancehall records they might have had a wave and had a wave but then he had a series of records and people started paying attention. In the same way if you listen to early calypso from Lord Invader and these kind of fellas they were [???], so the records that they were making at the time were influenced by the music that heard coming out of America, for all the early Roaring Lion stuff and all those dudes. The music from the Caribbean, and specifically from Trinidad in this conversation, is always going to be influenced by whatever is on the radio at the time or whatever’s hot at the time. That’s why the last 5 years the music on the radio has been 128-150bpm EDM inspired pop music, whether it’s from Nikki Manaj or Justin Bieber. If you analyze any groovy records from the last three year, from “Differentology” to any one of Machel’s records they all pop records. These guys are good at making pop music. The production techniques that they use might be questionable, their delivery might need work but it’s a pop records. It’s hooky, it’s got big build, and it’s in a minor key, because they hear pop records so consciously or subconsciously they say “yo, you know what I’m going to do I’m going to make a pop record.” Machel Montano to me is one of the best pop writ.. sorry pop singer of all time because he’s good at making pop records that’s why he’s going to have a hit every year because if you listen to the song you’re ganna say “oh! This is catchy.” They production or the lyrical message might not necessarily translate into something that the mainstream American audience might be able to appreciate but as a family music you go “Yo! This is cool cuz this guy has a big hook and it’s in a minor key.” LR: I’ve been hearing a shift in style again; soca seems to be consuming globalized music influences from corporate media sources. It’s allowed groups like Major Lazer to come in and add a Miami Bass/Trap influence. Why is it easy for the Trini public to pallet that? And what makes it so easy to mix? How do you guys make it mash to well? CL: I think it’s a bpm thing. I think that it’s a mixture of what I was saying before, which is that they hear what’s on the radio. At the end of the day, if you come from a place like Trinidad and you think “Man I want to have a hit,” because anyone that gets into music, as much as people talk about the love of it and so on, at the end of the day, they want to have a hit; they want to hear their song on the radio, they want to see their video on MTV, or youtube, 10 billion or however much it is, they want to see it trend, that’s what they want. So if they are listening to the radio and they’re hearing EDM. If you listen to a lot of the most recent records they all have that EDM influence. All the young producers are talking about “Man, I want to make a EDM record because I want to A) have a

144

mainstream hit and B) I want people to pay attention to what I’m doing and I want people to take noticed” and that’s when they’re getting people to take notice. LR: As it is, when I talk to people from the US and Europe about steel pan and pan music there is still a misconception that it is a Jamaican instrument and when I talk about Trinidadian music and culture there is this assumed culture mashup with all of the English speaking Caribbean cultures. The music you are producing by yourself and with Major Lazer, how do you think it affects this assumption? CL: When you’re in the midst of it, you just learn to accept it and realize I’m just going to make good music and those who understand will understand. It’s like my mom who listens to a lot of different music but anything with a four-on-the-floor is techno, or anybody of her age group. I’m not going to try to educate my mom “This is progressive house or this is what techno actually is.” So if people are listening to soca music or records that have been influenced by the sound of the Caribbean and they fundamentally identify, whether it be Jamaica or.., then so be it. It’s an educational process that’s going to be bigger than you or me or any of us independently. And it’s going to take up much longer time than a year or two or five years until people understand “oh, this comes from Trinidad.” LR: Considering technology and the way we’re headed with the global community, like you said you have contacts and friends all around the world that you keep in contact with that you work with probably on a daily basis, I understand the need to preserve your culture but how important are these ignorant assumptions like that in the grand scheme of the global community? CL: I don’t think they’re damaging, I think the more people can have a conversation about it and the more that they’re aware about it, it benefits us as Trinidadians or as culture directors, or as musicians. I don’t think that it’s damaging necessarily, the thing about it is the people who need to know are going to know. You could probably have the same conversation about what’s the difference between the music that comes from Ghana as oppose to the music that comes from South Africa as oppose to the music that comes from Nigeria. Maybe some of them may be similar, maybe some of them may be different. Again, I’m embedded, but I don’t know but I’m aware so I’ll be more in-tune to say “Ok, I know Timaya comes from here, I know that Runtown comes from here, and I know that this other guy comes from here” but it’s the average guy who turns on the radio and hears the one cross-over hit when your with your friends, can you be offended that he doesn’t know the difference? I don’t think so. Is there a way for us to repair that? Yes there is but at the same time the specialty music that’s from the Caribbean or from Africa or from Asia is not ever going to be what’s playing on radio every day in America. Its moot point trying to explain that “this guy’s actually from Jamaica and this guy’s from Trinidad and this guy’s from Barbados.” I think ultimately the people that have a general interest are the ones that are going to do the research and the ones that will know the difference. LR: <>, In an interview with Arianna Mitchell she comments on the fact that the Trini youths are so active in the global community and on social media that they are replacing their cultural forms posting videos of Twerking as oppose to wining. She got somewhat

