Chutney Soca - History

History

Chutney soca is a prime example of how Indo-Trinidadians have established roots in Trinidad also Antigua and have created an original, syncretic art form. Resulting from the intervention of Indo-Trinidadians into Soca music in the 1980s, the addition of chutney soca to the island's musical life signified a consolidation of the East Indian influence on Trinidadian culture and politics, particularly during the 1990s. It was during this time that Trinidadian musicians, performing in the popular style of calypso and its substyle, soca, began to incorporate Indian themes into their lyrics. An early, significant example of this is the song 'Sundar Popo,' by Black Stalin. This song, whose whimsical lyrics concern a veteran Indian singer, won Black Stalin the coveted Calypso Monarch Prize in February 1995. Although it was neither in chutney style nor in Hindi, 'Sundar Popo' was labelled chutney-soca because of its theme. Similar efforts followed in the wake of May 30, 1995, which marked the anniversary of the first arrival of "indenturees" in Trinidad and was designated by the island's government as Indian Arrival Day.

Chutney soca's rise in popularity through the mid- to late 1990s was expedited by its changing role in Trinidad's Carnival celebration. The 1995-1996 Carnival season saw the establishment of the Chutney Soca Monarch Competition and the performance of a number of chutney socas during the calypso-soca competition by creole musicians, including Marcia Miranda, Tony Ricardo, Chris Garcia, Brother Marvin, and Luta. Embraced as it was by non-Indian performers, who abandoned formal Indianisms, sang solely in English and emphasized the soca beat, chutney-soca became a national fad. The Chutney Soca Monarch competition has become the largest and most important Indo-Caribbean concert of its kind in the world. Today its production costs more than USD 1 million annually. It has crowned many champions from 1996 to 2010 which include Sonny Mann, Rikki Jai, Heeralal Rampartap, Rooplal Girdharrie and most recently in 2010 Ravi Bissambhar. Since the late 1990s, chutney soca has spawned the similar styles of chutney rap, chutney jhumar and chutney lambada, dance music whose Indo-Caribbean themes are mixed with Bombay film music and American popular music.