Chutney Soca

Chutney Soca

In Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana & Suriname Chutney-Soca music is a crossover style of music incorporating Soca elements and Hindi-English lyrics, Chutney music, with Indian instruments like the dholak and dhantal.

The term chutney soca was first coined by Drupatee Ramgoonai of Trinidad & Tobago in 1987 in her first album entitled Chutney Soca, with both English & Hindi versions of the songs. The current style of spelling of the term was not established then & she spelt it as " Chatnee Soca". The following year her mega hit "Roll up de Tassa" was instrumental in creating a commercial market for this type of music internationally. Drupatee has spoken about the blending of Afro & Indo melodies & rhythms in songs like Chatnee Soca & Hotter than ah Chulha". Chutney is a melody & soca is a beat. Drupatee used an ancient Indian melody called a lawnee with the soca beat in her rendition of "O Tassawalley" & has released a legacy of Chutney Soca music.

Read more about Chutney Soca:  History