145

passionate about “What’s twerking? Twerking is not a Trinidadian form. This is an American thing all these Trinidadians are forgetting their culture.” How do you feel in relation to that notion? CL: I think that anybody that are going to complain about what the youth are doing, you’re old and disconnected and shouldn’t be talking about what the youth are doing. None of us can direct youth culture, the most we can do is put our little two sense in and hope that maybe we can change things so that they’re better in the future. In the same way that we can’t change the way that music sounds. It’s like people who complain and say “the music now-a-days” ok cool but the generation before you was complaining about what you were listening to. Its constant rebellion, youth culture is always going to be drawn to the youth culture abroad because it’s bigger to them and it’s nicer. So whatever’s happening in America they going to be drawn to and it’s always going to be in rebellion to what came before. It took me a long time to acknowledge that but I don’t think that we can judge what kids are doing now or tell them that it’s wrong because that’s just the way their culture is going to evolve. All we can hope for is that, if it’s damn nonsense they’ll see that it’s a passing phase and they will get to a point or an age or a state in life where they’re like “yeah that was cool, doing express yourself upside-down that was cool, I’m an adult now so I’m just going to move on with my life”. That’s what youth culture is, I can’t tell somebody that twerkin is wrong, I might think it’s stupid, but hey go for it. LR: There seems to be a Trini MO to want to preserve these things in time. I started out this thesis wanting to talk about pan and pan music but came to a stale point because Panorama music hasn’t changed in the last 20. CL: Yeah LR: And it’s really lost a lot of luster in the youth culture. They go to the greens to lime not to watch the pan event. There are a lot of nationalists who would want to preserve cultural forms and I happened to find something to that extent with I was looking up some of Bunji’s music back in December and I came across the song “Exodus” that you guys did with him. Looking at the comments of the youtube video there was a handful of people who were saying “This isn’t soca, this isn’t soca music this is trap music, this is EDM trap” what do you say to Trini nationalists that have this notion of wanting to preserve things that were, in their hay day, that was the biggest and best that soca was ever going to get and not allowing these forms to evolve. CL: Their hay day is over. I’m 38 years old my hay day’s over too LR: Awe man I don’t want to hear that I’m 35 my hay day’s just starting CL: It’s going to be younger and it’s going to be better and it’s going to be faster. We live in a constantly evolving world and we can’t stop the world from spinning so we can complain about it. LR: How do you feel about the notion that, in your position of popularity in Trinidad and around the world, you are a culture bearer for the Trinidadian community? CL: I don’t think it even matters what I feel about it. It is what it is. I never set out to be famous. I wasn’t 22 years old lying in bed thinking “man I want to be a super star DJ.” It is what it is. I have to accept it the same way I have to accept that I might walk out of the

146

office now, walk out on the street and some kid might ask me to take a photo; I might not be in the mood, I might not want to do it but it comes with the job. LR: Do you feel responsible in presenting your musical cultural forms? Or do you feel responsible to educate the people whose lives you touch with your music and by extension the soca music you’re throw out there with it? CL: I don’t feel a responsibility to educate as much as I feel a responsibility to remain true to myself and true to where I came from. Which means that when I speak to you, I might speak to you in more correct tones, but I don’t have an American accent. I feel a responsibility to play reggae and dancehall and soca music when I DJ because I come from that background and it represents who I am and where I come from. I’m not super Trini, I don’t have to wear a red white a black suit every time I leave the house and feel like I have to put out a calypso mixtape every three months. It’s not like that but I have to make sure if I’m doing a party like “chicken and beer” I have to make sure that I’m going to play soca music. Bunji Garlin’s ganna come, Machel Montano’s ganna come. If I’m doing Coachella Machel’s going to be there one weekend and Bunji’s going to be there the next weekend. If we’re having a conversation about a new project that I’m ganna say “maybe we should get Kerwin du Bois involved, maybe we should get Kes involved.” My responsibility is to make sure the window is always open or that the door is always ajar so that I can present these opportunities to the people that are from the Caribbean.

Interview with Devon Matthews

Lucas Reichle (LR): Hello Mr. Matthews, my name is Lucas Reichle, I am an American ethnomusicologist from the University of Florida writting a master's thesis on soca music and how globalization and technology has influenced it. I am at a point where I am discussing the afrobeats-soca fusion that has been gaining popularity over the last 4-5. I was hoping you could spare a few minutes of your time to tell me about your 2017 tune D Journey.

The sound, to me, seems afrobeat inspired and I wanted to know if you could elaborate on that. Was that intentional?

Devon Matthews (DM): What I wanted from the song is to actually have the authentic sound of our music. Where people can relate and rejoice on where they are now from where they were. The drums are really the sound of Africa and as you know soca originally is like that.

LR: Who produced the Riddim?

DM: The song was produced by Anson Soverall and myself .

LR: The graphic used for the youtube publishing seen below appears to be an illustration of the head of a woman wearing a dhuku.

147

Can you elaborate a little on that? Can you explain the relationship between the graphic and the song? Who was the artists that created it?

DM: When I did the demo I sent it to the graphic artist and that what he came up with @enigma.art.and.design. Suppose to even look like Mrs. Ella Andall because that's what she looks like so the art fit well with the song.

LR: I appreciate any time reading or answering my questions. I hope the Lenten season brings you much needed peace and rest.

DM: Thanks alot for the interest. Any thing else u need don't hesitate to write. All the best with your studies and do hope this helped with your mission

Follow Up

LR: I do have a couple follow up questions.

Can you talk to me about Ella Andall. From what I've read about her she is a very inspirational and passionate person. Can you tell me about your relationship with her? Can you talk about her life's work in relation to the message of "D Journey"?

DM: Ella and I only met when I came up with the song I wanted a woman's touch on it. When I wrote it I was thinking about Calypso Rose and then something said why not ask Ella. This is her first combination ever and didn't record isn't years so I was happy that she said yes to do it.

The song came to me at a time I just lost my father and I was thinking about stuff to be thankful for to keep my joy up and that song just came to me. I know I was taking a long drive and saying God this place far but keep moving and you will make it. Complaining won't make it come faster.

LR: Soca Monarch 2017 Who was the backing band? Backing band A TEAM

I recognized two djembes and a tama in the rhythm section, are these the same drums used in the drum sample that opens the studio version of the song?

DM: SAMPLES were all played live in the recording actually one of the drummers on stage played in the recordings

Interview with Sian Mcintosh

Lucas Reichle: For the record can you state your name and age for me. Shan Macintosh: Shan Macintosh and I’m 34 LR: What kind of music do you generally listen to when it’s not carnival SM: Hip-hop is my all-time love.

