Caught in performance at Mas Camp.
Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
DANCEHALL AND calypso are, in some ways, much like two first cousins. Even though they are definitely not the same thing, they do 'boil a good soup'.
Since the 1990s, artistes of both genres have been steadily blending their voices on tracks, eventually merging soca with dancehall to create quite a buzz for fans on both sides of the fence.
One remembers tunes like Soca Tattie, Dancehall Soca and Soca Butterfly by Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, done with deejay Admiral Bailey. Later in the '90s, Beenie Man recorded at least one solo soca single. Shaggy and Machel Montana recorded Toro Toro and later Montana teamed with producer Tony Kelly to bring out Big Fat Fish.
One technical reason for the mixing of dancehall and soca has been put forward by a few local producers. According to them, in the past year or two, dancehall has begun to develop very fast-paced rhythms, which are equivalent to the speed of calypso rhythms.
In an earlier interview, producer Tony Kelly explained the phenomenon.
"Everything seamless now; the dancehall rhythms have the same tempo as the calypso, so you have no differentiating line between them," he stated. "Everybody get accustomed to hearing the fast pace, so there is not much difference between the two types to them."
In today's frantic dance generating sessions, he adds, they fit in fine, but will not last too long.
PIONEERS
One of the pioneers in the blend is Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. Their lead singer, Tobago-born Oscar B, has performed numerous dancehall and soca hits over the years. In several previous interviews, Oscar B told The Gleaner that his reasons for 'voicing' on dancehall tracks came from a marketing perspective and from a deep desire to actually be a successful dancehall artiste.
"Soca can use dancehall to reach a wider audience. In order to gain international acceptance, we need a vehicle to saturate the market," he stated.
"There are many soca artistes who don't share my view, but the fact is that the soca-buying public is much less than that of dancehall or reggae. How many records can we sell in Trinidad? One of our main problems is marketing," he said.
SOCA'S DOWNFALL
According to him, soca is too seasonal to have the impact it needs. "There is no distribution throughout the region, because you can't even find a current hit soca song in the stores here in Jamaica. The music is too seasonal and in order for it to work on a larger scale we have to go at it all year round," he said.
However varied the reasons for the rampant mixing of dancehall and soca are, the popularity does not seem to be about to wane any time soon. Deejays Assassin and Lexxus recently headlined predominantly soca shows and producers and selectors constantly mix the two genres on the turntables.
And it is not only in the music, but also in the moves. Just as the tatty and butterfly made the transition to soca in the 90s, the 'propellor', 'signal de plane', 'raindrops' and other dancehall moves are very much a part of the 2004 carnival experience.
The dancehall-soca blend, it seems, will be here for a while.
