No love for reggae in soca land

[Assasin]

No love for reggae in soca land

Published: Tuesday | January 27, 2009


Josey Wales THE DECISION by promoters of the San Fernando Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, to incorporate reggae in the February 20-24 event, has not gone down well with socaphiles.
Most of the respondents to a January 23 story in the Trinidad Express newspaper hit out against promoter Marvin Warner's invitation to old-school dancehall acts to appear on all five nights of the show, which will be held at Secrets Carpark.
"The last thing Trinidad needs is reggae for carnival. Carnival is for soca, this is we culture," wrote one reader. "Who will want to go to a reggae concert around carnival time?"
Another reader wrote: "I love reggae but I am a Trini first. Please support our culture; soca is carnival music. We have to support Trini culture once and for all, because Jamaicans would not support soca at, say, Reggae Sunsplash."
Singers, Sugar Minott and Little John, and deejays, Josey Wales and Junior Cat are billed for the show, which will benefit the Food, Clothe and Educate the Children Foundation.
The reggae acts are scheduled to appear on the street parades in the days, and at the concerts in the evenings.
Carnival in Jamaica has always featured soca acts from the Eastern Caribbean, notably Trinidad and Tobago (Machel Montano, Denyse Plummer) and Barbados (Alison Hinds, among others).
Montserrat soca singer, Arrow, and Barbadian band, Square One have also appeared at Reggae Sunsplash.


Sugar Minott

[Historian]

Thank You, Assasin!

"The last thing Trinidad needs is reggae for carnival. Carnival is for soca, this is we culture," wrote one reader. "Who will want to go to a reggae concert around carnival time?"
Another reader wrote: "I love reggae but I am a Trini first. Please support our culture; soca is carnival music. We have to support Trini culture once and for all, because Jamaicans would not support soca at, say, Reggae Sunsplash."

Assasin: I need to express some thanks for this post of yours, as it validates a bit of what I tried to say to posters here last night. Unfortunately, I had a rare work-related appointment (which I stated at the end of my post last night) and so I wasn’t able to provide more empirical evidence for my statement that Jamaican reggae and dancehall culture is being resisted throughout the Caribbean!

Many of us don’t even begin to know the half of it! Earlier today, I read some of the responses to Sensi’s (and my own) comments, and once again I marveled at the fact that so many Jamaicans have absolutely no idea what has been happening in recent times throughout the English speaking Caribbean region! Anyway, here are the first three paragraphs of the post I made last evening:

Sensi:

Your “seeing the Caribbean from different perspectives” has not shown any different perspectives! What you have done, instead, is to promulgate the usual and rather tiresome “Jamaica is culturally superior” argument. This response, I can assure you, certainly has nothing to do with my original post which started this discussion. This response of yours, also, is in my opinion the type of attitude having at its root the primary reason for the failure of the original Caribbean integration effort, an effort which historically can be placed in the period 1958-1962.

This takeover (“taken over”) “of the Caribbean culture” that you boast about, and which Jamaica’s rubbish newspaper, The Star, likes to sing equally loudly about, might come at a very steep price, if ever it happens! In fact, I can tell you right now that the backlash, in the form of renewed efforts at re-energizing their native cultures, has already started to take place in a number of regional countries! It is probably a bit belated, but this re-energizing of native forms of expression has already started to take place in regional islands from the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad & Tobago in the south!

In case you have not been keeping up with news from the Caribbean, reactions throughout several Caribbean countries has been rather hostile to dancehall.

[Sir X]

You use a strong word resisted ! which refers one to ask why ? If you answer the question honestly you will come up with the word fear.

Now then we are then again forced to ask why fear? Here again if you answered honestly the reply would be a cultural invasion .

Trinidads biggest croosover hit was a reggae song in the past 30 years.

Marlon asher ..Ganja farmer, no doubt you have a problem with it.Its inevitable reggae will rule trinidad the carribbean , it rules the carribbean communities overseas .Before soca, calypso takes root uptown Jamaica , if ever , forget the garrisons and the rest of Jamaica, Johnkunno will be flourishing before that ever happens. dem affi deal wid it , like we deal with the yankee cultural invasion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYQHqLuWuig

[Me]

All it shows is that more and more there is a greater demand for the product in Trinidad.

We are seeing more and more Trini reggae artiste, Khari Kill, Isasha and Marlon Asha. I am sure we will be seeing more in the future.

Pressure from Virgin Islands
Natural Black from Guyana.

we will see it more and more.

[Lazie]

All it shows is that more and more there is a greater demand for the product in Trinidad.

We are seeing more and more Trini reggae artiste, Khari Kill, Isasha and Marlon Asha. I am sure we will be seeing more in the future.

Pressure from Virgin Islands
Natural Black from Guyana.

we will see it more and more.

The same Pressure whey duh "Love and Affection", "Don't Stress Yuhself", wasn't a yardie? Well thanks fi that info.

[Sir X]

How can you legislate against a cultural invasion , Russia tried it for almost 80 years, China 40 , i see them broken down and opening up and thriving.

[Sir X]

Dis bredda a trini ? nyami step up ansa mi !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77tYVju4gY

[Mosiah]

[B]
Another reader wrote: "I love reggae but I am a Trini first. Please support our culture; soca is carnival music. We have to support Trini culture once and for all, because Jamaicans would not support soca at, say, Reggae Sunsplash."

The reader is wrong. We won't support soca at all, not just a Sunsplash!

[Peter R]

Histoian,

If you read between the lines, it is precisely that reggae and dancehall have made such huge inroads that there is this resistance to it AT CARNIVAL TIME...otherwise reggae, dancehall have made "frightening" (to the soca purists) inroads in to the Trini music scene. There is only ONE all Soca/Calypso station in T&T and it is owned/run by Iwer George a soca artiste. Other popular stations play reggae and dancehall 9 montths of the year. "Passa passa" is now a phrase commonly used and the music that goes along with it is just as common. There is as others have mentioned a core of Trini reggae artistes who are churning out, well let's say producing, reggae at a rate that I would say more than rivals soca, especially as the music is not married to a season or a festival as Soca is. "Positive" is also another name you can add to the list of Trini reggae artistes, he has produced a couple mellow reggae tunes with a positive message ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN-vyPdqVts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O83nfoTsF3s

[Naminirt]

them guys you all talking about is rasta marlon asha KHARI KILL etc .... 12 tribe always have a dance around carnival time. Who don't want to go reggae don't go... simple as that them guy will just pull a rasta and roots crowd

[Mosiah]

Very interesting, Peter R.

Dem running scared dat soca might disappear off di face a di earth.

[Lionpaw]

lol. which earth? a muss trinidad earth? cause it nuh deh pon di face a da earth ya bway.

nb: who u know a jamaica ago inna dem car and a bump Soca? Triniman which soca did a tek ova jamaica lol.

[Naminirt]

Very interesting, Peter R.

Dem running scared dat soca might disappear off di face a di earth.

IT WLL not becuase you have SOCA CD in your car

[Mosiah]

IT WLL not becuase you have SOCA CD in your car

I never owned a soca CD in my life. Not even a Byron Lee one. A fi mi ears yuh waan come poison?!?

[Naminirt]

well maybe cassette or record