148

LA: How do you get access to hip-hop? What are the outlets you use? SM: Downloading via the Internet. Limewire, TV, MTV, cable, the radio, but I don’t even listen to the radio. Most of my stuff I just download songs from the Internet onto my Mp3 [player] and I just listen to that all day. LA: How closely associated with pan music are you? SM: Not at all, I would say I am associated with carnival … and for a lot of the bands the big bands like Tribe and Hearts and those types of bands, mas bands, but I’m not typically associated with pan. LA: Why is that? Being in Trinidad you’re around this constantly SM: Because I would say that the younger generations they have lost interest in that aspect of our culture in carnival because they are more geared towards being more like the American culture or European culture so they don’t want to embrace our local culture. They associate that with the older generations. Typically what used to happen is that people would enroll in pan in more like the inner city youth because they would get in trouble so they would go into pan to keep them busy. Now that American songs make that popular, they make getting in trouble popular, and they make doing those things popular so probably they don’t want to stop doing that and go with pan. They are looking at what they seeing on TV, or they doing what they are hearing on the radio LA: The younger generation you’re talking about, what age group do you typically see that as? SM: I would say as young as 16 to probably like 35.

149

APPENDIX B GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Call and Response – a musical compositional tool where one “lead” voice performs a call and one or more designated voices respond. This technique is often found in black diasporic musics.

Chanting (chanter) – as it pertains to Jamaican culture is vocal and lyrical improvisation in the style of Jamaican dub/dancehall music.

Chutney soca – is a subgenre of soca that emerged as a result of blending calypso with musical genres and instruments from East Indian.

Corporate music industry – refers to the group of U.S. based media entities that are now represented by the oligopoly Sony, Warner, and Universal, which control 80% of the music being produced and promoted.

Dubplates – can be the literal acetate disc used in recording studios to master tracks, the doubling of the original, as well as it was the predecessor of vinyl records. It has come to be understood as a special or exclusive recording specifically for a DJ, producer, or other artists in certain music cultures.1

Extended play records (EP) – a record format that contains four to five songs that is longer than a single but not long enough to be an album or LP. It is still used when discussing bodies of work, similar in length, not presented in a vinyl format (CDs and downloads).

Freestyling – word and lyrical improvisation most commonly used in relation to hip-hop.

Global community – is the community of people that emerged due to rise of Internet communications on a massive scale.

Groovy soca – also referred to as dancehall soca and cross-over soca is subgenre of soca that developed in tandem with modern dancehall at the turn of the 21st century.

International Soca Monarch – is the official carnival competition for soca artists.

Introman (hypeman) – as it relates to dancehall/dub and hip-hop culture, defined by Mr. Vegas, “an introman is a person that used to stand up at the dub studio and hype up the record before the real artists got on the record.”2 This also translates to live performance where someone excites the audience before or during the main act’s performance.

1 G Notorious, “Top Definition for Duplate,” Urban Dictionary, posted February 19, 2004.

2 Akademiks TV, “Dancehall Artist 'Mr Vegas' Says Drake is a FAKE who Used Dancehall Because its HOT!” Published to Youtube.com (May 18,2016).

150

Jab-jab – refers to the motion of the devils pitchfork in Trinidadian (and other Caribbean) iconic devil mas J’ouvert costumes. It has also come to refer to the style of music that usually accompanies the festivities. In Trinidad it is often used synonymously with power soca.

J’ouvert – is the Monday before Ash Wednesday where a parade of people walk through the streets sometimes dressed as devils usually throwing mud, oil, chocolate, and paint at onlookers.

Juggling – is the DJ technique that involves playing two or more songs in sequence that use the same riddim. This technique was popularized by dub and dancehall culture.

Limin’ (lime) – is a Trinidadian colloquial term that means to hang out e.g. “I’ll meet you at the pan yard for a lime” or “we limin’ at Maracas beach this afternoon.”

Long play records (LP) – a vinyl record format that usually contains 10+ songs, also referred to as an album. It is still used when discussing bodies of work, similar in length, not presented in a vinyl format (CDs and downloads).

Mas – is a shortening of the word masquerade that references the practice of dressing and costume on carnival Tuesday and parading through the streets of Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Mashup – is a term used to describe a technique that involves playing aspects of two songs simultaneously, usually the lyrics and melody from one song with a rhythmic loop from another typically titled as X vs Y (M.I.A. vs. Bon Jovi mashup, “M.I.A. Wanted Dead or Alive”). It is also used in this thesis as a metaphor for how many inhabitants of the U.S. and Europe view Caribbean culture.

Pan (steel pan) – is a metallophone percussive instrument invented in Trinidad and it is a cornerstone to Trinidadian national identity.

Ping-Pongs – the predecessor to the modern tenor pan.

Popular music market – refers to the international community of people who are the consumers and creators of music.

Power soca – also referred to as jab-jab is a fast and aggressive subgenre of soca produced at 130-160 bpm that came to prominence with the success of the artists Super Blue. Lyric themes often involve giving audience direction.

Ragga soca – is a subgenre of soca that emerged as a result of blending dub production techniques, styles, and culture with soca.

Rapso – is a subgenre of soca that emerged as a result of blending calypso with a lyrical delivery similar to that of rap and hip-hop.

151

Riddim – is a Trinidadian colloquialism that refers to an instrumental percussion and harmony section of a recording or the music that accompanies a singer or chanter. It is similarly referred to as a beat in hip-hop culture.

Remixing – is a process in which an established musical work is reinterpreted by another artist (usually a DJ) and produced as its own independent work.

Road march – is the parade and subsequent competitions that are the pinnacle of carnival festivities on (Fat) Tuesday.

Sampling – a process in which a snippet of sound or music is decontextualized and reimagined in a new body of work. In hip-hop culture, producers string together multiple samples in creative and innovative ways to create a new singular work.

Selector (DJ) – the person whose job it is to select the music for a party or event. Disc jockey.

Shout out (big up) – are colloquial terms used to indicate when one artist is paying homage, showing gratitude, or showing respect to another artists, producer, or influence. Found primarily in black diasporic musics.

