Miami Herald

LEO MESSI SWAPS JERSEY NETFLIX’S ‘FAIR PLAY’ IS NEW ‘PAW PATROL’ KEEPS WEEKEND FOR CHEF’S JACKET, 3C SEXY, WICKEDLY FUN, 4C ITS GENTLE CHARM, 6C

- BY C. ISAIAH SMALLS II csmalls@miamiheral­d.com

Go anywhere in the United States and odds are somebody, somewhere is doing a celebratio­n for the 50th anniversar­y of hip-hop.

The art form that was born in the Bronx, however, is not the only Caribbean-influenced cultural phenomenon turning the big 5-0 in 2023.

This year’s 39th annual Miami Carnival, which takes place Columbus Day weekend, coincides with the 50th anniversar­y of another Trinidadia­n tradition: Soca. And as one of the biggest parties on the Caribbean circuit that begins in Trinidad and Tobago and “ends” in Miami, there’s a mission to also use the opportunit­y to educate people about the history of soca and Carnival.

Performers dance in the rain during Miami Carnival at the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo in Miami on Oct. 9, 2022.

There are those who think Carnival is just “people putting on a costume, running in the street and gyrating,” said Giselle “The Wassi One” Blanche, a well-known soca aficionado and South Florida personalit­y. “But it’s so much more than that.”

A bandleader since the age of 14, Blanche has been a staple at Miami Carnival, which includes three days of events. Yet, even she sees a growing informatio­n gap because people don’t even know “why is it important to play soca at this time? What is the purpose of it? What is the origin?”

Ask Kees Dieffentha­ller about Carnival’s purpose and his answer is rather unique.

“Carnival is rebellion,” said Dieffentha­ller, known the world over as Kes, the lead singer of the legendary Kes the Band, “in the sweetest way.”

Kes is native to Trinidad and Tobago, which is considered the birthplace of the modern-day Carnival. The festivitie­s draw revelers from around the world, and have become a year-round party, not just before Lent, the Catholic obser

vation that historical­ly kicks off Carnival. Somewhere along the line, some people believe the celebratio­n’s rebellious spirit got lost. Lost in the revelry. Lost in the commercial­ization.

“In getting into soca, I got back to my roots, my history of it all,” Kes said. “To know what page I am in the story is very important to me but I do believe that we have lost the true root of” Carnival.

The origins date back to the late 18th century when enslaved West Africans in Trinidad were forbidden by their French masters from participat­ing in their preLenten masquerade balls.

Freed in 1834, the Africans combined their traditions with that of the colonists to create their own celebratio­n that, in some cases, even mocked their oppressors. The festivitie­s would produce calypso, otherwise known as the forefather of soca, and the steel pan, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago that is still part of the soundtrack of fêtes.

“Steel pan brought me closer to my roots,” said Jeremy Phillip, a Margate native of Trinidadia­n descent who’s part of the Lauderhill Steel Ensemble. He said his father is one of the founding members of the Skiffle Bunch, one of the leading traditiona­l steel bands. Phillip described his “purpose in life” as to “play steel pan and the love and joy of soca music worldwide.”

“The festivitie­s are something that I use to get over my stress and bring peace in my life,” Phillip added.

That, in a sense, is the purpose of soca, the pulsating, uptempo music developed from calypso. Soca quite literally means so(ul) of ca(lypso). The origins of soca date back to 1973 and can be linked to one man: Lord Shorty. A calypso artist born in Trinidad, Lord Shorty decided to infuse the rhythms of East India with that of West Africa. That music became soca, which, as opposed to the socially conscious calypso, was created to make the listener dance and feel good.

“Soca is life to me,” said Ashley Andrews, a Miamian of Trinidadia­n descent who has been playing mas at the Miami Carnival for six years and also serves as the social media manager for Miami Carnival. “Soca is, just like Carnival, joy, happiness and a little therapeuti­c.”

Soca has evolved over time, incorporat­ing numerous genres from reggae and rock to Afrobeats and EDM. As Kes says, it’s “very difficult to put music in one box.”

“Music, to me, is like painting: You use different colors because you feel as an artist just as though you use different influences from different genres,” Kes said. He and his bandmates are credited with incorporat­ing rock and Afrobeats into their unique brand of soca. “For me, I like the coolness of Afrobeats. I like the structure of rock and pop. I like the the meaning of R&B. I love the double-entendre of calypso. The aggressive­ness of dancehall. All of these things are just ingredient­s.”

The common thread? Fun.

“What soca does have that a lot of music doesn’t have is a feel-good element,” said multiplati­num Jamaican recording artist Shaggy. “It is a feel-good genre. When people play soca, they feel good. It’s danceable. People are smiling. It brings joy.”

Despite Shaggy’s legendary status in the dancehall and reggae space, even the two-time Grammy winner has tried his hand at soca, collaborat­ing with legends such as Machel Montano and, most recently, Kes on a track titled “Mood.” In fact, Shaggy actually grew up on soca and calypso.

“It’s all Caribbean music,” Shaggy said. “In my household in Jamaica, calypso was a big part of the soundtrack of my life. My grandmothe­r was a big fan. She liked Arrow. She loved Sparrow. She liked Byron Lee and the Dragonaire­s. Just dealing with that made me have a love for that kind of art form.”

Shaggy, however, doesn’t see the genre as seasonal even though many soca artists drop music during Carnival season, which runs roughly from Dec. 26 through Ash Wednesday. Feeling good, as he described of soca, isn’t confined to a single season.

That’s especially apparent given the amount of work that goes into a single carnival, from the band practices to the costume design.

“You actually see the whole movement happening,” Kes said. “These are everyday people, people who work in banks, work every day 9 to 5, but they have another life and another purpose than Carnival. They also play steel pan. They also make mas. Being a part and around that — and in Trinidad it’s very much around. I think when it translates to outside it really gets lost.”

C. Isaiah Smalls II: 302-373-8866, @stclaudeii

 ?? ALEXIAFODE­RE Miami SYDNEY WALSH swalsh@miamiheral­d.com ?? Revelersen­joyJ’ouvert,Miami Carnival,atMiami-DadeCounty FairExpoon­Oct.8,2022.
ALEXIAFODE­RE Miami SYDNEY WALSH swalsh@miamiheral­d.com Revelersen­joyJ’ouvert,Miami Carnival,atMiami-DadeCounty FairExpoon­Oct.8,2022.
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 ?? SYDNEY WALSH swalsh@miamiheral­d.com ?? A performer poses for photos during Miami Carnival at the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo in Miami on Oct. 9, 2022.
SYDNEY WALSH swalsh@miamiheral­d.com A performer poses for photos during Miami Carnival at the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo in Miami on Oct. 9, 2022.
 ?? CORTESÍA/MIAMI CARNIVAL 2021 ?? The Carnival offers stalls with typical Caribbean food and drink, with lots of live music and costume competitio­ns and parades.
CORTESÍA/MIAMI CARNIVAL 2021 The Carnival offers stalls with typical Caribbean food and drink, with lots of live music and costume competitio­ns and parades.
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 ?? MIAMI CARNIVAL 2021 ?? Steel-pan competitio­n at Miami Broward Carnival.
MIAMI CARNIVAL 2021 Steel-pan competitio­n at Miami Broward Carnival.
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Kees Dieffentha­ller
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Shaggy

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