Soca Music Turns 50

Worthy of an article in a mainstream publication, but Caribbean Beat, the inflight magazine of Caribbean Airlines, should not be overlooked for consistently covering some of the most important and sadly unreported stories in Caribbean news and history.

Anyway my friend Nigel Campbell wrote this important article marking the 50th anniversary of soca for the Jan/Feb 2023 edition of Caribbean Beat Magazine. It’s important because the real history is murky, and we the people deserve more than the sanitised version that we’ve been fed.

Last August, for Trinidad and Tobago’s 60th Independence anniversary I FINALLY used a pre-pandemic interview with Martin ‘Mice’ Raymond and Omari Ashby to discuss the evolution of soca for a special on CNC3. Both are full of gems and worth listening to and give insight to soca’s messy origin story.

You can read Nigel’s brilliant article below.

“It’s been 50 years since soca music emerged in Trinidad & Tobago. Nigel A Campbell looks back at the birth and evolution of the music that’s become the soundtrack to Caribbean carnivals around the world — and continues to seek a commercial life beyond it.”
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