Steelband – an orchestra constructed primarily of steel pans.

Strategic projection – is a process where a person carefully shapes public perception of themselves using tools like social media.

The Avenue – is a Trinidadian colloquial term referring to Aripita Avenue in Port of Spain, Trinidad that is one of the main roads use in the carnival parade route.

Transnational – is a social phenomenon that occurs as a country and its population gain enough affluence and a portion of the population begin to travel and live in other countries for extended periods of time while still returning and maintaining ties with their country of origin.

Tresillo – is a rhythm used prominently in musics throughout Latin-America and the Caribbean. It can be explained as a repeating pattern of 3+3+2 grouping of sixteenth notes over two quarter notes.

Tropical pop – is a label used in journalism to describe music from the popular music market that incorporates trends and production styles from Caribbean music production.

Tweet (retweet) – is the colloquial term used to describe posts and replies to posts written on the social media site Twitter.

Walking bass – a term used to describe a style of bass playing where the bass prioritizes chord tones on the beat and that primarily functions as harmonic support.

152

Wine – a Trinidadian colloquial term that refers to a style of dance common in Trinidad and other Caribbean countries involving an extreme gyration of the hips.

153

LIST OF REFERENCES

Akademiks TV, “Dancehall Artist 'Mr Vegas' Says Drake is a FAKE who Used Dancehall Because its HOT!” Youtube video 07:16, posted May 18, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOKUCdp_8Io (accessed January 1, 2017).

Allen, Ray. “J’ouvert in Brooklyn Carnival: Revitalizing Steel Pan and Ole Mas Traditions.” Western Folklore 58, no. ¾ (summer - autumn, 1999): 255-277.

Alleyne, Mike. “Globalization and Commercialization of Caribbean Music.” Popular Music History 3, no. 3 (2008): 76-101.

Androids. “An Idiot’s Guide to EDM Genres.” Complex Website, March 28, 2013 http://www.complex.com/music/2013/03/an-idiots-guide-to-edm-getnres/ (accessed September 29, 2016).

Arnold, Paul. “Too Short Says There Was an Industry-Wide Plot to Shut Down Conscious Hip Hop.” Hip Hop DX Website, February 29, 2012 http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.18861/title.too-short-says-there-was-an-industry-wide-plot- to-shut-down-conscious-hip-hop# (accessed September 15, 2016).

Ashley, Kathleen M. “The Cultural Process of Appropriation.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 32, no. 1 (winter 2002): 1-15.

Barz, Gregory and Timothy Cooley ed., Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Bein, Kat. “Diplo Stands Up to Accusations of Cultural Appropriation – Again.” Billboard Magazine Website, September 2, 2016 (http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7495933/diplo-major-lazer-cultural- appropriation-comments-nme (accessed January 31, 2017).

―― “It’s a Trap! An 11-Part history of Trap Music, From DJ Screw to Gucci Mane to Flosstradamus.” Miami New Times Website, July 25, 2012 http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/its-a-trap-an-11-part-history-of-trap-music-from- dj-screw-to-gucci-mane-to-flosstradamus-6475986#page-3 (accessed May 31, 2016).

―― “Major Lazer & Showtek’s Cool Collab Will Make You a ‘Believer:’ Listen.” Billboard Magazine Website, September 30, 2016 http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7526547/major-lazer-showtek-believer (accessed October 13, 2017).

154

Bonn, Donstan. “Voice Repeats as ‘Soca Monarch’ Champion…Proves He’s ‘Far From Finished.’” Daily Express Trinidad Express Newspapers Website, February 25, 2017 http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20170225/news/voice-repeats-as-8220soca- monarch8221-champion (accessed February 28, 2017).

Bradley, Laura. “Decoding Dubstep: A Rhetorical Investigation of Dubstep’s Development from the Late 1990 to the Early 2010s.” Honors Thesis, Florida State University, 2013.

Brooks, Sanaa. “Why Bazodee, Staring Machel Montano And Natalie Perera, Is The Perfect Movie To See This Summer.” Huffington Post Website, August 1, 2016 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-bazodee-staring-machel-montano-and-natalie- perera_us_579fd76ae4b004301c51bb6b (accessed November 11, 2016).

Brown, Harley. “Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire Dives Deep on Influences for ‘Peace Is the Mission.’” Spin Magazine Website, June 2, 2015 https://www.spin.com/2015/06/major- lazer-walshy-fire-peace-is-the-mission-interview/ (accessed January 26, 2016).

Butler, Mark J. “Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music.” PhD diss., Indiana University, 2003.

Central Intelligence Agency. “The World Factbook” Religions. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html (accessed September 6, 2017).

Communities and Local Government. The Algerian Muslim Community in England: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities. Change Institute (April 2009).

Church, Terry. “Funktion-One’s Tony Andrews on Setting Up Soundsystems – From Wembley Stadium to Your Bedroom.” DJ Tech Tools Website, April 10, 2014 http://djtechtools.com/2014/04/10/funktion-ones-tony-andrews-on-setting-up- soundsystems-from-wembley-stadium-to-your-bedroom/ (accessed October 20, 2016).

Clifford, Patricia, Sharon Friesen, & David W. Jardine. “Scenes from Calypso’s Cave: On Globalization and the Pedagogical Prospects of the Gift.” The Alberta Journal of Educational Research 46, no. 1. (spring 2000): 27-35.

Clyne, Kalifa. “Voice the youngest Soca Monarch in History.” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Website, February 7, 2016 http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2016-02-06/voice-youngest- soca-monarch-history (accessed February 28, 2017).

Cunningham, Katie. “Diplo Sets the Record Straight on Split with Switch.” In the Mix Website, April 8, 2013 http://inthemix.junkee.com/diplo-sets-the-record-straight-on-split-with- switch/18699 (accessed January 11, 2016).

