Following some recent local shows featuring popular imported artistes, we’re hearing some clamour again from the adult crowd complaining about the decline in popular music. Since this is a recurring subject, it is probably useful to look back at the swings in our pop music industry in recent years and to recognize how North American music trends play out in our region.
A major difference between the popular music of the ʼ70s and ʼ80s is in the area of themes or subject matters. Caribbean music back then, while designed for dancing, was generally operating with traditional kaiso themes of protest, scandal, comedic behaviour, etc, with much of North American music concerned with matters of the heart or social issues. In both cases the songs were a combination of strong music and powerful lyrics, but in the ʼ90s, in both societies, this began to change, with, the critics say, Caribbean writers copying the American shift to simpler lyrics and emphasis on beat. Soca, now derided by many, was part of this shift. Lord Shorty, for example, a pivotal force in Trinidad, morphing calypso into soca, had originally been dealing with traditional kaiso themes of protest, scandal, etc, but as he turned to this new approach, combining American ‘soul’ with Trini ‘calypso’ we see those kinds of social topics beginning to fall away as the popularity of the new ‘jumpier’ music took hold. Although there was an outcry from the traditionalists (one Trinidadian band-leader, Art deCouteau, originally refused to play it) soca, with its obvious ‘party’ emphasis, actually replaced calypso very quickly. In a purely technical sense, it’s interesting to note that many calypso writers had traditionally created material in a tried-and-true structure which, while intrinsically rhythmic, usually featured a
