As far as we’re concerned, Rikki Jai will forever be the only Chutney Soca King.
Indian indentured servants who came to Trinidad from 1845 to 1917 brought their music with them and eventually fused it with island music to form a genre called chutney. Traditional chutney music added Indian instruments like the dholak and the harmonium to Caribbean songs, as well as a religious sensibility and, often, vocals in Hindi. Today chutney has blended with soca to form “chutney soca,” which has become popular international dance music. In this video chutney soca star Rikki Jai gives us a taste.
Tag Archives | Soca
Be careful with your dose of Soca
Trinidadian Soca is an exuberant form of calypso that has substantial influence throughout the Caribbean.
Trinidadian musician Ras Shorty generally receives credit for originating it in 1963 when he added Indian instruments such as the dholak and the tabla to calypso. In the 1970s calypsonians such as Shorty had also added soul, disco and funk, transforming the genre into internationally popular dance party music. Today Trinidadian soca remains popular throughout the Caribbean. Why else would Mr. Dale have become a Soca Junkie?