155

Daily Express. “Ella Andall: A Woman to Celebrate.” Daily Express Trinidad Express Newspapers Website, October 29, 2011 http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sunday- mix/Ella_Andall__A_Woman_to_Celebrate-132863943.html (accessed March 3, 2017). David Rudder Official Website. “Biography.” David Rudder Website, http://www.davidmichaelrudder.com/Biography.php (accessed October 23, 2014).

Dennis, Christopher Charles. “Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: Globalization, Popular Music and Ethnic Identities.” PhD diss., Ohio State University, 2006.

Diehl, Matt. “Diplo Juggles Serious and Silly on Major Lazer's New Album.” Rolling Stone Website, January 8, 2013 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/diplo-juggles-serious- and-silly-on-major-lazers-new-album-20130108 (accessed January 11, 2016).

Dixon, Bobbie-Lee. “Is Afrosoca Set to Dominate?” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Website, June 17, 2016 http://www.guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2016-06-17/afrosoca-set- dominate (accessed November 10, 2016).

DjVlad. “Mr. Vegas on Drake/Popcaan Beef, Doesn’t Want to End Up Like Meek Mill.” VladTV Youtube video 22:16, posted June 7, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2LpdMZwuDo (accessed January 21, 2017).

Dowrich-Phillips, Laura and Mark Lyndersay. “Bunji Garlin: Send Dem Riddim Crazy.” Caribbean Beat 131 http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-131/bunji-garlin-send-dem-riddim- crazy#axzz489YgXjkU (accessed April 16, 2016).

Drake, David. “Real Trap Sh*t? The Commodification of Southern Rap’s Drug-Fueled Subgenre.” Complex Website, October 9, 2012 http://www.complex.com/music/2012/10/real-trap-sht-the-commodification-of-southern- raps-drug-fueled-subgenre (accessed May 1, 2016).

Dudley, Shannon. Carnival Music in Trinidad: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York Oxford University Press (2004).

―― “Dropping the Bomb: Steelband Performances and Meaning in 1960s Trinidad.” Ethnomusicology 46, no.1. (winter 2002): 135-164.

―― “Judging ‘By the Beat’: Calypso versus Soca.” Ethnomusicology 40, no. 2. (spring- summer, 1996), 269-298.

―― Music From Behind the Bridge: Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago. New York: Oxford University Press (2008).

―― “Ray Holman and the Changing Role of the Steelband, 1957-72.” Latin American Music Review 22, no. 2. (autumn – winter, 2001): 183-198.

156

―― “The Steelband ‘Own Tune’: Nationalism, Festivity, and Musical Strategies in Trinidad’s Panorama Competition.” Black Music Research Journal 22, no. 1. (spring 2002): 13-36.

Dyer, Deidre. “FADER Fiver: Machel Montanos Winning-Worthy Soca Jams” The Fader Website, August 25, 2014. http://www.thefader.com/2014/08/25/fader-five-machel- montanos-favorite-soca-jams (accessed June 12, 2015).

―― “32 Songs You Need This Carnival Season.” The Fader Website, August 29, 2016 http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/29/best-carnival-songs-playlist (accessed October 12, 2016).

Eide, Elisabeth. “Strategic Essentialism and Ethnification.” Nordicom Review 31, no. 2 (2010): 63-78. Elder, J. D. “Color, Music, and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Reference to the Role of Traditional Music.” Ethnomusicology 8, no.2 (May, 1964). 128-136.

―― “‘Kalinda’: Songs of the Battling Troubadours of Trinidad.” Journal of the Folklore Institute 3, no. 2 (August 1966): 192-203.

Elder, Sajae. “Where Did Drake’s ‘Jamaican’ Accent Come From?” Buzz Feed News Website, July 28, 2016 https://www.buzzfeed.com/sajaee/some-ting- borrowed?utm_term=.dnbe4Kx8kr#.ed1NZQPpaY (accessed March 5, 2017).

Eligon, John. “The Man Who’s Been Taking Trinidad’s Carnival on the Road.” New Work Times March 11, 2011.

Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. “Sean Paul: ‘Drake and Bieber Do Dancehall but Don’t Credit Where It Came From.’” The Guardian Website, September 5, 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/05/sean-paul-drake-kanye-dancehall- bieber (accessed January 16, 2017).

Fischer, David. “Popcaan Dropped a Drake ‘One Dance’ Dubplate and You Need to Listen to it Right Here.” High Snobiety Magazine Website, June 18, 2016 http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/06/18/popcaan-drake-one-dance-dubplate/ (accessed March 5, 2017).

Ford, Jeffrey D., Laurie W. and Angelo D’Amelio. “Resistance to Change: The Rest of the Story.” Academy of Management Review 33, no. 2 (2008): 362-377.

Garcia-Arista, Carlos. “Why Global Marketers Music Welcome Cultural Appropriation.” The Content Standard Weekly Newsletter Website, June 14, 2016 https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/creativity/why-global-marketers-must- welcome-cultural-appropriation/ (accessed January 7, 2017).

Garrett, Ural. “Mr. Vegas is Fighting for Dancehall Till the Very End Despite Drake & Popcaan Controversy.” Hip Hop DX Website, August 18, 2016

157

http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.40048/title.mr-vegas-is-fighting-for-dancehall-till-the-very- end-despite-drake-popcaan-controversy# (accessed March 22, 2017).

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary History. Oxford University Press (1988).

Greenburg, Zack O’Mally. “Avicii and the Ever-Changing Definition of EDM.” Forbes Magazine Website, August 14, 2013 https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2013/08/14/avicii-and-the-ever- changing-definition-of-edm/#63090f9b6a54 (accessed October 16, 2016).

Guilbault, Jocelyne. “The Politics of Labelling Popular Musics in English Caribbean.” TRANS- Revista Transcultural de Música, 1997, 3.

―― “On Redefining the ‘Local’ Through World Music.” Ethnomusicology: A Contemporary Reader, edited by Jennifer Post 137-146. Newy York: Routledge, 2006.

