Icom's Blog – July 2019 Archive (7)

Music producer Eddy Grant believes there should be a calypso college in Barbados.

“I have begged the Government to teach calypso in schools. If you can teach British history, why can’t you know your own? Why can’t you learn how to sing your own?

“You have got the best calypso writer, singer, performer that there has been in the Caribbean since Sparrow in Gabby,…

One year ago, Derron “Magikal” Rouse left Victoria Park with every intention of being a finalist in the 2019 Soca Monarch Competition.

Last Saturday, the 21-year-old left Victoria Park once again, this time as the reigning Soca Monarch.

When the results were announced, it was revealed that Rouse managed to score 425 points with the performance of his hit song,…

Trinidadian activist and journalist Claudia Jones shot like a comet through London’s grey skies. Her all-too-brief life blazed a trail that others have followed ever since. Notably, she laid the foundations for what was to become Notting Hill Carnival.

The Notting Hill race riots of August and September 1958 had created a toxic atmosphere that needed to be washed away. Along with her colleagues on…

Gospel artiste Junior ‘Naycha K.I.D’ Edwards (K.I.D- Knowledge Increase Daily) has found himself the subject of criticism for setting foot in the Soca Monarch arena again.

At the height of his soca career, Edwards abandoned the soca stage in 2007 and began singing gospel when, by his account, he could no longer resist the tugging of God on his heart.

The artiste told OBSERVER media he has not…

The Soca & Associates band launch pre-party had been going on for four hours by 8 p.m., Sunday, and not a feather, sequin nor square inch of dayglow fabric had yet appeared on the catwalk at the Unity Sports and Cultural Club in Dorchester.

But for the carnival aficionados who regularly join Boston’s masquerade bands, the wait is half the fun. In the kitchen,…

Weaned on the timeless Calypsos of his native Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaican roots-reggae, singer Jah Bami is an unapologetic Caribbean man. Though his recent work leaned heavily toward dub, his latest project is straight soca.

That project is called the SeaSide Villa Riddim, which features songs by a number of artists including Jah Bami, who contributes Soca Trend alongside Ted…

On Friday July 5th, Grammy Award Winning singer Estelle curated an evening of Afro-Beats, Reggae, Dancehall and Soca for the 2019 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

In its 25th anniversary, the songstress thought it would be the perfect time to merge the standard fans of R&B, Hip Hop, & Soul with fans of Caribbean and African music at the Essence Music Festival.…