I've been thinking lately that a country's most popular music might be a good indicator of said country's lifestyle, thinking and general attitude towards things. I think this with regards to one genre of our various national music styles - soca. Now don't get me wrong, I like soca. I even love it sometimes but I still can't help but wonder about what soca and fetes say about trinis.
People wonder how Hitler could have had such influence. I think if Machel decided he wanted to continue the 'thousand year reich' I don't think many would even bat an eyelash. He'd definitely have his army of loyal followers, especially if he decided to conduct the genocide in fetes.
More than soca artistes of course, have this commanding ability though so that's not even limited to our culture. What has made up the brunt of my thinking is the content of these songs and what they represent. I like to have fun, free up and enjoy myself like anyyyooone else but there comes a point when you SHOULD stop, reflect on the music that you're listening to and think about what this really says about the people who listen to it, if anything.
Soca is made to energise people and to aid in the general freeing up of oneself at a party. It's a fun music, an energetic music, an excitable music. You hear that beat and that rhythm and your waist starts going one time. You want to grab a hold of your or any man or woman and buss down a flex.
But what does this really say about our people? You have some conscious-minded people in the midst of all the waving of rags and flags but these people and their songs seem to get lost in the sea of 'jump and wave, jump and wave'. As such I'm not going to generalise all soca songs and when I do use terminology that does such I do so with full mind that not every soca song is about the same thing.. just most.
So yes, I wonder what a foreigner coming for our carnival must think apart from 'wowww these people have so much fun!' etc etc etc.. what would they think beyond the fun? would they think 'wow, these people have such laid back lifestyles, everything is a party and a fete. Do they care about anything else?' or would they take it for granted that we DO care about other things, just not enough to put them into our most popular style of music? would they perhaps question what we do for the rest of the year after carnival is over? perhaps they might think that if we cared less about jumping and waving and more about our crime situation that things might be a little better for us when we actually go out to fetes.
I don't mean to sound narrow minded, mind you. Because I do love soca myself, as well as many other forms of music. I also know that when you go to a party, you go to a party.. you don't go to a party to discuss the economic situation of the country or global warming or how much chicken and flour is rising (and really, wtf is up with that shit!?) You go to have fun and enjoy yourself and that's where the majority of soca is heard and enjoyed, so it'd be wrong to totally base an assumption or judgement on those circumstances. The fact still remains however that there are people who listen to soca right thru, year round, apart from the fetes etc and there are people who make songs year-round with the same thing in mind.
And really, how many times can one artiste bring out a sing with the same exact message? 'get on bad, free up yuhself, jump, wave yuh rag, wine behind the truck, wine on a woman..' and it's like people don't even seem to notice nor care about the content of the songs. As a friend recently said 'a popular artiste could bring out a song that was total shit and it'd still be a hit because they're popular and because it has a soca beat'. I personally still have my intelligence at parties and can recognize the difference between a song with any other redeeming value than to get me pumped to take that next wine on that cuteness standing next to me though.
the soca mentality just really makes me question what values many of T&T's citizens hold and what they really care about. Do they only care about partying and getting on, having a good time or do they actually care about what happens to the country and what happens to them? I'd like to think it's the latter, and truthfully I have seen things that indicate this, but it's still a thought I have.. this whole soca saying something about our country thing
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