Hanson, Amanda Gernentz. “The Success of ‘Lean On’ Shows that Cultural Appropriation is alive and well in 2015.” Law Street Media Website, December 10, 2015 https://lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/entertainment-blog/success-lean-shows-cultural- appropriation-alive-well-2015/ (accessed January 6, 2017).

Henry, Ralph, Alvin Daniell, and Stein Trotman. “The Music Industry in Trinidad and Tobago.” Report prepared for World Intellectual Property Organization (2001).

Hinrichs, Lars. “Diasporic mixing of World Englishes: The Case of Jamaican Creole in Toronto.” In The Variability of Current World Englishes, edited by E. Green & C. Meyer 169-194. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014.

International Soca Monarch. “History.” International Soca Monarch Website, http://internationalsocamonarch.com/soca-monarch/history/ (accessed September 11, 2017).

JJ Stereo. “Superstar DJs: with Annie Mac feat. Diplo.” Youtube video, 23:29, Published March 1, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLc1jlwysFs (accessed September 6, 2017).

Jacob, Debbie. “Super Blue: The Pied Piper of Soca.” Caribbean Beat 4, MEP Publishers (winter 1992) http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-4/pied-piper-soca#axzz4rzrzyUCI (accessed November 15, 2014).

Jardine, David W., Patricia Clifford and Sharon Friesen. “Scenes from Calypso’s Cave: On Globalization and the Pedagogical Prospects of the Gift.” Alberta Journal of Educational Research 46, no. 1 (2000): 27-35.

158

Joffe, Justin. “Don’t Blame Drake: Modern Dancehall is Built on Appropriation.” Observer Magazine Website, September 8, 2016 http://observer.com/2016/09/dont-blame-drake- modern-dancehall-is-built-on-appropriation/ (accessed January 21, 2017).

JulianspromosTV. “Machel Montano – Like AH Boss (Live) ‘Soca Monarch Finals Power Winner 2015’ NH Production TT [HD].” Youtube video 9:15, posted February 14, 2015.

Kattari, Kim. “Building Pan-Latino Unity in the United States through Music: An Exploration of Commonalities Between Salsa and Reggaeton.” Musicological Explorations 10 (2009): 105-136.

Keil, Charles. “Participatory Discrepancies and the Power of Music.” Cultural Anthropology 2, no. 3 (August 1987): 275-283.

―― “Theories of Participatory Discrepancies: A Progress Report.” Ethnomusicology 39, no. 1 (winter 1995): 1-19.

Killakam. “You Need to Hear This New ‘Afro Soca’ Mixtape.” Okayafrica Website, March 29, 2016 http://www.okayafrica.com/audio/afro-soca-mixtape-dj-jam-central/ (November 10, 2016).

Klimke, Anika. “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis – Preparation for Future Success” Carnival Network, February 25, 2016. http://carnevalenetwork.co.uk/index.php/2017-01-31-15-57- 06/interviews/1124-aaron-voice-st-louis-preparation-for-future-success (accessed February 28, 2017).

Lakshmin, Deepa. “I was in India When Coldplay and Beyonce’s video dropped – and I Don’t See Cultural Appropriation.” MTV News Website, February 4, 2016 http://www.mtv.com/news/2734844/coldplay-beyonce-hymn-weekend-cultural- appropriation-india/ (accessed January 6, 2017).

Lazar, Shira. “Turn Down for Whats (DJ Snake + Lil Jon Pop Culture).” Huffington Post Website, July 8, 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shira-lazar/turn-down-for-whats- dj-sn_b_5288581.html (accessed December 6, 2016).

Lee, Sammy. “Mixpak Win Red Bull Culture Clash London 2016.” Red Bull Website June 18, 2016 https://www.redbull.com/int-en/culture-clash-line-up-london-2016 (accessed January 19, 2017).

Leu, Lorraine. “‘Raise Yuh Hand, Jump Up and Get on Bad!’: New Developments in Soca Music in Trinidad.” Latin American Music Review 21, no. 1 (spring-summer 2000).

Levine, Nick. “Diplo Hits Back at Major Lazer Critics: ‘No One Accused The Clash of Cultural Appropriation.’” New Music Express, September 1, 2016 http://www.nme.com/news/music/major-lazer-2-1203857 (accessed January 19,2017).

159

Lewis, Seon. “Jab Jab: The True Essence.” The Spice Island Atheist Blog, April 8, 2014. http://spiceislandatheist.blogspot.no/2014/04/jab-jab-true-essence.html (accessed June 15, 2015).

Liverpool, Hollis Urban. “Researching Steelband and Calypso Music in the British Caribbean and the U. S. Virgin Islands.” Black Music Research Journal 14, no. 2. (autumn 1994): 179-201.

Machel Montano Official Website. “Making of Monk Monté (biography).” http://machelmontano.com/biography/ (accessed June 12, 2015).

Magnetic. “Stop Calling EDM EDM - Here is a Proper Definition.” Magnetic Magazine Website, October 7, 2015 https://www.magneticmag.com/2015/10/stop-calling-edm-edm- here-is-a-proper-definition/ (accessed October 14, 2016).

Makarechl, Kla. “Diplo on Major Lazer, Why EDM is Horrible and How Mad Decent Created a Culture.” Huffington Post Website, April 24, 2013 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/diplo-major-lazer-edm-mad- decent_n_3141974.html (accessed January 5, 2016).

Manuel, Peter, & Wayne Marshall. “The Riddim Method: Aesthetics, Practice, and Ownership in Jamaican Dancehall” Popular Music 25, no. 3. (2006): 447-470.

Marshall, Wayne. “Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton.” Song and Popular Culture 53. (2008) 131-151.

Martin, Andrew R. “A Voice of Steel through the Iron Curtain: Pete Seeger’s Contributions to the Development of Steel Band in the United States.” American Music 29, no. 3. (fall 2011): 353-380.

McDonald, Heather. “The Big Three Record Labels.” The Balance Website, updated August 11, 2017 https://www.thebalance.com/big-three-record-labels-2460743 (accessed September 6, 2017).

Meschino Patricia. “Meet Machel Montano: Soca Boss, Trinidadian Booster and... Film Star?” Billboard Website, September 23, 2015 http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6707117/meet-machel-montano-soca-boss (accessed October 5, 2015).

―― “Drake Co-Signed Soca Star Machel Montano Talks Making a Global Impact and Heading to the Big Screen.” Billboard Website, August 1, 2016 http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7454403/machel-montano- drake-cosign-soca-success-bazodee-acting-debut?utm_source=twitter (accessed September 6, 2017).

160

Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development. Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census Demographic Report. Government of The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.

Murry, Nick. “Bunji Garlin Breaks Out: On the Road With America's First Soca Pop Star.” Rolling Stone Website, September 18, 2014 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/bunji-garlin-breaks-out-on-the-road-with- americas-first-soca-pop-star-20140918 (accessed April 12, 2016).

Narell, Andy. “Pulling no Punches - Andy Narell, Arranger for birdsong Steel Orchestra, Speaks on the 2014 Panorama Season.” When Steel Talks Website, http://www.panonthenet.com/tnt/2014/invue/andy-narell-3-14-2014.htm (accessed July 17, 2014).

Narine, Dalton. “We Kinda Music: White Clothes and Gravitas (An open letter to Andy Narell).” When Steel Talks Website, http://www.panonthenet.com/tnt/2014/oped/dn-open-letter-an- 3-6-2014.htm (accessed July 17, 2014).

Noel, Melissa. “Celebrity Choreographer Celebrates Caribbean Roots with Afro Soca,” NBC News Website, September 8, 2016 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/celebrity- choreographer-celebrates-caribbean-roots-afro-soca-n636006 (accessed November 6, 2017).

Notorious, G. “Top Definition for Dubplate.” Urban Dictionary Website, posted February 19, 2004 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dubplate (accessed October 16, 2016).

Oreg, Shaul. “Resistance to Change: Developing an Individual Differences Measure.” Journal of Applied Psycology 88, no. 4 (2003): 680-693.

OJO TTRN -Trinidad & Tobago Radio Network Limited. “Voice Performs ‘Far From Finished’ Live On The Madder Drive.” Madder Drive Youtube video 15:00, posted May 21, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Buwx6yRKU. (February 28, 2017).

―― “2016 Int’l Soca Monarch Winner, ‘Voice’ Teams Up With Bad Royal For ‘Get Away.’” Youtube video, 7:49, posted June 30, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aH- P7fXspE (accessed February 28, 2017).

Page, Kezia. “‘Everybody do the Dance’: The Politics of Uniformity in Dancehall and Calypso.” Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal 3, no. 2 (December 1, 2005): 1-11. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=anthuriu m.

Patel, Puja. “Style.” Washington Post Website, August 4, 2013 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2013/08/04/df77a7d0-fd21-11e2-8294- 0ee5075b840d_story.html?utm_term=.73b23a092df2 (accessed December 5, 2016).

161

Plaza, Josue Raphael. “‘Where’d You Find This?’ An Examination of Production Techniques and Genre Diversity in Electronic Dance Music.” Honors Thesis, Texas State University, 2015.

Poaletta, Michael. “Oakenfold’s Tranceport Still Flying High.” Rolling Stone (Apr 17, 1999): 23.

Q Studio. “King of Soca Machel Montano Says Carnival is Unity (interview).” CBC Radio Website, July 29,2016 http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-friday-july-29-2016- 1.3700231/king-of-soca-machel-montano-says-carnival-is-unity-1.3700256 (accessed September 6, 2017).

Quevedo, Raymond. Atilla’s Kaiso: A Short History of Trinidad Calypso. University of West Indies, Dept. of Extra Mural Studies, 1983.

Ramkissoon, Hema. “Aaron ‘Voice’ St. Louis speaks to Hema Ramkissoon on The Morning Brew about his song ‘cheers to life’ and his surprise at making the cut for the Soca Monarch Finals.” CNC3 TV Station, Jan 26, 2016 http://www.cnc3.co.tt/morning- brew/aaronvoice-st-louis (accessed February 28, 2017).

Ramstedt, Kim. “Sound System Performances and the Localization of Dancehall in Finland.” Journal of the International Association for the Study os Popular Music 4, no 1 (2014): 42-55.

―― “‘Chase Sound Boys Out of Earth’ The Aura of Dubplate Specials in Finnish Reggae Sound System Culture.” PhD diss., Åbo Akademi University, 2015.

Raymer, Miles. “Who Owns Trap?” Chicago Reader Website, November 20, 2012. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/trap-rap-edm-flosstradamus-uz-jeffrees-lex- luger/Content?oid=7975249 (accessed May 1, 2016).

Resident Advisor. “Anne Mac (Biography).” Resident Advisor Website https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/anniemac/biography (accessed September 6, 2017).

Reynolds, Simon. “How Rave Music Conquered America.” The Guardian Website, August 2, 2012 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/aug/02/how-rave-music-conquered- america (accessed October 20, 2016).

Rogers, Richard A. “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation: A Review and Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation.” Communication Theory 16, no. 4 (2006): 474-503.

Rohlehr, Gordon. Calypso & society in pre-independence Trinidad. Port of Spain, Trinidad: G. Rohlehr, 1990.

162

Santiwah. “Voice Repeats as ISM Soca Monarch 2017.” Sokah2soca Website, February 25, 2017 http://www.sokah2soca.com/2017/02/voice-repeats-as-soca-monarch-2017.html (accessed February 28, 2017).

Scher, Philip W. “Copyright Heritage: Preservation, Carnival and the State in Trinidad.” Anthropological Quarterly 75, no.3. (summer 2002): 453-484.

―― “When Natives Become Tourists of Themselves: Returning Transnational and the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.” In Trinidad Carnival: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival, edited by Garth L. Green and Philip W. Scher. Bloominton and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press (2007).

Serwer, Jesse. “How Soca is Absorbing Afrobeats to Create a Subgenre.” The Fader, Feb. 25, 2016. http://www.thefader.com/2016/02/25/afrosoca-trinidad-carnival-olatunji (accessed September 30, 2016).

―― “Large Up Interview: Q+A with Walshy Fire.” LargeUp Website http://www.largeup.com/2012/03/21/largeup-interview-meet-major-lazers-new-mc- walshy-fire/# (accessed September 6, 2017).

Shamlou, Justin. “Miami Bass: The Origin of South Beach’s First Movement.” Magnetic Magazine Website, August 24, 2015 https://www.magneticmag.com/2015/08/miami- bass-the-origin-of-south-beachs-first-movement/ (accessed December 1, 2016).

Sirek, Danielle Dawn. “Musicking and identity in Grenada: stories of transmission, remembering, and loss.” PhD Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016.

Staff, Billboard. “Ms. Lauryn Hill Launches 'Diaspora Calling' Music and Art Series in Brooklyn.” Billboard Magazine Website, April 14, 1016 http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7333178/ms-lauryn-hill-africa- diaspora-calling-brooklyn (accessed September 6, 2017).

―― “DJ Snake Says His Debut Album is Finished.” Billboard Website, June 17, 2016 http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7408862/dj-snake-debut-album-finished (accessed December 5, 2016).

Stewart, Allison. “Sugar Ray, the band that once had it all.” Chicago Tribune, August 13, 2015 http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-sugar-ray-mark-mcgrath-ravinia- 20150813-story.html (accessed May 3, 2015).

Stuempfle, Stephen. The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago, University of Pennsylvania Press (1995).

Sullivan, Jenisa. “A Reunion of Rhythms: Walshy Fire and Machel Montano on ‘Afro Soca.’” Okayafrica Website, July 21, 2016 http://www.okayafrica.com/featured/afro-soca- reunion-rhythms-walshy-fire-machel-montano/ (accessed November 13, 2016).

163

The Fader. “Machel Montano Plays On A Float.” The Fader, August 29, 2008. http://www.thefader.com/2008/08/29/machel-montano-plays-on-a1-float (accessed September 6, 2016).

Thésée, Gina and Paul R. Carr. “The 2011 International Year for People of African Descent (IYPAD): The paradox of colonized invisibility within the promise of mainstream visibility.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no.1 (2012): 158-180.

Thomas, Kevin J.A. A Demographic Profile of Black Caribbean Immigrants in the United States. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2012.

Trust, Gary. “Ten Years Ago, the Digital Download Era Began on the Hot 100.” Billboard Website, February 12, 1015. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart- beat/6472702/ten-years-ago-the-digital-download-era-began-on-the-hot-100 (accessed May 9, 2016).

TUCO (Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organization). Kaiso magazine. TUCO (2010-2011).

Twells, John and Claire Lobenfeld. “Drake’s Views: Exploring the Songs Behind the Samples.” Fact Magazine Website, April 30, 2016 http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/30/drake- views-samples/ (accessed January 21, 2017).

Various Contributors, “Machel Montano: One More Time.” Caribbean Beat, 113 http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-113/machel-montano-one-more-time#axzz47gG0uEcV (accessed June 16, 2015).

Walrond, Jean. “Steelpan, Caribbean Identity and culturally Relevant Adult Programs.” Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education 2, no. 2 (2007): 22-39.

Warner, Keith Q. Kaiso! The Trinidad Calypso: A Study of the Calypso as Oral Literature. Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1982.

Weiner, Jonah. “Diplo and the Search for the Perfect Beat.” Rolling Stone Website, March 22, 2012 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/diplo-and-the-search-for-the-perfect-beat- 20120322 (accessed January 20, 2016).

Weiner, Natalie. “Listen to Major Lazer's Jillionaire Join Forces With Soca Star Bunji Garlin on ‘Television’ (Exclusive).” Billboard Website, April 12, 2016 http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/7326599/jillionaire-bunji-garlin- television-major-lazer-dance (accessed April 17, 2016).

White, Bob W. ed., Music and Globalization Critical Encounters. Indiana University Press, 2012.

164

Willens, Max. “Interview: Major Lazer’s Switch on Working With Diplo, Recording in Jamaica, and Sponge Laser Beams.” The Village Voice Website, June 11, 2009 https://www.villagevoice.com/2009/06/11/interview-major-lazers-switch-on-working- with-diplo-recording-in-jamaica-and-sponge-laser-beams/ (accessed January 11, 2016).

XXL Staff. “DJ Troomp Look at Me Now.” XXL Magazine Website, March 29, 2007 http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2007/03/dj-toomp-look-at-me-now/ (accessed September 6, 2017).

Ziff, Bruce and Pratima V. Rao ed., Borrowed Power: Essay on Cultural Appropriation. Rutgers University Press, 1997.

165

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Born in 1981, Lucas Andrew Reichle received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition from Humboldt State University and his Master of Music degree in ethnomusicology through the

University of Florida. He began playing and arranging for piano at the age of four and began composing for guitar and bass at the age of 14. After touring with bands in Southern California for 5 years, he began his academic career at Humboldt State University in 2007 where he discovered his passion for music from all over Latin-America and the Caribbean. He has conducted two field research trips to Port of Spain, Trinidad. He has performed in numerous academic and community samba and steelband ensembles. He is currently living as an American transnational in Norway where he works with youth, through Rælingen Kommune, teaching them about realm where music meets technology. He is continuing his research about transnationalism, technology, and globalization in Northern Europe while pursuing a doctorate degree.

166